iB::Topic::How much RAM does DSL take?

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Topic: How much RAM does DSL take?

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Genecks

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Posts: 34
Joined: Feb. 2007

Posted: Dec. 23 2007,04:27

Alright, this is two parts:

1. How much RAM does DSL take if it's running Live from an external medium?

2. How much RAM does DSL take if it's being completely loaded into RAM?

How about for DSL-N?

curaga

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Posted: Dec. 23 2007,08:20

Check the wiki for minimum requirements..

Live - 16mb text mode, 32mb for X
Toram - at least 128mb

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Genecks

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Posted: Dec. 23 2007,12:02

Second part:

How does the "toram" option change when a person remasters DSL? DSL-N is simply like a DSL remaster, right?

What worries me is that I've done a toram, and It said about 14MB of RAM were being used. How's that work again? If the distro is 50+ MB, and it loads completely into RAM, how is it compressing? What happened to the ~50MB that was previously there?

Does it recognize the hardware and toss what isn't needed? If I remember right, that was one of the /dev problems from back in the day: Tons of drivers that took up space, but not all were needed.

So, is that what DSL is doing? Tossing away what it doesn't need after the toram install, thus decreasing the final amount the OS needs in order to be used while in RAM?

john.martzouco Offline

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Posted: Dec. 23 2007,12:12

If I understand correctly, toram writes the entire operating system into ram. You can remove the CD after the boot is finished.

Running liveCD, you need to leave the CD in the drive, and it will use less ram.

Genecks

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Joined: Feb. 2007

Posted: Dec. 23 2007,12:15

This does not seem sound, though.

It needs 128 MB to load into RAM, yet it's only taking about 15MB at a time while it's fully in RAM.

OS = ~50MB
TOTAL RAM = ~128MB
USED RAM = ~15MB

Do you see the mathematical ratio here that I think is surreal?
50:15

What is the logic, computer science, and determinism behind all of this that allows it to transfer into 15MB?

7 replies since Dec. 23 2007,04:27

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Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » Other Help Topics » How much RAM does DSL take?