Swappiness change

[toolrick]

Dear Forum,

I havetried to adjust the swapiness in my linux mint XFCE 18.3, from 60 to 30; but the problem is that when I open the Task Manager it appears the same amount of memory available, 1.9gb. Here is the information for code:

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 ~ $ inxi -pou
Partition: ID-1: / size: 27G used: 8.9G (36%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/mmcblk0p2
           uuid: 566d8e79-1bb7-48b0-a216-76d4dc1007fb
           ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511M used: 1.2M (1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/mmcblk0p1
           uuid: 9727-FC69
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 2.03GB used: 0.37GB (18%) fs: swap dev: /dev/mmcblk0p3
           uuid: f7e47644-3aad-4dfe-bbad-72b4077f50c0
Unmounted: ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 size: 31.27G label: N/A uuid: N/A
           ID-2: /dev/mmcblk0boot1 size: 0.00G label: N/A uuid: N/A
           ID-3: /dev/mmcblk0boot0 size: 0.00G label: N/A uuid: N/A
           ID-4: /dev/mmcblk1 size: 16.02G label: N/A uuid: N/A
           ID-5: /dev/mmcblk1p1 size: 16.02G label: ESD-USB uuid: 9667-D7FF

My question is if you can change the amount of memry available and if mine it's ok to solve most issues when oppening too many windows and apps at the same time.

Thanks,

RD

[Laurent85]

Post below command output:

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inxi -b
free -h
sysctl vm.swappiness

[jimallyn]

You can change swappiness as described here:

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... emory-RAM-


That will NOT change the amount of RAM you have available. But additional RAM modules can be added to most computers.

[majpooper]

To my understanding swappiness does not change how big your SWAP partition is. Rather swappiness controls when your system uses your swap partition.

[Sir Charles]

Swappiness is the kernel parameter that defines how much (and how often) your Linux kernel will copy RAM contents to swap. This parameter's default value is “60” and it can take anything from “0” to “100”. The higher the value of the swappiness parameter, the more aggressively your kernel will swap.
https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/linux-swappiness/

[MScott]

Hi toolrick

As has already been mentioned, the size of your swap file/partition (2GB, 4GB, 6GB, etc) is different from how often (frequent) data is written (60, 30, 10, etc). You might say it can be compared to a 2 gallon, 4 gallon, or 6 gallon fuel tank, and at what rate it gets emptied, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes.

More RAM added to your system, from 4GB to 8GB or 16GB should allow for a smaller swap size, from 4GB to maybe 2GB, and less frequent use, say from 60 to 30, or 10 in the swapiness... as an example

Hibernation is another issue...

[toolrick]

Post below command output:

Code: Select all

inxi -b
free -h
sysctl vm.swappiness

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System:    Host: ricardo-HP-Stream-x360-Convertible-PC-11 Kernel: 4.13.0-37-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
           Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Stream x360 Convertible PC 11 v: Type1 - ProductConfigId
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 802B v: 57.19
           Bios: Insyde v: F.07 date: 03/28/2017
CPU:       Dual core Intel Celeron N2840 (-MCP-) speed/max: 2165/2582 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1366x768@59.99hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Bay Trail GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.8
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom BCM43142 802.11b/g/n driver: wl
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller
           driver: r8169
Drives:    HDD Total Size: NA (-)
Info:      Processes: 188 Uptime: 4 min Memory: 1436.2/1881.4MB
           Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.35 

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              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Memoria:        1,8G        1,3G         63M        206M        451M        150M
Swap:          1,9G         61M        1,8G

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vm.swappiness = 30

[toolrick]

Hi toolrick

As has already been mentioned, the size of your swap file/partition (2GB, 4GB, 6GB, etc) is different from how often (frequent) data is written (60, 30, 10, etc). You might say it can be compared to a 2 gallon, 4 gallon, or 6 gallon fuel tank, and at what rate it gets emptied, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes.

More RAM added to your system, from 4GB to 8GB or 16GB should allow for a smaller swap size, from 4GB to maybe 2GB, and less frequent use, say from 60 to 30, or 10 in the swapiness... as an example

Hibernation is another issue...

Do you think with a swap partition of 2GB it's enough for my computer to work well? I have adjusted the swappiness to 30, since I tried to decrease it to 10, but started to work slower everytime I oppened few apps.
Do you think if I make a swap partition of at least 4GB that would make my compuer run faster?
Also how do I make the swap partition? It seems through the instalation it already made the partition at 2GB.

Thanks, RD.

[Laurent85]

I don't think you are affected by a memory constraint but rather limited by cpu / gpu hardware capabilities. 2 Gb of ram is enough for the Xfce desktop. Above output reports free ram still available for applications / processes.

Preferably set a swappiness value close to 10-30, high value increase OS tendency to swap. And swapping decrease the computer average performance.

[Hoser Rob]

As mentioned swappiness doesn't have anything to do with how much RAM you have, it decides when to write to swap depending on how much free RAM is availabe. See here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapF ... ange_it.3F

Setting swappiness to 10 isn't correct for eveyone so I'd suggest playing aroung with that value. 10 or less may be too low for a 2 Gb machine. My 1G RAM netbook with MInt Xfce it runs best at 40. Interestingly this was the default Ubuntu.Mint swappiness value for a long time. I've never found the inode cache setting particularly useful so I leave it at the default.

If it's too llow for that machine you may find that it runs faster for a while but when you start having a bunch of programs open it'll hit a brick wall and put you in swap hell. Trty raising it by 10 if this happens.

[toolrick]

As mentioned swappiness doesn't have anything to do with how much RAM you have, it decides when to write to swap depending on how much free RAM is availabe. See here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapF ... ange_it.3F

Setting swappiness to 10 isn't correct for eveyone so I'd suggest playing aroung with that value. 10 or less may be too low for a 2 Gb machine. My 1G RAM netbook with MInt Xfce it runs best at 40. Interestingly this was the default Ubuntu.Mint swappiness value for a long time. I've never found the inode cache setting particularly useful so I leave it at the default.

If it's too llow for that machine you may find that it runs faster for a while but when you start having a bunch of programs open it'll hit a brick wall and put you in swap hell. Trty raising it by 10 if this happens.

I will leave it at 30 and see how it goes, also I made an script to clean every once in a while the swap memory as it seems the only way to clean it up is by rebooting the computer which makes it unconfortable.

[MScott]

Do you think with a swap partition of 2GB it's enough for my computer to work well? I have adjusted the swappiness to 30, since I tried to decrease it to 10, but started to work slower everytime I oppened few apps.
Do you think if I make a swap partition of at least 4GB that would make my compuer run faster?
Also how do I make the swap partition? It seems through the instalation it already made the partition at 2GB.

Thanks, RD.

Hi toolrick

I think you're good to go, swap is fine @ 2GB, swappiness @ 30 or 40 is modest... I would add more RAM if it was a system worth upgrading, of course only you can make that determination. I have a Lenovo laptop, modest but works good. I replaced the 1 4GB stick of RAM with 1 8GB - no dual channel capabilities. 4 to 8 GB made a difference on my system, I use Firefox and it can gobble a GB by itself, this worked great for months. So, I got bored, and I knew that other than the manufacturers, 4GB (Samsung), 8GB (Crucial), in every other way they're the same - type of DDR3, latency, voltage. I decided to experiment by adding the 4GB back, in slot 2... I never install mis-matched sets, and I expected problems. Short story is I've had zero problems. 12GB of RAM makes a difference. It was an investment of about $50 U.S. dollars and 10 minutes of my time. Food for thought

[toolrick]

Do you think with a swap partition of 2GB it's enough for my computer to work well? I have adjusted the swappiness to 30, since I tried to decrease it to 10, but started to work slower everytime I oppened few apps.
Do you think if I make a swap partition of at least 4GB that would make my compuer run faster?
Also how do I make the swap partition? It seems through the instalation it already made the partition at 2GB.

Thanks, RD.

Hi toolrick

I think you're good to go, swap is fine @ 2GB, swappiness @ 30 or 40 is modest... I would add more RAM if it was a system worth upgrading, of course only you can make that determination. I have a Lenovo laptop, modest but works good. I replaced the 1 4GB stick of RAM with 1 8GB - no dual channel capabilities. 4 to 8 GB made a difference on my system, I use Firefox and it can gobble a GB by itself, this worked great for months. So, I got bored, and I knew that other than the manufacturers, 4GB (Samsung), 8GB (Crucial), in every other way they're the same - type of DDR3, latency, voltage. I decided to experiment by adding the 4GB back, in slot 2... I never install mis-matched sets, and I expected problems. Short story is I've had zero problems. 12GB of RAM makes a difference. It was an investment of about $50 U.S. dollars and 10 minutes of my time. Food for thought

Thanks for the advice, eventhough my computer it's more like a modern tablet, EMMC hard disk and I cannot get into the hardware since it's all been closed. Fanless and touch screen. I like it a lot because it serves for the purpose even with the limitations it has. I got into linux 1. becase it's an open sourse and I was tired of receiving updates every once in a while, plus I have very limited space in my hard drive (32GB). 2. because I like to try out new things and got tired of windows. I have liked everything from linux so far, but I believe for some reason my computer used to run faster in win10 than now with linux. I am trying it to go smooth with the tasks that I use it for everyday... mostly I work on google docs and internet.

Thanks,

RD