Re: Minimum RAM Requirement.
Check out the Linux Documentation Project, it has
instructions on how to setup a system with 4 mb. I
have followed these instructions and gotten an IBM
laptop with slightly less than 4 mb to work fine.
Although the installs start with non-debian dists the
author says that you can use almost any distro to add
more functionality after the initial barebones system
is up.
Ian
--- kmself@ix.netcom.com wrote:
> on Fri, Mar 16, 2001 at 09:59:39AM -0700,
> Simmons-Davis (simmonsdavis@frontier.net) wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I would like to know the minimum amount of RAM a
> computer needs in order to
> > run a basic Linux setup and then also the minimum
> for X Window System.
>
> Some guidelines.
>
> - 4 M: bare minimum for Linux kernel, and you'll
> need to specify some
> configurations to get there.
>
> - 8 M: minimum basic linux configuration. I
> don't think modern Debians
> will install into 8 MB.
>
> - ~16-32 M: you'll need something in this range
> to let the packaging
> system run. It likes to store stuff in RAM.
>
> - ~32-64 M: minimum I'd recommend for a
> single-usr workstation,
> running X, a lightweight window manager (not
> GNOME/KDE), and,
> sometimes, Netscape. You'll be swapping a fair
> piece.
>
> - ~96-128 M: comfortable single-user general
> purpose workstation.
> Tends to minimize swapping under most
> circumstances.
>
> - 128 M - 1G: high end workstation, mid-level
> server. Particularly
> useful if you're running VMWare, StarOffice,
> that bloated stuck pig
> of an office suite, or a heavily loaded services
> (apache, mysql,
> file/print).
>
> - 1G - 4G: high-end server. I believe the
> maximum addressable memory
> on Linux is currently 4GB, with a patch. Could
> be wrong on this.
>
> There's a lot of flexibility on all of this, and
> personal expectations
> matter. More memory is almost always the first
> route to a faster
> system. However, there's no reason a "workable"
> system can't
>
> For swap, the general rule of thumb is 1-2x
> installed RAM, though some
> people top out swap at some point, generally between
> 128 MB and 1 GB. I
> tend to take the multiplier rule all the way up to
> max swap (4 GB, IIRC).
> You can add swapfiles at any point later, but swap
> partitions are more
> efficient (they don't fragment) and harder to add
> (you have to
> repartition).
>
> You can always experiment with lower memory
> configurations by specifying
> the appropriat MEM= boot option, to see how your
> system would perform
> with less memory installed. Results can be
> interesting.
>
> Currently, memory for reasonably up-to-date systems
> is pretty cheap
> (DIMMs). If you're buying the older SIMMs, prepare
> to pay a premium.
>
> --
> Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com>
> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
> What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
> There is no K5 cabal
> http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/
> http://www.kuro5hin.org
>
> ATTACHMENT part 2 application/pgp-signature
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