> On Sun, 3 Aug 1997, Richard B. Johnson wrote:
>
> >Update periodically flushes dirty file-buffers to disk. If it isn't
[SNIPPED]
>
> That's very interesting, since every 10-20 minutes (even 30) after making
> the hard-dirve do lots of work (except compiles?), I virtually lose my
> computer for about 2-3 mins due to long continuous hard-drive activity, is
> this update?
>
Nope, not unless your file-system is on a floppy. You just can't have
enough dirty buffers to keep your disk active for 2-3 minutes. It looks
like you have a low RAM problem and you are seeing "thrashing" of the
swap file (partition).
Generally, your swap file size should be one of the following:
(1) At least 64 megabytes.
(2) Three times your RAM size.
... which ever is greater.
You should use a swap partition instead of a swap file although files
work for temporary work-arounds. A seperate swap DISK is usually even
better.
Cheers,
DJ
Richard B. Johnson
Analogic Corporation
Penguin : Linux version 2.1.44 on an i586 machine (66.15 BogoMips).
Warning : It's hard to stay on the trailing edge of technology.
Linux : Engineering tool
Windows : Typewriter