low ressource computer: your setup to maximize your box

[francois]

@bogomips:

...the one major precaution is to keep Javascript on a tight leash ... ...This requires turning on JS only when absolutely necessary...

Thanks for taking some interest on this topic of mine. Sorry, for not providing some feedback. I have been quite occupied. I dig the question of java script on my side as well as I could, but without satisfactory solution. Is there some sort of java script blocker utility that you reccomend?

I am digesting your second post. I will come back on it. Meanwhile, I am trying to fix some scanning issues that I got recently on my current porteus installation. Building anew the os.

[Bogomips]

I dig the question of java script on my side as well as I could, but without satisfactory solution. Is there some sort of java script blocker utility that you reccomend?

There are quite a few JS toggles that one can search for. Difficult to find is Disallow Script Button https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... pt-button/ does it on a tab by tab basis, but sometimes one gets away!

[francois]

Working on my fastest laptop this weekend a 2012 box which reacts very fine for my needs with porteus:
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac ... 590/review
Toshiba's Satellite Z930-10X is built around an Intel Core i5-3317U CPUand runs at a clock speed of 1.7GHz, or 2.6GHz

I will be back to take care of the old box during weekdays or if I get the latter going on fine, tomorrow.
Thanks.

[francois]

Optimizing Linux for Slow Computers, a very good paper:
http://www.akitaonrails.com/2017/01/17/ ... -computers
Suggestions from the paper:
The great suspender to suspend activity of the non used tabs of the chrome browser:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... nakg?hl=en

[Bogomips]

http://www.akitaonrails.com/2017/01/17/ ... -computers Interesting link, but seems to be in different ballpark when comes to RAM. Discusses RAM in multiples of GIB, while I have under 1 GiB, 872 MiB to be precise. Also no mention of using zram, although I myself have perceived no advantage from giving over 5% of RAM to its use. Article recommends:

Code: Select all

vm.swappiness=1
vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50

and in comparison I run with:

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vm.swappiness=10
vm.vfs_cache_pressure=100

Swappiness setting less than 10 has given me trouble, however must try cache_pressure readjustment.

Snapshot of System: Porteus Cinnamon with KDE activated (003-kde5.xzm)

Browser PaleMoon open with 10 tabs, current tab you tube video paused.
Minimized: Nemo, Conky, uxterm, Kate, Konsole
Cinnamon applets available: Pomidore, Timer, Screen Save Blocker

Conky Stats:

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RAM:	688/872 MiB		78%	Usage
SWAP:	287/645 MiB		44% Usage
CPU:	2700 Mhz		3-4 % Usage

Swap Management

Sometimes when running PaleMoon swap usage reaches 588/645. Now after closing PM and restarting, swap usage still shows 588, and gradually increases from there. Thought PaleMoon was to blame, However if after closing PM make another swap area of greater size available, then turn off swap on area showing 588 MiB, the new swap area shows something like 245 MiB usage. And after restarting PM the swap usage will show something over 300 MiB, and gradually increase from there. So maybe there is still some room for tuning of swap management.

[francois]

I am now with nemesis-artix plank desktop with a few xfce4 components. Everything works really fine, except when I open the browser. I have tried your

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[porteus ~]# sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf <<-EOF
> vm.swappiness=10
> vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50
> EOF
vm.swappiness=10
vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50

palemoon seems to react better even when I open gmail. At least for now.

[nanZor]

Great subject, particularly the strategy!

For me, no matter what rig you are running, don't cheap out on the monitor! You can't replace your eyes, so if you are running a $35 RPI, don't feel weird with a $350 monitor behind it.

Power: unless you are running an heirloom or museum quality computer, how much power / performance does it have compared to say a $35 Raspberry Pi running stock Raspbian off a *quality* 5v wall wart supply? Ie, there's a reason I don't fire up my Microvax with Netbsd 2.11 very often.

From that standpoint of power consumption compared to what you can get now, then maybe it *is* time to recycle the old generic beige-box computer if you are still on one and not feel guilty.

Strategy: for low resources, perhaps change your use-case. Does everything *have* to be desktop-oriented or even online? I purposely bought some low-memory SBC computers to force me back to the past - that is what would have been a rockin' "workstation" from the past. Sure a lot of fantastic dev taking place to make the graphics and whatnot speed up, but for me, I don't fool myself trying to turn them into something they are not. Fascinating price / power / performance ratio regardless.

So yeah, purposely limiting my resources is a VERY cool challenge to see what I can do with the original Unix concept of squeezing the most out of limited resources - which means a lot of cli fun / learning. Use a nice console font like Terminus and you may not even need X graphics. Somehow you grok what kept Ken, Dennis, Brian and Doug (and others) so fascinated at Bell Labs...

[nanZor]

I waited awhile to say this, since recommending a different distro is always kind of bad taste...

But, I can say this - if you repurpose your old computer to NOT be a multimedia box, but perhaps light-duty web browsing, text editing, office apps, shell programming etc, nothing beats running solely from ram, AND using Xvesa rather than X11 to get the job done. And since you are light duty, you don't need a billion colors either.

Thing is, Xvesa is yeah - very old and some systems just aren't worth the effort, or old monitors may behave badly no matter how you tweak it.

So I'm saying give TinyCore a shot. You'll be amazed. You can take it further into X11 and more and start to use a lot more resources, but the default with Xvesa can be pretty amazing. Thing is, with Xvesa, you *may* end up purposely changing your monitor's resolution lower (and possibly tweaking with vga=ask in your boot stanza) to see how low you can go and still have reasonable monitor quality. Tip: dump your tube type monitor and upgrade that.

Skills learned from Porteus and Tinycore (or picore for you rpi fans) kind of go together. But be prepared for some hands on to get the most out of it.

I'm not recommending any sort of "switch", but just an option for total low-resource freaks. RAM use is low, but the key is a snappy Xvesa desktop - if you can actually stand it.

[ncmprhnsbl]

Tinycore? Hmmm... that means systemd.

nope, not as far as i can see..

[nanZor]

Yeah, but no - just busybox init. Forgot to mention fltk / flwm as very light weight components...

But back to Porteus - I noticed in some archival flash screen bootups, the option to use Xvesa. Which of course makes me wonder if one actually wanted to, they could use something like nomodeset combined with other options to basically do the same with today's latest versions. Unless it doesn't support xvesa, or gaks on fltk/flwm. Hmmm, I'd have to research that.

Which reminds me, like Tinycore, I gotta' give major kudos for the devs (and users) of both projects hanging in there for so many years.

[francois]

Tinycore, I will try for an old hp 1540ca. Porteus 4.0 does not boot.

Thanks.