Kubuntu uses too much memory. What is the cause?

[Alvin]

On Friday 29 May 2009 01:52:46 Derek Broughton wrote:
> Chris Jones wrote:
> >>> Hi,
> >>
> >> many times, when i really need to put everything in RAM again (i hate
> >> waiting for swapp->ram moving while in the middle of working), i do a:
> >>
> >> cat /proc/swaps   (not necessary, i like to know how much is used)
> >> sudo swapoff -a   (everything in swap moves to RAM)
> >> sudo swapon -a
> >> cat /proc/swaps   (make sure 0 swap is used)
> >>
> >> i have the above 4 lines in a script called "freeswap", chmodded and
> >> put
> >> in /usr/local/bin . and i use it very often :)
> >
> > Just curious, but I am not sure I see how this saves any time.

Well, it works.

> I don't believe it does.  I can't imagine how anything so crude as just
> turning off swap can improve on the performance of a paging system that's
> been 15 (?) years in the making.

That's also true of course. It indicates there is something wrong here.

> If you're "waiting for swap" while working, it's because you have too many
> applications running, that you're not really using (typically monitoring
> processes - like "top", because the daemons that you aren't using are
> generally completely swapped out).

Kontact + Amarok is apparently enough to overload my 2GB ram system. I 
shouldn't even need swap for that.

> > The only real solution I know of to cure a system that is swapping a
> > lot, is to add more ram...
>
> Or to close applications (ie, to _use_ less ram); or (and this is a far
> less useful method) to get swap onto a faster device.

Desktop applications can get pretty heavy these days, and I have no problems 
with that, but 2GB should be more than enough for my needs on this computer.

I'll keep looking for the real reason. My Kubuntu workstation at work usually 
has more applications open and never uses swap.