frugal install- swap file size

Forum: HD Install
Topic: frugal install- swap file size
started by: Austin

Posted by Austin on May 20 2006,14:14

Hi I’m new to DSL and Linux and would appreciate a little advice please.

I have an old Pentium 166MhZ machine with an 8GB hard drive and 48MB RAM.

After reading through some of the other posts here I would like to try a frugal install of DSL. As recommended, I intend to create 3 partitions (swap, dsl and the other for persistent home backups/data etc). However given that the machine only has 48MB of RAM, I was wondering what you thought would be the best size for the Swap file? does 300 or 400MB sound appropriate?

Thanks

Posted by tedmoore99 on May 20 2006,18:17

You can set the swap file size to any size you want, so try it at 300MB and then once it is install watch how much swap space is used. The old recommendation was 1.5 times the ram but with only 48MB I'd say go with the 300MB. Enjoy!

Posted by cbagger01 on May 21 2006,04:46

FYI, even with a good-sized swapfile you might run out of iNodes if you only have 48MB of RAM.

So if you have problems loading some of the bigger extensions you might want to try a traditional hard drive installation instead of a frugal install.