how much ram does linux use?

capybara · 05-26-2004, 12:40 AM

right now im using xandros, a debian distro.
only applications open: mozilla browser at this website here, and
kopete instant messaging .
when i see what processes are running
there are six - yes 6 - instances of mozilla running
process id 1864 and 1909 to 1913
each using 27 MB of ram.
total ram being used 251 out of my 256 MB ram installed.
if i kill one instance of mozilla, they all die.
is this amount of ram use normal for linux?
why cant i run just one instance of mozilla?

korozion · 05-26-2004, 01:29 AM

Seems there may be a problem with Mozilla. Maybe re-install. I run Mozilla without that issue :S I know that doens't help a lot, but maybe a place to start

dalek · 05-26-2004, 04:49 AM

Mine does that to. It works fine. I think it has something to do with the tabs or something. This is what I have with 4 tabs open.

Code:

root@smoker /home/dale # ps aux | grep mozilla
dale     26396  1.7  5.5 75052 56940 ?       S    May25   6:42 /usr/lib/mozilla/mozilla-bin
dale     26401  0.0  5.5 75052 56940 ?       S    May25   0:00 /usr/lib/mozilla/mozilla-bin
dale     26402  0.0  5.5 75052 56940 ?       S    May25   0:00 /usr/lib/mozilla/mozilla-bin
dale     26405  0.0  5.5 75052 56940 ?       S    May25   0:03 /usr/lib/mozilla/mozilla-bin
root     14605  0.0  0.0  1536  468 pts/0    S    04:41   0:00 grep mozilla
root@smoker /home/dale #

The last one doesn't count. That is the command to get the info about mozilla. Thought I would say that since you are new.

You may also note the others are like ghosts. The first one is the one that counts.

Mine has done this for a long time. It has never caused me any trouble.

As for the memory, Linux will use every bit of memory for cache. It is normal. Example:

Code:

root@smoker /home/dale # free -b
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:    1057992704 1041227776   16764928          0  381952000  172032000
-/+ buffers/cache:  487243776  570748928
Swap:    797810688          0  797810688
root@smoker /home/dale #

I have 1GB of memory. There is only 16MBs that is not used. The majority of that is cache. It is normal and makes things run a bit faster.

Hope that helps.

synaptical · 05-26-2004, 05:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by capybara
when i see what processes are running
there are six - yes 6 - instances of mozilla running
process id 1864 and 1909 to 1913
each using 27 MB of ram.

i could be wrong, but i think that basically means they are using 27MB total. it's normal for linux to use your ram -- that's what it's there for, after all.

capybara · 05-26-2004, 09:43 PM

ok, thx, now i get it