swap partition

[ZeroKun]

I made one, and i dont know if its being used because it says that its empty in the info thingy. How can i check if it is on and if it isnt how can i switch it on?

[mzilikazi]

I made one, and i dont know if its being used because it says that its empty in the info thingy. How can i check if it is on

free


and if it isnt how can i switch it on?

mkswap /dev/hdxX
swapon /dev/hdxX

[ZeroKun]

Thanks. Its on, just seemed wierd that infocenter said it wasnt mounted and free of space.

[mzilikazi]

Thanks. Its on, just seemed wierd that infocenter said it wasnt mounted and free of space.

Nah that's quite normal as swap doesn't get mounted. :)

[upchucky]

I too questioned the swap file space when my info says it was always empty. it turned out that the swap file maximum space should be double your ram, I have 1024 meg ram, so I set the swap space to 2048 meg.
When the sysinfo reported that the file was empty, I did some searching for debian and fond that the swap file maximum it will use is 128 meg, and also if you have 512 meg or more ram, then you do not need a swap file.

I repartitioned the drive and my system is running happily without a swap file.

[mzilikazi]

I too questioned the swap file space when my info says it was always empty. it turned out that the swap file maximum space should be double your ram, I have 1024 meg ram, so I set the swap space to 2048 meg.
When the sysinfo reported that the file was empty, I did some searching for debian and fond that the swap file maximum it will use is 128 meg, and also if you have 512 meg or more ram, then you do not need a swap file.

I repartitioned the drive and my system is running happily without a swap file.

That's some very good info upchucky but it is neither Linux nor Debian that is requiring ZeroKun to create a swap partition but rather the installer. ;)

[fingers99]

also if you have 512 meg or more ram, then you do not need a swap file.

You don't need one. But I maintain that it's always better to have one. Just don't make it bigger than half a gig.