[clug] Memory issues

[Michael Ellerman]

On Fri, 2015-05-29 at 12:30 +1000, Paul Rands wrote:
>  
> Hi Guys, 
> 
> I wanted to try here first before I waste hours Googling
> and trawling umpteen forums with a problem with memory running out. 
> 
> I
> have an AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 945 Processor system, quad core, running at
> 3 GHz. 6 GB RAM. Oodles of hard disk space. Linux Mint Mate 17. 
> 
> I am
> finding whenever I have GIMP or Chrome running for long periods I tend
> to suddenly run low on memory and the machine is busy swapping to hard
> disk all the time. Sometimes I can recover by closing some tabs or
> programs other times the computer eventually hangs. 

How much swap do you have configured, and have you tried disabling it?

With swap disabled if something is chewing too much memory the OOM killer will
just kill it, and at least you'll know what it was.

Chrome in particular will notice this and individual tabs will show you the
"He's Dead, Jim!" message.

If on the other hand it's the GIMP then it'll just get killed and you'll lose
all your work :D

cheers