In light of the recent discussions about config_tiny, etc, I decided to
install 2.4.19 on my old 8MB 486, to see whether it performed any better
than my previous attempts with 2.2.* and 2.4.*
The strange thing is, the memory init line at bootup (eg Memory:
255296k/261996k available (1584k kernel code, 5972k reserved, 1353k data
, 108k init, 0k highmem)) says that only about 5 or 6MB are availabel,
with a whopping 2.x MB reserved. I have done a web search, and the only
answer I have come up with is that the top 384kb of the 1MB lower
portion of RAM should be here, but what else could be eating up all my
RAM?
There is nothgin suspicious in the BIOS - all BIOS and video caching is
turned off. The machine only (natually) has ISA slots in it, most are
empty. What else could possibly be wrong?
Is there something I can hack in the kernel to get it to use that, or can
anyone give me pointers as to what else I can change? I would really love
to regain that 2MB - its a pain when the shell gets swapped out after
doing an `ls` :)
--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Computer screens simply ooze buckets of yang.
To balance this, place some women around the corners of the room.
-- Kaz Cooke, Dumb Feng Shui
On Mon, Nov 04, 2002 at 01:10:36PM +1100, Tim Connors wrote:
> In light of the recent discussions about config_tiny, etc, I decided to
> install 2.4.19 on my old 8MB 486, to see whether it performed any better
> than my previous attempts with 2.2.* and 2.4.*
> The strange thing is, the memory init line at bootup (eg Memory:
> 255296k/261996k available (1584k kernel code, 5972k reserved, 1353k data
> , 108k init, 0k highmem)) says that only about 5 or 6MB are availabel,
> with a whopping 2.x MB reserved. I have done a web search, and the only
> answer I have come up with is that the top 384kb of the 1MB lower
> portion of RAM should be here, but what else could be eating up all my
> RAM?
> There is nothgin suspicious in the BIOS - all BIOS and video caching is
> turned off. The machine only (natually) has ISA slots in it, most are
> empty. What else could possibly be wrong?
> Is there something I can hack in the kernel to get it to use that, or can
> anyone give me pointers as to what else I can change? I would really love
> to regain that 2MB - its a pain when the shell gets swapped out after
> doing an `ls` :)
How does 2.5.44 (or 2.5.x-bk) do?
Bill
On Sun, 3 Nov 2002, William Lee Irwin III wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 04, 2002 at 01:10:36PM +1100, Tim Connors wrote:
> > In light of the recent discussions about config_tiny, etc, I decided to
> > install 2.4.19 on my old 8MB 486, to see whether it performed any better
> > than my previous attempts with 2.2.* and 2.4.*
> > The strange thing is, the memory init line at bootup (eg Memory:
> > 255296k/261996k available (1584k kernel code, 5972k reserved, 1353k data
> > , 108k init, 0k highmem)) says that only about 5 or 6MB are availabel,
> > with a whopping 2.x MB reserved. I have done a web search, and the only
> > answer I have come up with is that the top 384kb of the 1MB lower
> > portion of RAM should be here, but what else could be eating up all my
> > RAM?
> > There is nothgin suspicious in the BIOS - all BIOS and video caching is
> > turned off. The machine only (natually) has ISA slots in it, most are
> > empty. What else could possibly be wrong?
> > Is there something I can hack in the kernel to get it to use that, or can
> > anyone give me pointers as to what else I can change? I would really love
> > to regain that 2MB - its a pain when the shell gets swapped out after
> > doing an `ls` :)
>
> How does 2.5.44 (or 2.5.x-bk) do?
2.5.45 - still no go.
I will post the logs when I get the computer electrically connected to
anything....
--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Black holes are where God divided by zero. -- Steven Wright
On Sun, 3 Nov 2002, William Lee Irwin III wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 04, 2002 at 01:10:36PM +1100, Tim Connors wrote:
> > In light of the recent discussions about config_tiny, etc, I decided to
> > install 2.4.19 on my old 8MB 486, to see whether it performed any better
> > than my previous attempts with 2.2.* and 2.4.*
> > The strange thing is, the memory init line at bootup (eg Memory:
> > 255296k/261996k available (1584k kernel code, 5972k reserved, 1353k data
> > , 108k init, 0k highmem)) says that only about 5 or 6MB are availabel,
> > with a whopping 2.x MB reserved. I have done a web search, and the only
> > answer I have come up with is that the top 384kb of the 1MB lower
> > portion of RAM should be here, but what else could be eating up all my
> > RAM?
> > There is nothgin suspicious in the BIOS - all BIOS and video caching is
> > turned off. The machine only (natually) has ISA slots in it, most are
> > empty. What else could possibly be wrong?
> > Is there something I can hack in the kernel to get it to use that, or can
> > anyone give me pointers as to what else I can change? I would really love
> > to regain that 2MB - its a pain when the shell gets swapped out after
> > doing an `ls` :)
>
> How does 2.5.44 (or 2.5.x-bk) do?
Okie dokie. Finally booted it and remembered to record the dmesg.
Is attached.
So any idea's on who is stealing my 2 Megs RAM? BIOS's fault?
--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
-o)
/\\ The penguins are coming...
_\_v the penguins are coming...