[Solved]T weaking KDe for Less Powerful Computers

[ms_meme]

OK ms_meme,
please ignore the warnings, nothing to worry about.

I would like to disable the net_applet, that small icon usually at right bottom of the screen that indicate that your network connection is up and running.
That alone it's eating nearly 20 Mb.

Are you possibly afraid of that ? Note that your network connection will continue to work as usual, only you would not see that icon,
also note that at any time you can start that icon, if needed from PCLinuxOS menu -> More Application -> Monitoring -> NetApplet.

What you say about ms_meme ?

OK, I found the NetApplet in the menu. I can find it if I need to do anything with it. I will just click on it from the menu and the same box will come up?  Of course if I'm not on line to ask what I should do with it...........    
So I guess I don't need it.

[AS]

Please ms_meme,
right click on the net_applet icon, select Settings and then untick "Always Launch at startup"





If possible, or when possible, reboot the computer in Linux, open a Konsole and type the command
free

Today I have exhausted the ideas, don't know what else to suggest (also I need to test each single change before of you  )

AS

[ms_meme]

Unticked "Always Launch at startup" and am rebooting and will use the free command.

[ms_meme]

[meme@localhost ~]$ free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        496940     454984      41956          0      13128     259884
-/+ buffers/cache:     181972     314968
Swap:      2176768         20    2176748
[meme@localhost ~]$

[T6]

freed 42 mbs

that is progress 

[AS]

[meme@localhost ~]$ free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        496940     454984      41956          0      13128     259884
-/+ buffers/cache:     181972     314968
Swap:      2176768         20    2176748
[meme@localhost ~]$

Today we have recovered approx. 30 Mb, compared to yesterday report  
(used in red color, free in green color)

I'm still waiting for other ideas (and still evaluating omskates' suggestions, and T6's suggestion   ).

EDIT: yesterday was 210 Mb used .... T6, don't be fooled from the wrong alignment! 

AS

[ms_meme]

I have a little request before you send the bill.  I know it will be an extra charge but I would like to request it anyway.

I know I have been doing a lot of things and it looks like they have had a positive effect    and I am still here so everything that I need must still be intact. 

But I am not sure what I have been doing.  Sometime could you very briefly list the changes...not the commands etc...but just a summary of what I disabled or changed.  Then I could print it out or something.  It wouldn't really mean a thing to me, but it might be useful at some time. I mean make a summary when we finish after perhaps other suggestions will be made.

Question:  Were the things I did/changed related to the System or to KDE?  Will these changes be reflected when I boot into the partition that has XFCE on?  I'm a bit not sure where the changes occurred.  Maybe some of both?

Yes, let's rest for a bit and I will go about doing the things I usually do and see what happens.  Although as agreed, I will try to keep browser tabs to a minimum and try to not keep so many applications up at once.   

[T6]

sorry but my recommendations were simple, disable some stuff, you guys had better recommendations

i am having a hard time interpreting free readings and what buffer and real mem represents there

about changes specific to kde, will not be reflected in xfce if xfce has its own config for a determined app, some are shared between sessions of each user

changes made to services in pcc, are system wide afik

[AS]

I have a little request before you send the bill.  I know it will be an extra charge but I would like to request it anyway.

I know I have been doing a lot of things and it looks like they have had a positive effect    and I am still here so everything that I need must still be intact. 

But I am not sure what I have been doing.  Sometime could you very briefly list the changes...not the commands etc...but just a summary of what I disabled or changed.  Then I could print it out or something.  It wouldn't really mean a thing to me, but it might be useful at some time. I mean make a summary when we finish after perhaps other suggestions will be made.

Of course, all changes are actually recorded in this thread, when ended (a couple of days maybe ...) I will prepare a summary
for future reference.

Question:  Were the things I did/changed related to the System or to KDE?  Will these changes be reflected when I boot into the partition that has XFCE on?  I'm a bit not sure where the changes occurred.  Maybe some of both?

Some things are specific to kde, some things are system wide but limited to the current booted system, kde-installation.
However should be all unused services, if not, we will re-enable again where needed.

Nothing in the XFCE environment has been changed.

Yes, let's rest for a bit and I will go about doing the things I usually do and see what happens.  Although as agreed, I will try to keep browser tabs to a minimum and try to not keep so many applications up at once.   

Great! 

[AS]

Hi ms_meme,

in Kde control center -> Workspace Appearance -> Desktop Effects, there is ta flag o activate/disactivate this feature.
If enabled, please disable it by (untick the box near the arrow-cursor).




Additionally, please open a Konsole and type the following commands:

cpufreq-info


@All boys and girls,   
I'm short of ideas.... please help! 

AS

[ms_meme]

The Desktop Effects have been disabled for.........a long time.

[meme@localhost ~]$ cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 008: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: p4-clockmod
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0 1
  maximum transition latency: 10.00 ms.
  hardware limits: 375 MHz - 3.00 GHz
  available frequency steps: 375 MHz, 750 MHz, 1.13 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.88 GHz, 2.25 GHz, 2.63 GHz, 3.00 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, conservative, powersave, userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 750 MHz and 3.00 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 3.00 GHz.
analyzing CPU 1:
  driver: p4-clockmod
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0 1
  maximum transition latency: 10.00 ms.
  hardware limits: 375 MHz - 3.00 GHz
  available frequency steps: 375 MHz, 750 MHz, 1.13 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.88 GHz, 2.25 GHz, 2.63 GHz, 3.00 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, conservative, powersave, userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 750 MHz and 3.00 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 3.00 GHz.
[meme@localhost ~]$

[MtnMan]

I like this tread - like looking for change in the couch - following with interest.  Just a question: would all those sounds like start-up and shut-down along with notifications in Manage Notifications in System Settings>Application and System Notifications be loaded to memory?

[AS]

The Desktop Effects have been disabled for.........a long time.

[meme@localhost ~]$ cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 008: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: p4-clockmod
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0 1
  maximum transition latency: 10.00 ms.
  hardware limits: 375 MHz - 3.00 GHz
  available frequency steps: 375 MHz, 750 MHz, 1.13 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.88 GHz, 2.25 GHz, 2.63 GHz, 3.00 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, conservative, powersave, userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 750 MHz and 3.00 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 3.00 GHz.
analyzing CPU 1:
  driver: p4-clockmod
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0 1
  maximum transition latency: 10.00 ms.
  hardware limits: 375 MHz - 3.00 GHz
  available frequency steps: 375 MHz, 750 MHz, 1.13 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.88 GHz, 2.25 GHz, 2.63 GHz, 3.00 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, conservative, powersave, userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 750 MHz and 3.00 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 3.00 GHz.
[meme@localhost ~]$

ms_meme,
I want you edit the file /etc/sysconfig/cpufreq and change the GOVERNOR parameter from performance to ondemand,
this change has nothing to to with memory requirement, but may be (I hope) it can help around the CD/DVD issue.

[root@localhost ~]# kwrite /etc/sysconfig/cpufreq
# set cpufreq governor if defined
# possible choices are: ondemand powersave userspace performance
GOVERNOR=ondemand

# minimum frequency
#MIN_FREQ=

# maximum frequency
#MAX_FREQ=

# Uncomment to use acpi-cpufreq as fallback
#USE_ACPI_CPUFREQ=yes

once you have edited the and saved the file, execute the following commands, (from Konsole, as root user):

service cpufreq restart
cpufreq-info

[AS]

I like this tread - like looking for change in the couch - following with interest.  Just a question: would all those sounds like start-up and shut-down along with notifications in Manage Notifications in System Settings>Application and System Notifications be loaded to memory?

Of course, every bit of the environment is loaded in memory upon execution, and of course "Notifications settings applet", is using some memory, permanently. The question is how much memory, and if worth to remove that functionality ? Will check about.

i.e. while evaluating to switch X configuration to a lower color level (15 bit), noticed that the saving is less than 1 Mb ... so I think it's much few memory saving....

I want you edit the file /etc/sysconfig/cpufreq and change the GOVERNOR parameter from performance to ondemand,
this change has nothing to to with memory requirement, but may be (I hope) it can help around the CD/DVD issue.

explaining my own comment:
Based on reports where CD/DVD look like always working while ms_meme is using windows, and having issue in KDE/XFCE but only after a couple of hours, I'm thinking that there can be some excess of heating while using Linux ... changing governor should help to lower the heating without affecting the performance.

[ms_meme]

as, I haven't done anything because I am really not sure what to do. 

This is where I am and what I am looking at.  I clicked on the Root in the left panel and found file /etc/sysconfig/cpufreq.  This is what it looks like.

# set cpufreq governor if defined
# possible choices are: ondemand powersave userspace performance
GOVERNOR=ondemand

# minimum frequency
#MIN_FREQ=

# maximum frequency
#MAX_FREQ=

# Uncomment to use acpi-cpufreq as fallback
#USE_ACPI_CPUFREQ=yes