This isn't anything about Linux

Hiya! This isn’t about linux but it does affect me when using linux. Do anyone know how to increase the amount of usable ram in windows? For me my ram is 4GB(2.70GB usable). And overall no matter what linux distro I install it starts being slow after sometime of usage. And even when I’m doing neofetch or htop in linux it’s showing my ram around 2GB which is just sad for me. Even the stock XFCE was slow and sluggish for me :frowning: Please Reply if anyone knows a fix for this usable ram issue. Also I’m using a DELL inspiron laptop. If you dont know any fixes, kindly recommend me a good looking or themable light distro. Its ok for me even if its a WM distro

1 Like

Could you please post the exact type of your laptop?
Can you post an output of
sudo lscpu
?
Is there a chance, you installed 32 bit system?

1 Like

Dell Inspiron Core i5 8th Gen 15.6-inch FHD Laptop (4GB/1TB HDD/Windows 10 Pro) 3576

Also,

Can’t speak for Windows, but that laptop should quite fast. It has a much more powerful CPU than mine has, and I don’t experience slowness.
It’s definitely a new and powerful machine, so I have no idea why it’s slow and sluggish for you?
As for RAM amount, let’s check wether you have a 64 bit system?
uname -r
tells your kernel version, if it includes “amd64” then it’s surely 64 bit.
Please show
free -m
to know about memory usage.
The command ps will list processes for you.
ps -aux --sort=%mem
will sort the list by mem usage, the highest will be at the end of the list.
This maybe useful to know, what uses the most memory?
You could install sysstat
sudo apt install sysstat
and then run
iostat -x -t 1
look at %util at the end of the lines of disks.
Is it constantly at a high level (indicates disk bottleneck), or just near zero?

5.4.0-74-generic - This is what uname -r gave

And the last command, its just zero

I may miss something, I expected to have something -i386 -i686 -amd64 at the end of the string.
Something like this:
laco@Z51-70:~$ uname -a
Linux Z51-70 4.19.0-17-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.194-1 (2021-06-10) x86_64 GNU/Linux
laco@Z51-70:~$ uname -r
4.19.0-17-amd64

What do you get if you run
dpkg -l linux-image*
?

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
++±=====================================-============-============-===========>
un linux-image (no descrip>
ii linux-image-5.4.0-58-generic 5.4.0-58.64 amd64 Signed kern>
ii linux-image-5.4.0-74-generic 5.4.0-74.83 amd64 Signed kern>
ii linux-image-generic 5.4.0.74.77 amd64 Generic Lin>
un linux-image-unsigned-5.4.0-58-generic (no descrip>
un linux-image-unsigned-5.4.0-74-generic (no descrip>
lines 1-11/11 (END)…skipping…
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
++±=====================================-============-============-=================================
un linux-image (no description available)
ii linux-image-5.4.0-58-generic 5.4.0-58.64 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
ii linux-image-5.4.0-74-generic 5.4.0-74.83 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
ii linux-image-generic 5.4.0.74.77 amd64 Generic Linux kernel image
un linux-image-unsigned-5.4.0-58-generic (no description available)
un linux-image-unsigned-5.4.0-74-generic (no description available)

Thanks, its 64 bit. :smiley:
What about free -m?

its 2 gb : (

          total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available

Mem: 2642 1211 198 128 1232 1061
Swap: 7811 0 7811

Wow…
sudo lshw -c memory

*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: Dell Inc.
physical id: 0
version: 1.3.0
date: 03/01/2018
size: 64KiB
capacity: 16MiB
capabilities: pci pnp upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect edd int13floppynec int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer acpi usb smartbattery biosbootspecification netboot uefi
*-memory
description: System Memory
physical id: 3d
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 4GiB
*-bank:0
description: SODIMM DDR4 Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered) 2400 MHz (0.4 ns)
product: M471A5244BB0-CRC
vendor: Samsung
physical id: 0
serial: 12300AFD
slot: DIMM A
size: 4GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 2400MHz (0.4ns)
*-bank:1
description: [empty]
physical id: 1
slot: ChannelB-DIMM0
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 41
slot: L1 Cache
size: 256KiB
capacity: 256KiB
capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
configuration: level=1
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 42
slot: L2 Cache
size: 1MiB
capacity: 1MiB
capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
configuration: level=2
*-cache:2
description: L3 cache
physical id: 43
slot: L3 Cache
size: 6MiB
capacity: 6MiB
capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
configuration: level=3
*-memory UNCLAIMED
description: Memory controller
product: Sunrise Point-LP PMC
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.2
version: 21
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz (30.3ns)
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:d232c000-d232ffff

Is it possible, that you assigned too much memory in BIOS for the graphics?

idk about that, how do i look it? btw my system is legacy BIOS

Something related to video, shared memory, graphics memory, (probably in an advanced menu in the BIOS), but I can’t tell it exactly without having a very similar device.

I dont have an option like that in my bios setup

At the moment I’m out of ideas, sorry. :frowning:

Uhm thats alright mate, atleast you tried to help me kudos for that!! :hugs:

1 Like

@MNboi

Please, post your full specs with this command: inxi -Fxmz.
If you do not have it installed, you can install it like this: sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y --install-suggests inxi

I know it seems like you are already using a 64-bit distribution, but this 2.7GB thing strongly suggests some 32-bit limitation.

2 Likes

Here you go…

System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-74-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa 
  base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 3576 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: 0K83NX v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI [Legacy]: Dell 
  v: 1.3.0 date: 03/01/2018 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 8.4 Wh condition: 32.3/41.4 Wh (78%) 
  model: SMP DELL GR43747 status: Discharging 
Memory:
  RAM: total: 2.58 GiB used: 1.55 GiB (59.9%) 
  RAM Report: 
  permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-8250U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: A L2 cache: 6144 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 28800 
  Speed: 600 MHz min/max: 400/3400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 640 2: 644 
  3: 672 4: 633 5: 645 6: 645 7: 697 8: 692 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Device-2: AMD Jet PRO [Radeon R5 M230 / R7 M260DX / Radeon 520 Mobile] 
  vendor: Dell driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: ati,modesetting,radeon 
  unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.2.6 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Dell 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-74-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Dell 
  driver: r8169 v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: Dell driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-3: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb bus ID: 1-7:4 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 17.03 GiB (1.8%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABD100 size: 931.51 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 53.25 GiB used: 8.04 GiB (15.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda8 
  ID-2: /home size: 165.15 GiB used: 8.94 GiB (5.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6 
  ID-3: swap-1 size: 7.63 GiB used: 49.5 MiB (0.6%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda7 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 43.0 C mobo: 41.0 C sodimm: 37.0 C gpu: radeon 
  temp: 25 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2742 
Info:
  Processes: 235 Uptime: 40m Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 
  Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 inxi: 3.0.38