MX Linux distro supporting "From RAM"

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi all,

thanks a lot for your latest posts.

@xahodo :

Thank you for your suggestion.
96 MB is definitively not much.

Void is certainly worth having a second look at.
I know @nevj has mastered Void excellently and as far as I know it´s a rolling release distro, yet astoundingly stable.

@callpaul.eu :

@callpaul.eu

have you tried installing either puppy or small core linux on a hard disk to run instead of a full blown version of linux.

No, actually I haven´t.
I once installed EasyOS in a virtual machine to experiment with. That´s quite a while ago, though.
Anyway, thanks for the suggestion, Paul.

@nevj :

Thank you, Neville, for the clarification of what a modified kernel actually is.
Yes, it seems using a modified kernel would work in my case.

@nevj

For example, here are the kernel buikd instructions for Arch

Thanks a lot for providing the how-to.
Seems quite interesting.

@nevj

Void linux has an approach which allows compiling a kernel within the package system, so it can get updates.

Wow, that´s quite an achievement by them. I wouldn´t have thought it´s possible.

I was meaning to look at free after booting my system today. But of course I forgot.
I hope to be able to do so next time.

Thanks again to all of you.

Many greetings from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

Yes, it seems using a modified kernel would work in my case

Hi Rosika,
Lets keep this in perspective.
You could probably scrounge maybe 0.5GB of ram by modifying a kernel .
It that will help then do it, but
It is nothing like the benefit you would get by going from 4 to 8 GB of ram chips.
There are lots of refurbished 8GB mini-tower computers around at very low prices.
Having 2 computers is an insurance against failures.
Regards
Neville

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi Neville,

@nevj

Lets keep this in perspective.

Yes, of course you´re right.
I guess I was slightly carried away by the theoretical possiblities emerging.

@nevj

Having 2 computers is an insurance against failures.

Always a good idea.

I think I might manage quite well with my 4 GB of RAM for now.
It´s just a matter of choosing the right distro.

My initial thoughts (see my post #1) were:

• switching to MX Linux as an alternative to Linux LIte 7.6
• clarifying the “From RAM” business

I´m pretty sure by now that “From RAM” is meant to be an option for booting from the live system, not from an installed one.
That´s how it should be (for me), because I wouldn´t want the entire OS to be loaded into RAM.

Thanks again and cheers from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

I think I might manage quite well with my 4 GB of RAM for now.
It´s just a matter of choosing the right distro.

Hi Rosika,
Oh yeah… you are not in a position of HAVING to do some change to software or hardware. I just enjoyed thinking it out.
Regards
Neville

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi Neville,

@nevj

I just enjoyed thinking it out.

Great.
That´s what I often do as well. Just contemplating some theoretical scenarios.
And I like doing it well in advance in order not to have to take any rash decisions when the time comes to do a fresh install.

My present system will receive updates until April 2027. No need to rush things.

MX Linux still remains competitive.

Cheers from Rosika

[4dandl4 (Daniel Phillips)]

@Rosika

I think I might manage quite well with my 4 GB of RAM for now.

With 4GB of ram, your issue, is just not with the distro!!! Although, it is, not being used, as of now, I have an old Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, with only 4GB of ram, running Gentoo and Windows XP, and it has handled anything I have ported it’s way.

Just do not think the 4GB of ram is the bottleneck you may think it is, although the minimum requirement for ram now, is probably 8GB!!! That being said, 4GB will still run a PC and was fine, back in the XP days!!! Most Linux distros have, on a whole, without telling, have up their ram requirements!!! But I have 3 desktops and 2 laptops I can fall back on!!! Maybe I could just box up my Acer Mini and ship it too you, you might could put it to good use!!!

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

@4dandl4 :

Hi Daniel,

thanks for your comments.

@4dandl4

although the minimum requirement for ram now, is probably 8GB!!!

I see. Well, fortunately there still seem to be some distros around which cope well with 4 GB of RAM.

@4dandl4

Most Linux distros have, on a whole, without telling, have up their ram requirements!!!

That´s the way it goes. Oh well.

@4dandl4

Maybe I could just box up my Acer Mini and ship it too you, you might could put it to good use!!!

That´s such a great offer. Thank you very much, Daniel.

But at present I will make the most of what I have available.
Please do keep your your devices. You never know when they come in handy.

As long as I can run my virtual machines (Arch / Debian) with just 1 GB if RAM allocated to them I will surely be able to run my PC with the specs I currently have at my disposal.
I might even go for Debian stable, who knows?

Still: thank you again for your kindness.

All the best from Rosika

[4dandl4 (Daniel Phillips)]

@Rosika

That´s such a great offer.

That Acer Mini has 8GB ram, would make you a fine small desktop PC!!!

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

@4dandl4 :

Hi Daniel,

@4dandl4

a fine small desktop PC

I don´t doubt it in the least.
Thanks again for your generosity.

But please: do keep it. You never know when you might need it, even as a spare device.
I will surely get along well enough with what I have. My demands are pretty humble.

In actual fact we could clarify the essential parts of my question and I´m very thankful for all your help.

Many greetings from Rosika

[4dandl4 (Daniel Phillips)]

@Rosika

But please: do keep it. You never know when you might need it, even as a spare device.

Oh, it is compiling LFS!!!

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi all,

@4dandl4 :

@4dandl4

Oh, it is compiling LFS!!!

Great.
I hope everything goes well.

@nevj :

Hi Neville,

since you asked:

@nevj

How much memory does your Lite use?.. measured with free … not what they claim

free
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:         3922256      747452     1929480       92284     1245324     2854156
Swap:        1961124           0     1961124

and:

free -m
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:            3830         799        1813          83        1216        2724
Swap:           1915           0        1915

… measured right after boot and login with nothing started except the terminal to issue the commands.

I didn´t forget about it today.

Many greetings to all from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

you asked

So 0.7GB. It is way smaller than MX., even allowing for me having browser going.
You will be hard pressed to improve on that.

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi Neville,

@nevj

So 0.7GB. It is way smaller than MX

Right.
I´ll still have to compare the values when running Linux Lite´s latest version 7.6.
My present system Linux LIte 6.2 runs well enough.

So the comparison would have to be: Linux Lite 7.6 vs MX Linux 23.6 (or even 25-beta1 infinity).

I´ll have to do that before April 2027.
The only sensible way of doing it would be comparing free for a running live system of both.

Thanks and cheers from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

the comparison would have to be: Linux Lite 7.6 vs MX Linux 23.

Dont forget multiboot. Leave your current Lite alone… it is your support.

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi Neville,

@nevj

Leave your current Lite alone… it is your support.

Right.
I´d have to take care of my HDD first, though.

It´s a 1 TB HDD and I have 3 partitions fir Linux Lite: root, home and a third (data partition).
Then there´s 518 GB of unallocated space. Should be more than enough for dual boot, I think.

But:

@Rosika

the comparison would have to be: Linux Lite 7.6 vs MX Linux 23.

would still have to be done using the respective live systems.
Otherwise (if I install both of them) it would have to be triple boot.

Cheers from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

have to be triple boot

Hi Rosika,
There is more than enough space in 512Mb for 2 more Linuxes. You dont need another swap, they can share the swap space.
When you install dont let the new linuxes write grub to the disk… that will leave current Lite in charge of grub. After the install finishes, boot the current Lite and do update-grub… it will find the new Linux(s).
Regards
Neville

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi Neville,

thank you for the additional info.

@nevj

You dont need another swap, they can share the swap space.

That´s great, but I don´t have a separate partition for swap. Currently I´m using a combination of swapfile and zram swapping:

swapon --show
NAME       TYPE       SIZE USED PRIO
/dev/zram0 partition  1,9G  83M    5
/swapfile  file      1024M   0B   -2

@nevj

When you install dont let the new linuxes write grub to the disk

So the installer provides me with the possibility of avoiding “where to install the bootloader”, right
There should be the option to skip this step, if I understand it correctly.

@nevj

After the install finishes, boot the current Lite and do update-grub… it will find the new Linux(s).

Thanks for mentioning this important step.

Many greetings from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

So the installer provides me with the possibility of avoiding “where to install the bootloader”, right
There should be the option to skip this step,

In most sensible distros, yes.
The Calamares installer has the option, as long as you use custom ( ie manual) partitioning. … which you would use if installing to a partition already set up.

Regards
Neville

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi Neville,

thanks for the clarification.

O.K., Linux Lite 7.6 uses the Calmares installer. No problem there.

What about MX Linux though

duckduckgo´s search assist says:

MX Linux 23.6 uses a customized installer that is designed to be user-friendly and efficient, allowing users to easily manage their partitions and settings during installation.
It is based on the Debian installer but includes enhancements from the MX community to improve the overall experience.

and :

Debian 13 “Trixie” uses the Debian Installer

Many greetings from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

Debian Installer

Debian installer is OK. It asks a lot of questions… that is better than assuming things.