7 replies to this topic

[mattenno]

Does anyone know why I only have 38 MB of RAM free when i use my phone? Any idea on how to free up the RAM being used?

I'm using CyanogenMod 7.0.3 with slayher kernal.

Just opened ATK and it only shows ATK, SetCPU, and Facebook as apps that are running.

I need help....my phone should be able to free up more RAM than this, right?

[Robber]

Of course you can free up the RAM ! This is my email :[email protected]  say something to me so I can give you a APK to free up RAM of your cellphone.

Edited by Robber, 12 November 2011 - 08:55 AM.

[rockingondrums]

That's the way the Droid 1 operates. It always leaves just 30-40 MBs free. You could turn on compcache and give yourself hundreds of virtual MBs, and the system would fill it up with apps and keep 30-40 free. Keeping apps ready to go makes it run faster and is more efficient use of limited RAM, although leaving only 30-40 MB free is very limiting and detrimental. I think that part has to do with Motorola and the hardware, not so much Android. Though, I have no way of knowing for sure. I suspect that's why because massive apps like Peggle and even Google Maps have issues. I dunno. It's not enough, 2 years later. That's all I know.

And what's up with the post above me? What's this guy's rep?

[guitarshredder]

Check out the v6 supercharger script, the deprimed kernel, and the application swapper2. Using the combo of those have been the only thing that has helped my droid run without becoming bogged down by its very limited ram. I've tried various apps, kernels, and compcache and this is what has worked for me. Also, yes the Droid dedicates half of the ram to the Rom and OS so you're only working with about 160 mbs of ram anyhow.

I recommend that you do research on all of those. If you have any questions on what settings to use I could recommend what has worked for me. Also, I'm willing to help you with getting either setup or with providing the links if you need any of them.

[mattenno]

i am interested in trying the swap partition...will i have to reformat the entire sd card to make one? also, how can i check my sd card to see if there is already a swap partition?

what kind of settings do you use in swapper 2 then?

is there a big difference in kernals? can i try a new kernal without wiping and flashing my current rom? i'm running cm 7.1

[guitarshredder]

No, you don't need to wipe your card and setup a swap partition unless you want to. Swapper2 will create a swap file for you if you'd prefer to do it that way. My settings are a swappiness of 20 with a 128 mb swap file. This is what works best for me and I recommend that you test different settings and be prepared for the occasional freezing.

Kernels are really a combination of preference and compatibility with your phone. I've tried a bunch of kernels but Prime's deprimed kernel has worked best for me but everyones droid will function differently and it may not be the best choice for you. Give it a test run if you want.

You do not need to wipe between flashing kernels but a nandroid backup is vital! You may want to wipe the dalvik cache between kernel test drives but it isn't necessary.

[AlphaMack]

I've read up on this topic before altering my setup in trying out CM 7.1 (and subsequently going back to 6.1.2).

First, you are better off creating a swap partition than using a swap file on the SD card.  The obvious problem with having a swap file present is mounting the SD card on a PC.  In addition, you want to set the swappiness to something low like 10 given that (1) SD cards are *much slower* than physical RAM and (2) the swap partition won't fill up as quickly and bog down Android.  Prime himself recommends a swappiness of 7, but 10 is just as good.  He also recommends against 30 for the reasons previously mentioned.  You can use swapper2 to set the swappiness.  Here is some reading for you to decide for yourself:

http://www.droidforu...cache-both.html

On Page 7 a post by Thrax summarizes the discussion.

You will undoubtedly need to reformat the SD card in order to create the swap partition, but if you back up your SD card contents to another drive it's no big deal.  You can use ROM Manager or something like GParted to partition your drive.  While you're at it, you may want to look into setting up a SD-ext partition as well for your apps and using Link2SD to manage them.  Move your apps on SD to the internal memory and then link them (app gets moved to ext and a link is created in the internal memory so it appears to be local).  So your SD card will be partitioned like this:

FAT32 (Must be first; this is where your pictures and media files go)
ext3 (For your apps)
swap (Must be formatted as Linux swap)

The consensus seems to be that a 512 MB ext3 and 128 MB swap partition is best although it really is up to you.  I personally have a 656 MB ext3 and a 128 MB swap.  This gives you a ridiculous amount of room for apps and you won't have to deal with the hassle of the phone trying to relocate your apps on SD after unmounting your FAT32 partition from a PC (the ext partition won't be mounted).  Do not try to move the Dalvik cache unless you want trouble.  Just use the ext partition for your apps.

Some also suggest using compcache with a backing swap partition, but I have nothing but trouble with compcache.  YMMV of course.  Personally, compcache sucks and I can't afford to have my phone bog down when a call comes in.  To quote another post:

Nandrew said:

Yeah I know. Awesome feature to fix the issue... but it is there because of it being known that compcache will eventually slow down the system...

I would be somewheres and someone would be like, "Yo, let me make a phone call." I'd be like, "Oh-kay! Ohhhhh wait, I have to reset my frackin compcache. Hold on my damn phone is really slow, I'm waiting for the homescreen to show up. Normally my app drawer loads alot faster, hold on, got to find that terminal app. Cool, compcache is clean! Oh snap, where did that guy go that needed my fone."  

Lololol!

On kernels:  Definitely look into the deprimed kernel but again YMMV when it comes to kernels.

As for the V6 supercharger, I have had mixed results with it but with the swap partition I changed my minfrees back to 6,8,26,28,30,32 from much more aggressive numbers.

In the end however I went back to 6.1.2 as 7.1 seemed to bog down after a day of use necessitating a reboot.  Not to mention I still had problems with the camera app.  Same setup.

Edited by AlphaMack, 29 November 2011 - 06:14 PM.

[mattenno]

what is the easiest way to back up my sd card and then restore my stuff after partitioning the card for swap and ext3? i want to keep my music/vids/pics/etc