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Not interested in distros. I have a cheap 1GB RAM Ubuntu vps that needs to run stuff requiring 3+GB of RAM resulting in 2+GB swap file. My gut instinct tells (incorrectly?) me it should be possible tweak Linux for such conditions. I dont expect miracles (or maybe I do?) but it has to do a thing that can take up to an hour, getting this time down a bit would be great. If it is slower under normal conditions I don't care as I can just set setting to defaults under such normal conditions.

I have experimented a bit with zswap and "think" performance got a bit better with some values. Will try zram next.

Not interested in distros. I have a cheap 1GB RAM Ubuntu vps that needs to run stuff requiring 3+GB of RAM resulting in 2+GB swap file. My gut instinct tells (incorrectly?) me it should be possible tweak Linux for such conditions. I dont expect miracles (or maybe I do?) but it has to do a thing that can take up to an hour, getting this time down a bit would be great. If it is slower under normal conditions I don't care as I can just set setting to defaults under such normal conditions. I have experimented a bit with zswap and "think" performance got a bit better with some values. Will try zram next.

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[–] • 1 pt

You can try to make the kernel smaller by making every option you need a module, and not enabling things you don't. Kernel modules can be swapped whereas kernel cannot.

I am not sure how much you have to work with starting with a stock kernel. Probably not too much.

[–] • 0 pt

I've used Linux as primary OS for about 3 years but I have used it as a normal user (i.e. not power user) so I don't understand exactly what you mean. Do you mean something like the kernel can have extra "options" added to it and that these options can either be "baked-in" or put on the side (then called "modules"), when they are put on the side as modules they can be then be swapped out? Or am I misunderstanding what you mean?

I managed to solve my memory problem in this case by making the software I needed to run require less memory, but learning to make Linux itself require less memory still seems worthwhile.

[–] • 1 pt

Do you mean something like the kernel can have extra "options" added to it and that these options can either be "baked-in" or put on the side (then called "modules"),

Precisely. You can put the sound driver in the kernel or select module instead. There are heaps of options in kernel configuration and many can be modules.

Give it a go, you can figure it out after a few tries. Just be sure it has a separate grub entry so you can boot the working kernel.

[–] • 0 pt

Very interesting. Seems stock Ubuntu server has all kinds of probably totally unneeded "crap". Will spends some time looking at this. Thanks!