MEPIS on Low Memory PCs
Posts: 188
A recent forum member posted about having serious issues when running MEPIS on a Pentium II - 300 MHz PC with relatively low memory which sparked some of the old dead brain cells to life. What I have below are general instructions for installing MEPIS to a Low Memory PC. This may not be a common installation but it does occur and doing the following will improve the overall performance.
Let's begin by getting a common understanding about what I mean by "Low Memory." Low Memory today is usually classified as 128MB or less RAM. In the old days of Linux, this wasn't really a problem. The kernel was small, not very robust, had to be recompiled to add support for new hardware and a host of other diffculties which we don't even think about today. In those days, RAM wasn't cheap and if you had 128MB, you were flying. Today's PCs have more and more accessible RAM space, some even reach the 4GB capacity of a 32-bit processor. Even so, Low RAM PCs still exist in the form of small servers, routers, firewalls and Ethernet bridges. Your typical Linksys router is a Low RAM machine. (And yes, it can even run Linux!!!)
Now that we understand each other, let's get down to business: How exactly do you improve the performance of MEPIS on a Low RAM / Low Memory machine? Swap Space. That's right; Swap Space. Since I've never let MEPIS handle the partitioning on it's own, I don't know how it handles setting up Swap Space. Oh, not sure what Swap Space is? I'll fill you in...
When you start your computer, the OS and it's libraries, kernel modules, services and previously running applications (saved state... More later...) are restored / loaded into RAM and memory space starts filling up pretty quickly. So what happens to the programs that are loaded and have gone idle during boot? Do they sit there and use up precious RAM? No, they get sent to Swap Space. Think of Swap Space as extra RAM on hard disk. Even Windows has Swap Space except it's called "pagefile.sys" and resides on the main drive.
Still with me? Good! Back to the installation... Before we begin, if you're planning on dual booting with that other OS, you'll want to boot into Windows and run scandisk, then defrag, then scandisk again. This will insure the Windows partitions are contiguous and able to be resized. Now, boot the MEPIS Installation CD. Log in and go to INSTALL ME. Let's open up qtParted and take a look around. *** WARNING *** - Do NOT arbitrarily play with your Windows partition sizes unless you have done the previous steps. You can, and most likely WILL, lose the running Windows installation by doing so. If you're planning on reinstalling Windows, ignore the above and repartition as you wish. Resize the Windows partition to whatever size you want making sure you leave enough room for the MEPIS install. I generally split the drive in two minus the Swap Space ((Total Capacity - Swap)/2). If you prefer not to go such a drastic measure, leave about 5GB free on the disk as this will give you 4GB for MEPIS and 1GB for Swap. Choose "ext3" or "ReiserFS" for the 4GB partition and "Linux Swap" for the 1GB partition. Save your changes and reboot.
If you're reinstalling Windows, now would be the time to do so. Go ahead, it's OK. I'll wait. No, really; go ahead! I'll be fine.
Welcome back! Let's reboot the MEPIS CD and... Oh, you beat me to that part. Well, go to INSTALL ME and proceed to install MEPIS as usual. When it asks where Swap Space is, tell it which partition you set up as Swap and then walk through the rest of the install.
Now that you're done... You may not notice anything initially but, rest assured, when you get to playing (or working) hard, you'll notice. Previously running programs take less time to come back to life after being minimized. The system responds just a tiny bit faster than usual. Programs crash less frequently. In general, the Low RAM / Low Memory PC just behaves better. Make no mistake about it, although it may not be immediately apparent, there is distinct benefit in having Swap Space set up and active on ANY Linux system.
Happy Linuxing!!!
Why not use your suggested How-To???
Posts: 188
How about this howto?
www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php/Installing_MEPIS_on_old_hardware
Because my "HowTo" is primarily concerned with setting up Swap Space on Low RAM / Low Memory PCs while allowing the regular installation to proceed normally which includes installing and using KDE in spite of its resource requirements.
If I were truly concerned with KDE's resource usage as a restriction to installing an OS, I'd say "Screw MEPIS" and recommend Damn Small Linux becasue DSL, as it is called, uses FluxBox and a pared down X installation without sacrificing usability. DSL only needs about 200MB on disk when installed and is actually geared for arcane, low RAM PCs.
Try to keep this in mind: One of the things MEPIS does VERY well is that it eases the transition from Windows to Linux. Warren has invested a vast sum of his time into building tools and such to help the Total Newb get a Linux system up and running in the shortest time without the "System Shock" other distros have. Using your recommended HowTo defeats that idea completely by forcing a non-standard installation which is usually reserved for PC jocks with much more experience than the average newbie. Someone just switching to MEPIS from Windows and having no clue about what they are doing would be COMPLETELY LOST using your HowTo; AND, they would end up with a machine that they can not use because they've somehow botched the partition table and lost Windows at the same time. Do you remember the first time you sat staring at a "No Operating System" error at boot? I didn't think so.
Not everyone, and especially Newbies, has the same level of experience as you or I may have. Please keep that in mind. It would also help if you, Adrian, would read and fully understand the entirety of a post before you respond.
Michael
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When all else fails... Read ALL the directions!!!
What noobs need
Posts: 275
Not everyone, and especially Newbies, has the same level of experience as you or I may have. Please keep that in mind. It would also help if you, Adrian, would read and fully understand the entirety of a post before you respond.
I'm pretty much the Newbie you guys are referring to, and I'd want to have as much information as possible when deciding to move to a Linux distro. So Adrian's how-to would be just as essential to having the total picture before deciding how to proceed.
--Malanrich
Thanks Malanrich, rgnglzrd,
Posts: 4077
Thanks Malanrich,
rgnglzrd, I have no idea what in my post bothered you, I didn't contradict you I thought it would complete your post. (besides that post in wiki touches setting swap too) If you can't accept that some computers can't run KDE that's your problem...
It would also help if you, Adrian, would read and fully understand the entirety of a post before you respond.
I will try my best! But think about this a little bit... I wrote one line and you misunderstood it (it's probably my writing skills, but still... this kind of forum communication demands understanding from both you and I)
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Check out MEPIS Wiki: www.mepis.org/docs
Wiki Please
Posts: 4864
This type of information would be much better in the wiki than here, where in a short while it will be buried and lost.
Then, instead of competing with instructions on the wiki, the discussion, with a heading closer to its content ie Low Memory Machines and Swap Space, would be complementary rather than competitive.
Create the Swap Parition first
Posts: 1109
IMO, you're probably better off creating the swap partition and formatting it first using a "light footprint" tool like the GParted Live CD before trying to run the MEPIS installation from a SimplyMEPIS Live CD on a PC with 128MB of RAM.
I've already seen posts from users having problems with PCs running newer SimplyMEPIS versions in this little RAM from a live CD.
The wiki page that AdrianTM posted a link to mentions that option also (using another tool to partition the drive first).
That way, the SimplyMEPIS Live CD will see and use the swap partition (just make sure to format it using something like Gparted, too) when you boot into it, and you'll have a better chance of installing from a Live CD on a low resource PC.
Jim C.
That's Two for The Wiki
Posts: 5513
I concur with drlizau rgnglzrd. The forum is a good place to START passing information to someone, especially to noobs. But with the volume of stuff that passes through these parts, it will easily get lost in a few months. Please add your information to the wiki where we can edit and enhance what you've shared.
It sounds like there are at least two items to be described, worked on, and worked around: 1) Older, slower systems, and 2) Systems with less than 512 MB RAM. These are not necessarily the same thing. There could be other complementary (as well as conflicting) items here. And within a wiki topic, it becomes easier to blend/break items into multiple (sub-)topics.
Jon
In /dev/null, no one can hear you type...
Then to the Wiki it goes!!!
Posts: 188
I'll copy it off to the Wiki at first opportunity.
Thanks, guys!
Michael
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The box said "Requires Windows 98 or better"
....so I installed LINUX!!!
How about this
Posts: 4077
How about this howto?
www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php/Installing_MEPIS_on_old_hardware
(it avoids starting KDE which is a big benefit when installing on old machines)
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Check out MEPIS Wiki: www.mepis.org/docs