[SOLVED] Swap Partition? Why?

[radtek]

I have 4 gigs of ram in my 64bit dual-core machine currently. I rarely use it all. The many times I've installed ubuntu and linux in general I've found that not including a swap partition breaks the network-connection and probably other progams. In fact I've only used about 2mb recently when using Transmission for multiple downloads.

The minimum I found that the system will allow me is an 8mb swap partition.

I find this to be anachronistic. Especially when memory is so plentiful and cheap and processors so fast.

Is there a plan for an option to not have a dependency on a swap partition for network-connections?

Thanks...

Just stirring the pot...

[Amarsingh0793]

You don't need SWAP unless you have a slower computer. 4GB RAM and a good processor means you don't really need SWAP - it's pointless with that awesome compter ! I have a High-end Gaming machine and I use no swap at all, and everything runs flawlessly.

Hope this helped

[SuperSonic4]

Just remember not everyone has a high end machine
Swap works very well on my laptop but is superfluous on the desktop yet both run Kubuntu hardy

[ncanna1]

I would add at least a small swap partition just to be safe. The swap file is equivalent to the windows page file.

[Vadi]

I would add at least a small swap partition just to be safe. The swap file is equivalent to the windows page file.

Quoted for truth

I have 4gb ram, but also have a 2gb swap partition (on a 250gb hd, it's fine) just to be safe.

[damis648]

I always not only have a swap partition to be safe, but also for hibernation. Hibernating uses the swap partition, which i frequently do, so I always make a swap partition equal to the amount of RAM I have.

[Amarsingh0793]

If you want to use SWAP with a high-end system, make sure that you do the vm swapiness stuff (the tendency of ubuntu going to swap instead of ram and vice versa). I would recommend a lower number for any system. I didn't know that hibernation on ubuntu needed swap - mine works without it :O!

[Rocket2DMn]

I always not only have a swap partition to be safe, but also for hibernation. Hibernating uses the swap partition, which i frequently do, so I always make a swap partition equal to the amount of RAM I have.

A big +1
Swap is needed for hibernation, so I always recommend that users keep around at least as much swap as they have RAM. If you don't typically hibernate your computer, maybe you should consider it - the system is completely powered off in this state, which is a big power saver (like for overnight).

[Krupski]

I have 4 gigs of ram in my 64bit dual-core machine currently. I rarely use it all. The many times I've installed ubuntu and linux in general I've found that not including a swap partition breaks the network-connection and probably other progams. In fact I've only used about 2mb recently when using Transmission for multiple downloads.

The minimum I found that the system will allow me is an 8mb swap partition.

I find this to be anachronistic. Especially when memory is so plentiful and cheap and processors so fast.

Is there a plan for an option to not have a dependency on a swap partition for network-connections?

Thanks...

Just stirring the pot...

Machines with a lot of ram rarely need swap. The reason to have a swap partition (or swap file) is so that *IF* you use up your physical ram, Linux won't start terminating old processes to get some free ram.

Without swap to fall back on, Linux will start terminating old processes... and it doesn't know if a certain process is ESSENTIAL (either to YOU or to the OS).

You can end up with random failures or crashes if this happens.

No matter how much ram you have, you should also have a swap space setup.

Running without swap is like skydiving without a reserve chute. You probably won't need it, but if you DO.....


-- Roger

[Vadi]

I would not recommend messing with swappiness on a high-end machine. If Ubuntu doesn't need swap, it simply won't use it.