Should I increase swap file ?

[chtamina]

So this is my computer (it's an ibm thinkpad laptop)

Processor : Intel(R) Pentium(R) III Mobile CPU 866MHz
Memory : 254MB (167MB used)


I'm using Lucyd Puppy 5.2.5

I've got plenty of space on my hd, do you think that increasing the swap file would enhance its performances ?

thanks

[Bernie_by_the_Sea]

How large is your swap file now?

[chtamina]

how do I check ?

[Bruce B]

At the command prompt run the utility free, you'll get
an output like this.

Code: Select all

              total         used         free       shared      buffers
  Mem:       514972       506392         8580            0        22188
 Swap:       262136        56272       205864
Total:       777108       562664       214444

The swap line will tell you what you need to know.

~

[Flash]

Chtamina: To be pedantic about it, you are talking about a swap partition, not a swap file, is that correct? There is quite a difference.

[chtamina]

The swap line will tell you what you need to know.

it's 0 (zero)

[chtamina]

Chtamina: To be pedantic about it, you are talking about a swap partition, not a swap file, is that correct? There is quite a difference.

sorry for my windows mode on

[sfeeley]

so to answer your original question--increasing your swap will almost certainly help.

You can use Gparted (under system):
(-If you are running windows on the same computer, boot windows and use it to defragment the disk 1st)
1) Boot the computer with a puppy cd. At boot click f2 and then chose the pfix=ram option. (this will make sure that when puppy loads, the harrddrive is left free to work on. it will look like a new install is going on when the computer loads, but don't worry about this)

2) then with gparted, you can click on the harddrive and create partitions or resize them. You will want to click on the harddrive, and at the end create a new partition. (Generally twice your ram is a rule of thumb, so about 500mb in your case). You will have the option to determine what type of partition you are making--chose linux swap. Click all the ok's and there you go.

3)at shutdown: since you booted pfix=ram, the computer will think this is a new installation and offer to create a new savefile. Do Not create a new save file.

Next time boot puppy normally--it should detect the swap. You can check with "free"

Generally gparted is safe, but making new partitions is one of those things that can lose data--so back up everything valuable first before doing all this.

[Shep]

So this is my computer (it's an ibm thinkpad laptop)

Processor : Intel(R) Pentium(R) III Mobile CPU 866MHz
Memory : 254MB (167MB used)

I'm using Lucyd Puppy 5.2.5

I've got plenty of space on my hd, do you think that increasing the swap file would enhance its performances ?

It all depends. Exactly what are you doing with the computer, and what performance would you like to improve?

If a frugal install, then I suggest that at boot time, you hit <F2> and type: puppy pfix=nocopy so that all of the ram gets allocated for system and program use. This will ensure it practically never needs to use the [comparatively slow] swap space.

The other suggestion I have is that you avoid using the flash player if you have other things running at the same time. If Lucid is anything like the Wary that I'm using, then once you use the flash player it hangs around for the rest of time, doing nothing but guzzling clock cycles. If you must view some youtube videos, close the browser when finished and see whether that gets rid of the flash parasite/player. Use top to see what is hogging the processor. If it's the flash player, you can kill it to free up 35% of the cpu.

I am running with a 560 MHz cpu so am particularly alert to which programs hog the cpu.