Reduce Your Ubuntu Linux Memory Footprint

An anonymous reader writes "The ideas in this article will help you breathe life (and some additional security) into your old Linux machines and make better use of Linux on aging hardware. In this article, learn how to accurately measure the amount of memory your Linux system uses. You also get practical advice on reducing your memory requirements using an Ubuntu system as an example. A lack of physical memory can severely hamper Linux performance. This will help you reduce your systems memory footprint and keep your old Linux system running the latest fully featured Linux applications smoothly."

Comments

some hints

[nadaou]

WM: Dump metacity etc for sawfish (or even smaller fluxbox).
File manager: Dump nautilus for rox.
Terminal: Drop gnome-terminal for rxvt.
Email: use sylpheed.
Web browser: use dillo.
Word processor: use AbiWord.
Spreadsheet: gnumeric

Reduce the number of virtual terms (ctrl-alt-f1 through f6) from 6 to 3 (in /etc/inittab comment out respawn:getty tty3-6).

start "top", sort by memory use ("M" once running) and start examining what daemons you don't need. (/etc/init.d/)

Yes, you too can run a modern & functional linux on a Penium75 with 32mb RAM.