[Discuss] Very slow system, no idle, but nothing running

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 04/25/2012 08:54 PM, David Kramer wrote:
> On 04/25/2012 07:35 AM, Jerry Feldman wrote:
>> On 04/24/2012 09:27 PM, David Kramer wrote:
>>> I cleaned a lot of the cat hair out of my computer, so it no longer
>>> has R25 insulation ;)  I say "a lot of" because I have determined you
>>> cannot remove ALL cat hair from a years old laptop keyboard.  Ever.  I
>>> also blew out the fans, etc.  That should make it run cooler.  The
>>> keyboard sure does feel and sound different.
>> I think the biggest win here is the fans and filters.
>>> - Just an hour ago I took out the 2x1GB sticks and installed 2x2GB
>>> sticks.  According to the BIOS after the system takes its tithe I have
>>> about 3.35GB for me.  I'm sure that will make a huge difference.  I
>>> bought for my wife's laptop (a D830, since she bought hers a year after
>>> mine).
>> Looks like a 32-bit system.
> How does that come into play?  Yes, the system has a max of 4GB RAM, and
> that's how much I put in.  According to the BIOS setup screen, the
> system steals some of that (I assume for integrated graphics, but I
> though I had a video card with dedicated memory), and it stole more than
> I would have hoped for, but it's still a lot more RAM for not that much
> money.
>
> Maybe I can sell the 1GB sticks at some point to recoup some of the
> money.  But I don't plan on replacing this laptop in the near future.  I
> have to replace my car before the end of the year, and that's my toy
> budget right there.
Generally you can use about 3.5GB in a 32-bit system. if your system
supports PAE you can use more. All modern Linux kernels have PAE
capabilities, but not all chips do..

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
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