Boot in RAM questions, advise

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: Boot in RAM questions, advise
started by: dchakrab

Posted by dchakrab on Jan. 05 2006,20:11

I have a friend who wanted a machine to get online with. We're talking basic internet use, web-based email, *maybe* an email client in time. Not much else.

I picked up an AMD 2400+ machine at Fry's for $190, with Linspire preinstalled. It's running *really* slow, probably because of the RAM shortage...only 128, DDR 333mhz.

Since it has 32 Mb shared for video, there's effectively 96 Mb available to the system. I'm thinking about installing DSL (in boot to RAM mode) instead of Linspire...would this be possible on a system with 128 shared memory? 128 is listed as the minimum for RAM mode.

Would I get a better performance increase from a $20 ram upgrade or a $20 el crapo video card upgrade? Can someone recommend a super-cheap video card that's easy to get working in DSL? I'm a total Linux newbie.

I'm a big fan of boot-to-RAM mode, since I tried it on my system (P4 HT 2.8, 1/2G DDR2 ECC 533 ram) and it was *insanely* fast. I'm thinking the performance difference will be even more dramatic on an older system with a slower hard drive.

Comments? Advice? All feedback appreciated, and thanks!

Dave.

Posted by doobit on Jan. 05 2006,20:27

Part of the answer depends on how the mahine's BIOS handles the shared RAM. Some of them do not allow you to totally eliminate the sharing, even with a video card installed. The better answer is probably to get both the RAM and the video card because then you would have less of a chance of conflicts with IRQ sharing and DMA. If you are really limited to one choice, then go with as much RAM as you can afford. An AMD 2400+ is not a bad CPU and DSL in RAM will fly on it.

Posted by dchakrab on Jan. 05 2006,20:35

Hmmm...it looks like $23 gets me another 256Mb. It's not so much a question of what I can afford, but a question of how annoyed my client's going to be if I start making upgrade recommendations before even delivering her nice new computer. I'm thinking RAM is doable, though, because I could do the upgrade later.

For now, is it possible to run DSL in 128Mb shared, or should I not even try? I need her to test the system tonight or tomorrow to decide if she wants to return it or not, and I'm worried that Linspire is running so slowly that she's going to be put off by it.

D.

Posted by cbagger01 on Jan. 06 2006,03:51

1) Unless you are going to play newer 3d video games, get the RAM upgrade. Most routine computer use is in 2d mode so no benefit from getting a newer graphics card other than freeing up 32MB of system RAM when instead you can upgrade for 256MB or even 512MB for around the same price. If in the USA, check out:

< http://www.salescircular.com >

to find the current RAM sales in your hometown.

2) Your best bet is to minimize the "Shared" portion of the system RAM by changing the BIOS setting if possible. You might be able to reduce it to as little as 8MB. In reality, 2MB is enough for normal 2d computer uses at typical display resolutions and color depths.

The DSL compressed image is about 49MB in size, so you will effectively reduce your available RAM by this much if you run in "toram" mode. So if you are running "toram" with 96MB of non-shared memory then you really only have about 47MB of RAM leftover for applications and for MyDSL extensions and other stuff like Flash player, Java, etc. So while it is possible to do so, you may not like the end results.

You should definately create a Linux swap partition if you don't already have one. Linspire probably already has one on the existing hard drive. It should be autodetected and used by DSL.

But for me, I'd rather go with the cheap 256MB or 512MB RAM upgrade and then run everything "toram" and avoid the use of the swap partition.

Posted by dchakrab on Jan. 06 2006,06:37

Agreed. I'm going to go with the ram upgrade. I talked to her about it today and delivered the computer (with the default Linspire install) and she seemed to like it, though it's running way too slowly for my taste...as in waiting half a minute or more to open Open Office, and when you try typing, there's a 10+ second lag for the letters to show up after you press the keys. This wasn't a dud model, either...I saw the same levels of lag on the floor model in the store.

I'm heaing OO is a ram hog, so that's most likely a bad application to try to demo.

She approved the RAM upgrade...looks like $23 shipped for 256Mb, can't beat that. Will wait for it to arrive, and then go over to her place for a DSL install / ram upgrade session.

Question: Will DSL install everything automatically, or am I going to have to do some of this manually? What am I likely to have to configure, if everything's already built to work with Linspire? She doesn't have internet, so if I get stuck on something, it's a major roadblock, requiring me to take the computer back to my place, work on it, fix the problem, and bring it back to her. I'd like to avoid that, if at all possible.

Thanks for all the help so far,

Dave.