[ltp] Setting up dual-boot on my R31 (and other desktops, too)

Jeffrey Davis linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org
Sat, 29 Jul 2006 22:12:58 -0400


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On Saturday 29 July 2006 08:55 pm, Richard Neill wrote:
> James Knott wrote:
> > thinkpadr31@lkv.mailshell.com wrote:
> >>I'm thinking of setting up my Thinkpad R31 with Windows and Linux.   I
> >>have 1 GB of RAM.
> Gentoo has its advantages: note though that it is time-consuming, and
> requires a degree of expertise. Also, it needs a lot of disk space for
> the source code.
> If you can spare the space, I recommend > 2GB of swap. Mozilla and
> firefox both have a nasty tendency to eat RAM, and consume 2GB each if
> used for a week without closing them!

I can see where that much swap might be needed when compiling and installing  
Gentoo, but in my experience, that much swap is overkill. The old rule of 
thumb that your swap space should be about double the amount of installed 
RAM isn't as important as it was a few years ago.

I have Debian installed on an old P-III 500 with 512MB of RAM and a 500MB 
swap partition that I use as a desktop workstation. It does not use the 
swap at all for my uses. I use it mainly for surfing, email, kernel 
recompiles, and an occasional game. I run out of CPU long before it runs 
out of RAM and begins to use the swap.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jeff@1[~]$ free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        515108     505844       9264          0      23476     314956
-/+ buffers/cache:     167412     347696
Swap:       525160          0     525160
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Jeff



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<p>On Saturday 29 July 2006 08:55 pm, Richard Neill wrote:</p>
<p>&gt; James Knott wrote:</p>
<p>&gt; &gt; thinkpadr31@lkv.mailshell.com wrote:</p>
<p>&gt; &gt;&gt;I'm thinking of setting up my Thinkpad R31 with Windows and Linux.   I</p>
<p>&gt; &gt;&gt;have 1 GB of RAM.</p>
<p>&gt; Gentoo has its advantages: note though that it is time-consuming, and</p>
<p>&gt; requires a degree of expertise. Also, it needs a lot of disk space for</p>
<p>&gt; the source code.</p>
<p>&gt; If you can spare the space, I recommend &gt; 2GB of swap. Mozilla and</p>
<p>&gt; firefox both have a nasty tendency to eat RAM, and consume 2GB each if</p>
<p>&gt; used for a week without closing them!</p>
<p></p>
<p>I can see where that much swap might be needed when compiling and installing  Gentoo, but in my experience, that much swap is overkill. The old rule of thumb that your swap space should be about double the amount of installed RAM isn't as important as it was a few years ago.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I have Debian installed on an old P-III 500 with 512MB of RAM and a 500MB swap partition that I use as a desktop workstation. It does not use the swap at all for my uses. I use it mainly for surfing, email, kernel recompiles, and an occasional game. I run out of CPU long before it runs out of RAM and begins to use the swap.</p>
<p>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p><span style="font-family:FreeMono">jeff@1[~]$ free</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:FreeMono">             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:FreeMono">Mem:        515108     505844       9264          0      23476     314956</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:FreeMono">-/+ buffers/cache:     167412     347696</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:FreeMono">Swap:       525160          0     525160</span></p>
<p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Jeff</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
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