[SOLVED] Swap memory not being used, terminal starts slowly.

[tsourtzis]

As the title suggests I have come to notice that the swap memory on my hard drive is not being used at all, I have come to some extra issues with my terminal not being able to type on demand sometimes taking at least 20 seconds or more to be typeable.

After running the "free" command on my terminal, I can clearly see that it is not being used at all, here is how it looks;

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              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:        8050572     1131908     3723464       75620     3195200     6534428
Swap:       8388604           0     8388604

EDIT 1:

Alright thank you for the information about the swap being used.

EDIT 2:

Here is for the terminal issue I'm having after running the command

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inxi -Fxz

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System:    Host: thomasLinux Kernel: 4.15.0-42-generic x86_64
           bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.8.9 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu1)
           Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine:   Device: laptop System: HP product: HP Pavilion Power Laptop 15-cb0xx v: Type1ProductConfigId serial: N/A
           Mobo: HP model: 836B v: 46.24 serial: N/A
           UEFI: Insyde v: F.16 date: 06/22/2018
Battery    BAT0: charge: 64.1 Wh 100.0% condition: 64.1/64.1 Wh (100%)
           model: HP Primary status: Full
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-7700HQ (-MT-MCP-) 
           arch: Skylake rev.9 cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 22464
           clock speeds: max: 3800 MHz 1: 1602 MHz 2: 3207 MHz 3: 2994 MHz
           4: 3303 MHz 5: 3541 MHz 6: 3116 MHz 7: 3114 MHz 8: 3225 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel Device 591b bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 )
           drivers: modesetting,nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.02hz
           OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GTX 1050/PCIe/SSE2
           version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 390.77 Direct Render: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel CM238 HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-42-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 04:00.0
           IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCIE Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 3000 bus-ID: 05:00.0
           IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (10.0% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST1000LM049 size: 1000.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 278G used: 94G (36%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 55.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:56C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 240 Uptime: 43 min Memory: 2750.5/7861.9MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.4.191) inxi: 2.3.56 

Hope the additional information helps, cheers!

[Flemur]

Does anynone have any idea how to make my swap useable at any given time, does this cause my terminal taking at least 20 seconds at least I can be able to type any command on it?

Normally swap is not used, and with 8G memory you'll rarely use it; the slow terminal is some other problem.
To figure that one out, post the results of

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inxi -Fxz

inside code brackets. (</>, above)

[hcentaur13]

The CPU can only use RAM. It has no ability to use other than RAM. Whenever the CPU needs to access code or data to access it has to ask the OS to give it that inside of RAM. When the CPU has done some calculatin with DATA it has changed that RAM. Whenever the CPU has gone out of unused RAM it will ask the OS to give more. That lets tho OS write some parts of RAM out to disk. That give that part free to the CPU to use it.

Yes, it is very, very more complex but should esy enough to understund. Swap is at least nothing as virtual RAM presented to the CPU in real ram whenever the CPU needs to access more RAM as real exists.

[Flemur]

I noticed this "slow starting the first time" (about 20 seconds, with two different terminals but not file-browsers) on Manjaro with kernel 4.19.8; then I installed 4.19.8 in ubuntu (18.04) and *it* started with the slow first-launch terminal start.

Using kernel 4.15.x in ubuntu (tho I see the OP is using 4.15) and 4.14.x in Manjaro made it stop, and everything started normally.