Les wrote:
> I have 104 processes listed when I run the monitor. My system is
> slowing to a crawl, dropping internet connections and jerking like it
> has epilepsy. Would someone please tell me how many process should be
> running in a simple workstation setup (not a server).
Steve Siegfried replied:
> It's actually more complicated than that. Response times & zippyness
> pretty much rely on:
> - how much spare capacity the cpu has,
> - how much memory is available,
> - amount of I/O (including networks) taking place
>
> A quick place to start looking for what's using all your horsepower
> is top(1) (it's in the procps package). Pids that clock lots of time
> are your first suspects.
My experience is that these days, computers have plenty of *processor*
power for most of what they're asked to do. The exceptions tend to be
the programs which the user is most interested in (compiling, encoding,
etc. -- stuff which the user explicitly kicks off and watches).
So a "slow" computer is actually rarely to do with raw processor power.
It's much more likely to be some combination of the hard disk not using
DMA, or there being a memory hog on the system that is causing it to
swap a lot, or there being something running in the background that is
really accessing the hard drive a lot.
You may have noticed that I like blaming the hard drive for speed
problems. Les, is the hard drive light on much?
James.
--
E-mail: james@ | The problem with [Porsche] 911 owners is that they think
aprilcottage.co.uk | the world revolves around them (it does, but it's a
| handling problem really).
| -- "Chris M", writing to The Inquirer
