On 8/8/05, Jeff Vian <jvian10@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Mon, 2005-08-08 at 16:40 +0100, Dan Track wrote: > > HI > > > > I just rebooted my workstation, and I ran a "free -m". I realised that > > I'm already using swap even though I've got so much free ram. Anyone > > know why this is? > > > > free -m > > total used free shared buffers cached > > Mem: 1244 1227 17 0 37 636 > ^^^^^^^^ > What do you mean "so much free ram". Whatever you have running is using > almost 99% of your memory and only 17 mb free. While that small amount > free is normal on my systems, the amount used is much higher than I > routinely run. The tiny amount of swap used (13 mb) is insignificant. > > > -/+ buffers/cache: 553 691 > > Swap: 1993 13 1979 > > > > This is mine after running for more than 5 days. > $ free -m > total used free shared buffers cached > Mem: 1011 991 19 0 13 703 > -/+ buffers/cache: 274 736 > Swap: 1023 0 1023 > > > Hi Thanks for the reply. The problem is that the system has only been up for 2 minutes. With no additional services started apart from the basic set of strtup services found in a default install. I understand the linux kernel caches all the freely available memory in order to make use of it, but why is is swapping within two minutes of bootup when the line: -/+ buffers/cache: 553 691 shows there is still 691 MB free? Additionally is it true that the linux kernel can only take up to a maximum of 800Mb for kernel usage while the rest is left for user space? Thanks Dan
