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Re: 486-100/16mb. linux is slow



Mark Hanji wrote:
> 
> I installed linux slackware 3, kernel ver 1.2.13 on my 486-100mb with
> 16mb ram.
> 
> I thouhgt it is enough memory, and didn't make swap partition.
> my X window is very slow --> the disk led is almos always working :(
> 
> can i improve my linux performance without buying more memory?
> can i re-fdisk my disk to make a swap partion? i have 1gb disk, and it
> is all for linux native partion?
> 

I have dx4/100 with 24MB, and I still need to use swap when running x.

If you want to add swap, you don't have to repartition the disk. You can
create a swap file (known as "filesystem paging") and use it instead.

Here's a list of commands to do it, taken from Oreilly's "Essential
System Admin.":

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/swap1 bs=1024 count=8192  (8MB swap file named
swap1)
# mkswap /swap1 8192
# sync; sync
# swapon /swap1

This will create and activate a swap file of 8192K on the root
filesystem called swap1.

You can add more files if you need more space.

I admit I didn't use this on Linux myself, but I did use it on solaris
several times (the procedure is similar) and it works like a charm.

I've heard there might be a slight performance penalty since this is a
file and not a dedicated partition, but I haven't noticed it yet.

-- 
Regards,

Gilad.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gilad Gam                         email: gilad@vocaltec.com
VocalTec Ltd.                     phone: 972-9-525823


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