Memory used 460M idling on Sparky3.4.1X64

[wayne]

Thanks to the 3.4.1 release.

I prepare USB flash with Linux dd command.
No issue to boot in UEFI mode, install in UEFI and boot it.  :)

A quick check on memory used...
I am not sure why it is so high..

using htop, just idling, I see around 460M used
same as in free -h

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wayne@sparkyx64:~$ free -h
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3.8G       1.2G       2.6G        62M       109M       649M
-/+ buffers/cache:       464M       3.3G
Swap:         7.9G         0B       7.9G
wayne@sparkyx64:~$


if I just run iceweasel, I would add to around 640M, with two tabs open on just sparky and another forums.

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wayne@sparkyx64:~$ free -h
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3.8G       1.4G       2.4G        66M       110M       658M
-/+ buffers/cache:       637M       3.1G
Swap:         7.9G         0B       7.9G
wayne@sparkyx64:~$

I think 200M added for iceweasel is typical.


I am used to run Debian xfce, 32-bit, on idling, memory used range from 110M to 160M.
here, Sparky xfce 64-bit, on idling, memory used around 460M.. very high compare to Debian7.x

it does not appear as 'light' when it idles around 460M..
I remember also when running live mode it is something like 2xxM..

My question:
On installed OS,  is 460M idling considered typical?
How do I figure out what are using so much memory?
are there some 'hidden processes' that consume unnecessary memory?

Thanks

[pavroo]

All 64 bit systems use more power than 32 bit for sure.
I am not sure how much more 64 bit efi system takes than 64 bit bios.
I will make tests and publish my results.

[wayne]

Hi pavroo,

I understand 64bit would take more mem footprint, but 460M idling is quite a surprise..


Here I boot into two other Debian /Debian based distros for a quick check

1. Debian-Testing-64bit_UEFI-gnome

Idling around 272M

wayne@debuefi:~$ uname -a
Linux debuefi 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.57-3+deb7u2 x86_64 GNU/Linux
wayne@debuefi:~$ free -h
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3.8G       702M       3.1G         0B        66M       362M
-/+ buffers/cache:       272M       3.5G
Swap:         7.9G         0B       7.9G
wayne@debuefi:~$

2. Debian based, theme-ix,  XFCE, 64-bit , UEFI, it was supposedly emulating xubuntu but based on Debian.

wayne@theme-ix:~$ [ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo "EFI boot on HDD" || echo "Legacy boot on HDD"
EFI boot on HDD

idling around 165M

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wayne@theme-ix:~$ free -h
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3.8G       386M       3.4G        46M        21M       199M
-/+ buffers/cache:       165M       3.7G
Swap:         255M         0B       255M


Run firefox with one tab opens, mem used around 255M, htop reading about 237M
this sound more like what is 'typical'...I think so.

wayne@theme-ix:~$ free -h
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3.8G       544M       3.3G        56M        22M       289M
-/+ buffers/cache:       232M       3.6G
Swap:         255M         0B       255M
wayne@theme-ix:~$

something must have eaten memory on sparky xfce..
just do not know what they are..


EDIT..
3. Debian 7.6 Xfce 64-bit, UEFI
idling around 159M
open iceweasel, one tab.. around 292M

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wayne@debian7:~$ uname -a
Linux debian7 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.60-1+deb7u1 x86_64 GNU/Linux
wayne@debian7:~$ free -h
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3.7G       305M       3.4G         0B        21M       124M
-/+ buffers/cache:       159M       3.6G
Swap:         3.9G         0B       3.9G
wayne@debian7:~$ run iceweasel
bash: run: command not found
wayne@debian7:~$ free -h
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3.7G       510M       3.2G         0B        24M       193M
-/+ buffers/cache:       292M       3.5G
Swap:         3.9G         0B       3.9G
wayne@debian7:~$


[pavroo]

I've checked it on my machine - it uses 200 MB of RAM about.
Can you check what process consumes so much power?

[wayne]

Did a check on md5sum.

I used torrent, I thought it is better in having error check.

from the download page
31c1ddde82661af8dd5bdcd3ce7b7a64  sparkylinux-3.4.1-x86_64-xfce.iso

from the file downloaded into my computer
wayne@hp8000:~/Downloads$ md5sum sparkylinux-3.4.1-x86_64-xfce.iso
31c1ddde82661af8dd5bdcd3ce7b7a64  sparkylinux-3.4.1-x86_64-xfce.iso

so they matched.

now i dd the iso to usb flash again.
then, boot into UEFI mode, select the third line to check integrity..
end with this error, module ehci-orion not found in modules.dep


captured in image, not sure if this matter..