How to test with low RAM and just one CPU core (was: Re: Chromium vs Firefox : Need testimonies )

[Jonathan Marsden]

On 05/31/2013 05:47 PM, Andre Rodovalho wrote:

> I cannot test lubuntu with such low specs... But I have already used
> lubuntu with several Celeron D processors, and about 1gb.

You can boot with a kernel parameter

  mem=512M

or

  mem=384M

or even

  mem=256M

so the kernel will only use that much of your RAM, so userland Linux
programs (like Chromium and Firefox) will then not even know the rest of
your RAM exists!  This makes testing the "low RAM" case trivial.

In the same way, you can temporarily turn a multi-core CPU into a
single-core one by adding the parameter

  nosmp

Together, those two options let you run your machine with less CPU and
less RAM that it really has, for testing purposes.  Just edit the kernel
line temporarily from the GRUB menu when you boot.

Jonathan