Whats the deal with the swap and memory management code in 2.1? I've heard
of a lot of problems people are having with machines locking up with the
hard disk thrashing away..
I've had mixed success with the changes, on both my p133 systems the
changes seem to be for the better. But on the humble AMD 386dx40, 2.1 is
S L O W ... :)
This prompted me to try and think of reasons why this is the case. First
of all, I noticed 2.1 likes to leave a chunk of memory free just in case
some stupid device like a sound blaster needs an area of contiguous
DMAable memory. (correct me if I'm way off)
I don't like this, to me free memory is wasted memory. Especially when
you're talking about 386s with pathetic amounts of ram. :)
Heres what I've been thinking.. Say the sb driver needs 128k of contiguous
DMAable memory. Why doesn't the kernel defragment an area of memory, or
page tasks out until it gets that memory? Instead of the
current situation where we leave memory free "just in case"..
Anyone care to comment if this area is being worked on and/or whether
changes for the better will make it in time for 2.2? Granted the market
for low end machines with small amounts of ram is rather narrow, but some
people need inexpensive solutions for existing problems and existing
hardware. And my 386 does a great job with 2.0, it'd be a shame if 2.2
didn't quite cut it.. ;)
Cheers,
Dave.
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