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Author Topic: System crash possible due to too less ram / too heavy applications  (Read 5775 times)

Offline Andreas_2009

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Hi there,

got a quick question.
Is it possible, that my system crashes due to too less ram or too heavy applications ?

I have a Geode CPU with 256MB RAM.
Then I started Opera as internet browser (and left it in background) and started mp3 playback with XMMS (files are coming from a NFS mounted filesystem).
After a while my system crashed.

Regards
Andreas

Offline Andreas_2009

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Re: System crash possible due to too less ram / too heavy applications
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2009, 08:31:59 AM »
Now I left the Computer with XMMS playback running for a while, without Opera in the background.
Until now, no problem.
Will test it for another while.

Offline mikshaw

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Re: System crash possible due to too less ram / too heavy applications
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2009, 09:07:35 AM »
This has been known to happen when browsers (not just Opera) have a cache larger than the available RAM.  If you shrink the size of your browser's cache it should be okay.  Another option is to use a persisent home, though that might be inconvenient for some users.

Offline alex

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Re: System crash possible due to too less ram / too heavy applications
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2009, 12:41:43 PM »
Did you try using swap?

Offline Jason W

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Re: System crash possible due to too less ram / too heavy applications
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2009, 12:55:14 PM »
You did not mention which mode you are running in.  I would use either tcz extensions or a mounted /usr/local (PPI) to save ram if you are not already.  Even 256MB of ram can fill up quickly with loaded tce extensions and the memory that apps consume.

My machines have 256mb installed on each typically, and I find either using tcz extensions or a mounted /usr/local almost a necessity for even casual use given the memory that modern apps, especially web browsers, demand.  Couple the tcz or PPI mode with a persistent home as mikshaw mentioned and you would have a very memory efficient setup.

Offline Andreas_2009

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Re: System crash possible due to too less ram / too heavy applications
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2009, 04:01:27 AM »
Did you try using swap?

Not possible, because the only media I have, is a CF-Card and I dont want to have too extensive write accesses to the Card.

Offline Andreas_2009

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Re: System crash possible due to too less ram / too heavy applications
« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2009, 04:02:12 AM »
This has been known to happen when browsers (not just Opera) have a cache larger than the available RAM.  If you shrink the size of your browser's cache it should be okay.  Another option is to use a persisent home, though that might be inconvenient for some users.

Good point, I have to try this out. Thanks

Offline Andreas_2009

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Re: System crash possible due to too less ram / too heavy applications
« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2009, 05:08:58 AM »
You did not mention which mode you are running in.  I would use either tcz extensions or a mounted /usr/local (PPI) to save ram if you are not already.  Even 256MB of ram can fill up quickly with loaded tce extensions and the memory that apps consume.

I think I have both apps/modes running.
As I wrote in another posting here
To be honest, I havent understood the core concept in that way, that I can explain it by myself. Unfortunately.
This makes it not easier to setup the PC correctly.

I try to get a directory output of all the apps, which are installed, hold on please

Offline Andreas_2009

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Re: System crash possible due to too less ram / too heavy applications
« Reply #8 on: April 06, 2009, 05:49:24 AM »
This has been known to happen when browsers (not just Opera) have a cache larger than the available RAM.  If you shrink the size of your browser's cache it should be okay.  Another option is to use a persisent home, though that might be inconvenient for some users.
Good point, I have to try this out. Thanks

So, Update on this point:
I reduzed in the Opera-Settings the memory in RAM from "automatic" to "10 MB".
As well as the Memorysize on HDD from 20MB to 10MB.
Additional I set "clear memory on leaving".

Hope, that'll do

Offline Andreas_2009

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Re: System crash possible due to too less ram / too heavy applications
« Reply #9 on: April 06, 2009, 05:55:54 AM »
You did not mention which mode you are running in.  I would use either tcz extensions or a mounted /usr/local (PPI) to save ram if you are not already.  Even 256MB of ram can fill up quickly with loaded tce extensions and the memory that apps consume.

I think I have both apps/modes running.
As I wrote in another posting here
To be honest, I havent understood the core concept in that way, that I can explain it by myself. Unfortunately.
This makes it not easier to setup the PC correctly.

I try to get a directory output of all the apps, which are installed, hold on please

So, here we go:
this is the content of the /mnt/hda1/tce-directory:
Code: [Select]
OSS.tczm
OSS.tczm.md5.txt
bash.tcz
bash.tcz.md5.txt
conky.tczl
conky.tczl.dep
conky.tczl.md5.txt
cpufreq.tcz
cpufreq.tcz.md5.txt
expat2.tczl
expat2.tczl.md5.txt
filesystems-2.6.26.tczm
filesystems-2.6.26.tczm.md5.txt
fontconfig.tczl
fontconfig.tczl.md5.txt
glib1.tczl
glib1.tczl.md5.txt
glib2.tczl
glib2.tczl.md5.txt
gtk1.tczl
gtk1.tczl.md5.txt
hwmon-cpufreq-2.6.26.tczm
hwmon-cpufreq-2.6.26.tczm.md5.txt
joe.tcz
joe.tcz.md5.txt
kmaps.tcz
kmaps.tcz.md5.txt
libxml2.tczl
libxml2.tczl.md5.txt
libxp6.tczl
libxp6.tczl.md5.txt
nfs-utils.tcz
nfs-utils.tcz.dep
nfs-utils.tcz.md5.txt
opera-locales.tce
opera-locales.tce.md5.txt
opera.tce
opera.tce.md5.txt
optional
portmap.tcz
portmap.tcz.md5.txt
tcp_wrappers.tczl
tcp_wrappers.tczl.md5.txt
ttf-bitstream-vera.tcz
ttf-bitstream-vera.tcz.md5.txt
xmms-1.2.11.tczl
xmms-1.2.11.tczl.dep
xmms-1.2.11.tczl.md5.txt
xpdf-3.02pl2.tcz
xpdf-3.02pl2.tcz.dep
xpdf-3.02pl2.tcz.md5.txt

Any comments of improvement are highly appreciated!

I need the following:
Apps needed working right at startup:
Opera, NFS and OSS, as well as cpufreq and kmaps (for intern.keyboard)

More apps for further working (were I dont mind, if the start of the apps takes some time):
xpdf with fonts
joe-editor
xmms

If I have setup anything like PPI - I dont know. How can I find that out?

Thank you for your comments.

Offline curaga

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Re: System crash possible due to too less ram / too heavy applications
« Reply #10 on: April 06, 2009, 11:54:56 AM »
You could use opera.tcz instead of opera.tce - ditto for opera-locales - and save some tens of mb that way.
The only barriers that can stop you are the ones you create yourself.