RAM Q4OS 4.12 vs 5.2 on old hardware

TheScarletPimpernel · 2023-07-10 07:20

I am running (in part) a 16 year old 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9300 · 2GB RAM. In Live mode Trinity v 4.12 (64 bit) took 296 MB RAM with wifi connected and Trinity with v 5.2 it leapt to 547 MB RAM. So an 84% increase in RAM between versions.

I am surprised. I am teaching a class on Linux fot old hardware and and had put Q4OS in the light weight class with distros like Bodhi(248 MB RAM), LXLE(266 MB RAM), Porteus LXDE(273 MB RAM), Porteus LXQT(288 MB RAM), Porteus Mate (286 MB RAM), Instant OS(310 MB RAM), Xubuntu(389 MB RAM) but now it seems that Q4OS as moved into the middle weight class with distros like MX Linux (596 MB RAM), Linux Lite(648 MB RAM), Porteus KDE(512 MB RAM), Zorin Lite (611 MB RAM), Kumander (485 MB RAM), Lubuntu, LXQT(488 MB RAM).

Q4OS was my recommended distro for Windows refugees in the lightweight category but now as a middleweight Windows friendly distro it contends with Zorin Lite, Linux Lite, and especially Kumander which is pretty much a visual and functional Windows 7 clone.

I would like to be able to keep recommending Q4OS in the lightweight space for Windows refugees but it appears to be now longer truly lightweight but middleweight. So my question is since I am looking at only 2 GB RAM might I expect a lower memory footprint if I waited for the 32 bit v 5.2 rollout? Maybe it is my hardware.

Thoughts?

Kindest regards to all.

q4osteam · 2023-07-10 07:57

We cannot confirm that. We have performed testing in Virtualbox / 2GB RAM, started htop immediately after bootup. Htop shows the following:
q4os-4.12-x64-tde.r2.iso .. 294 MB
q4os-5.2-x64-tde.r1.iso .. 315 MB

The difference is made mostly by newer kernel, otherwise 4.12 vs 5.2 are pretty similar in set of packages and tools. Any 84% difference wouldn't make much sense.

4.12

5.2

TheScarletPimpernel · 2023-07-11 01:22

Thank you for the response.

The mystery is partially solved. Since I have been testing distros out across various hardware (25, 16, 13, 11 years old) I wanted to measure memory with something that would be on all distros and selected: free -m for RAM usage.

I reinstalled 4.12 and 5.2 and measured using:

free -m
htop
top

The results are below:

Q4OS 4.12
-------------
free -m 303 MB RAM
top 287.1 MB RAM
htop 306 MB RAM

Q4OS 5,2
------------
free -m 515 MB RAM
top 506-525 MB RAM
htop 343 MB RAM

So for whatever reason free -m and top reflect an increase in RAM for 5.2 over 4.12. But that increase is not reflected in htop at the 5.12 level.

It makes me wonder if something changed with free -m and top that is being reflected in 5.12.

Kindest regards to all.

bin · 2023-07-11 06:50

A few weeks back I was reading a forum thread - and I'm sorry I cannot recall where - about measuring RAM usage under the new kernels.

Cannot recall exact details but the gist of it was that different tools can now give widely different results.

q4osteam · 2023-07-11 09:23

TheScarletPimpernel wrote:

It makes me wonder if something changed with free -m and top that is being reflected in 5.12.

The new kernel uses memory in a different way, it's about caching/buffering policy. The kernel is smart enough to make use of free memory as best as possible. But using cache says nothing about the real memory requirements.

You can even see the difference of buffered memory on the images we have posted above. You get no valuable results, if you compare distros with different major kernel versions just by simple output of memory usage tools. Concluding 84% increase in ram is simply misleading.

Q4OS Aquarius isn't some more demanding on memory and hardware resources then Gemini. It's much more lightweight then any other comparable desktop distributions.

Last edited by q4osteam (2023-07-11 09:26)

Senas Komunistas · 2023-07-11 12:13

If you're using command "free" to get memory usage information then it's probably been affected by the changes in procps since the bullseye release.

Check /proc/meminfo in both systems for a better comparison.

crosscourt · 2023-07-11 22:34

In the KDE version of Aquarius I get around 1.4-1.5gb in system monitor but htop reported just 837mb. Given the amount of ram most users are using today its probably not an issue but certainly I can why its a concern with those who use the TDE version.

Q4OS Forum

#1 2023-07-10 07:20

RAM Q4OS 4.12 vs 5.2 on old hardware

#2 2023-07-10 07:57

Re: RAM Q4OS 4.12 vs 5.2 on old hardware

#3 2023-07-11 01:22

Re: RAM Q4OS 4.12 vs 5.2 on old hardware

#4 2023-07-11 06:50

Re: RAM Q4OS 4.12 vs 5.2 on old hardware

#5 2023-07-11 09:23

Re: RAM Q4OS 4.12 vs 5.2 on old hardware

#6 2023-07-11 12:13

Re: RAM Q4OS 4.12 vs 5.2 on old hardware

#7 2023-07-11 22:34

Re: RAM Q4OS 4.12 vs 5.2 on old hardware

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