Kubuntu uses too much memory. What is the cause?

[Chris Jones]

>
> Thanks for the explanation. I was quoting the wrong memory type.
>
> However, I'm still convinced something is wrong. I wasn't watching  
> my memory
> usage, but suddenly (after upgrading hal in Konsole) everything  
> started
> getting slower. Amarok was taking long pauses. Keyboard and mouse  
> barely
> reacted, so I logged on with ssh (slowly) and started htop. I saw a  
> full 2GB
> of swap used, together with a full 2GB of memory. After that, X  
> crashed and
> the console showed an error, stating that swap space was full. Memory
> instantly dropped to around 80 MB in use.
>
> I restarted kdm and now everything is workable again, but why? I was  
> only
> using:
> - Kontact (kmail, akregator, korganizer, kjots)
> - Amarok
> - Dropbox
> - a Konsole with bash, doing nothing
> - A small windows program in wine

Its impossible to know without more information what was using all  
your systems ram. If it happens again, and you can repeatedly trigger  
it, then do so whilst monitoring the memory usage. That should easily  
tell you who the culprit is.

Chris