this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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RAM is the cheapest upgrade possible, unless you're trying to run a game on 8GB in 2023 idk why you'd be that concerned with RAM usage.
Perpetual software bloat should not be encouraged; idling at 2GB is fucking insane
Really? My arch install is idling at 2.8gb. Picom (310mb), XOrg (160mb) and pipewire (140mb) are big chunks, and kitty isn't cheap either but the rest is mainly sub 50mb services that all add up. I'm not running anything heavy like Gnome or KDE either, just bspwm and 2 polybar instances (one for each monitor).
Yeah that sounds fishy, a default KDE installation of Fedora would at least be under a gig for me
Depends on settings and the amount of availlable RAM. Install fedora KDE spin on three systems, one with 4GB, one with 8 and one with say 16GBs of RAM. You should see, that the vanilla install of KDE uses different amounts of RAM on each system. KDE uses caching of all kinds of stuff to make the overall experience smoother. The amount and aggressivenes of the caching depends on distribution defaults. And KDE using, say, 8GB of RAM when idling isn't bad. RAM is only useful, when it is used. When memory pressure increases (applications are actively using lots of RAM), KDE will automatically reduce cache sizes to free the RAM up again.
The entire notion of the system using as little RAM as possible is really weird and usually (imho) shows that people who say that don't understand how the RAM is used. I want my system to make good use of my RAM, and as much of that as is reasonable.
Damn, you said it better than I could have. Unused RAM is like unused screen space.
Bragging you have three monitors but have mastered Alt-Tab and don't use them.
My fedora install idles at about 1.5GB.
How heavy is your kitty? It usually averages at 40-45 Mb on a new window for me (with custom zsh with starship and some plugins, and customised neofetch)
Yeah that's weird, after a
systemctl soft-reboot, both picom and xorg's memory usage is way down. Either way, it's still not that unreasonable to see Windows idling at 2GB.Compared to what? And based on what advancement of technology and software? What should it take? Cause we can strip features all day long until we get there.
Compared to Linux which idle at half a gig with the most bloated DE. Hell, even Mac isn't that bad.
Good? Okay? We need more minimalism
That's an opinion, your OS can have whatever you want with however much bloat you want your hardware to have to handle.
No, it can't, because you can't remove the bloat, dummy, that's the entire point of the problem. People wouldn't care if they could just remove the bullshit.
You want a Linux install to take up less RAM? Install a lightweight distro like Endeavor or regular Arch and go with an absolutely minimal build.
You want that with Windows? There are ISO's that have Cortana and other preinstalled bloatware already removed, etc. Or you can do the same with PowerShell post-install.
The more I hear Linux purists talk the more it's clear their knowledge of windows is either incredibly basic with no attempt to actually learn or fifteen years out of date. Usually both.
Me running on lxde using 512mb: 😎
...Boss man!
Then you'll turn around and tell me to use Firefox even though Vivaldi runs on half the RAM.
Your guaranteed response?
"Well you have it, might as well use it!"
Cool, exactly how I feel about the OS. Who cares if it can't run on less than a GB. I gave 32GB and can't use all of it if I wanted to even with all my monitors full of applications. Don't see a difference in the argument.
"Why would you want to run your entire DE in under 500mb ram?"
"Cuz it's cool"
My arch install runs at 700mb without nothing opened. Yeah, I know I always have Thunderbird/firefox/telegram/mpv opened and my usage skyrockets to 10/11gb on medium, but knowing that my DE only occupies a very small portion of that is pleasant.
Sure, if minimizing the amount of hardware your OS runs on is fun for you go ahead. I'm not trying to tell you it's wrong, I think it's badass.
It just isn't a factor in being "optimized for gaming" when the average system has 8-16GB to spare even under gaming load. That's like saying your car isn't "optimized for driving" based purely on MPG and eschewing all other metrics.
Unless you use laptop with soldered-in RAM and insane pricing options.
I've never seen a laptop with soldered RAM, they've all been pop and swap in my experience.
GPU/CPU, yeah. Always soldered.
I'll tell you more, there are even hybrids out there nowadays like this ASUS Pro Duo 15 SE with two sticks, one of which is soldered in. The Zenbook variant has both soldered in. And that's why I'm burning 300w of electricity typing this message on Zephyrus...
Trying on 6GB. As a Linux user I usually don't need more RAM, so haven't added any yet.