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[PLUG] Re: PLUG digest, Vol 1 #754 - 13 msgs
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> Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 14:50:03 -0500
> From: Greg Lopp <lopp@earthlink.net>
> To: plug@lists.phillylinux.org
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] RH 6.2 unstable?
> Reply-To: plug@lists.phillylinux.org
>
> On Wed, Dec 13, 2000 at 08:45:23AM +0500, Rupert Heesom wrote:
> > I've been told in the past that RH 6.2 is an unstable version of RH
> > linux. Well, I'm using 6.2, and I now tend to agree. In the past
> > few days, I've had my PC slowing down to a freeze or the Gnome pager die
> > on me!!
>
> I just want to focus in of this statement and avoid all of the
> KDE/gnome/helix, sawfish/e/wm, etc. stuff going on on the other part
> of this thread.
>
>
> I do not know which version of the pager comes with RH6.2, but an
> early version of the gnome pager was prone to memory leaks and would
> cause X to fail within 1 day. This was some time ago and has been
> fixed in later versions.
If I'm using Helix Gnome, is this version of Gnome past beta? It may just be
that it's not as stable yet as the Helix folks hope for.
Talking about memory, I've been using the Gnome System Monitor to check mem
usage off and on. I've noticed that 2 apps in particular use way too much mem:
Netscape 6 (which I don't run much anymore) and S Office 5.2. They seem to
load up into between 100-200Mb RAM to begin with.
>
> >
> > I expect LInux to be able to handle a heavy app load, and keep going
> > indefinitely without having to reboot.....is this an unrealistic
> > expectation?
>
> No, it is not unrealistic. The problem is likely one process that is
> doing "Bad Things". It could be a memory leak, it could be lost file
> pointers, it could be any number of things. I would suggest two
> things to help diagnose your problem.
> 1) Read and apply the updates suggested on the RH website for 6.2
> These would be the gotchas, workarounds, security issues and bug fixes
> listed on http://www.redhat.com/support/docs/rhl62.html
> 2) Learn some of the system diagnostic tools available. Some of these
> can be added to your pager to watch memory and swap usage - useful to
> determine if memory is leaking. Also good is the command line util
> top. It displays mem usage, processor usage and a bunch of other good
> stuff. Use it to get periodic snapshots of the state of your running
> machine and see what is causing your system degradation.
I've looked at the Redhat site you mentioned here; there does seem to be a few
packages via their errata page which I should download and install....
When talking to others, they have suggested that X or Gnome is at fault.
I have found on a few occasions that if I restart X using <Cntl><Alt><Backspace>
the problem is resolved, and the new X / Gnome session is OK. Rarely do I need
to restart the entire machine, except when X just won't respond...Hard reboot.
I know I'm not running the latest XFree86...I think RH6.2 uses 3.0.x. Since
XFree86 4 is out, is is worth my installing that? Does it have any better
features than just more video driver support?
Also, you mention looking for memory leaks....how would I recognise a leak?
If I see progs taking up more RAM, I usually assume that the app has just
requested more RAM....is this an incorrect assumption? As I mentioned above,
I've already seen some strange app behaviour in RAM on my PC.
I sometimes wonder whether my install of RH is the problem.....I got the install
from a book on Linux: Osborne's The Complete Reference to Redhat Linux. The
CD did state what the publisher left off the CD...just stuff like international
and non-English support....actually, looking at the CD again, there much more
stuff than I remembered left off, I may go and install a few more things, like
optimised support for i686.
>
>
> >
> > Is RH 7 better than 6.2?? Is it worth upgrading?
>
> The gcc problem in RH7.0 has been discussed else where on this topic.
> I have heard people say "yes, RH7.0 is as bad as it sounds" I would
> suggest upgradeing individual packages rather than the entire
> distribution. I get the feeling you are new to Linux, so all
> complaints about security aside using Helix-GNOME and gnorpm might be
> the easiest ways to go about this.
Yes, I also think Helix / RPM is the way for me to go for the time being.
I do want to get to the stage that I'm compiling kernels and doing real
hacker stuff, but I've got a lot to learn before I get there. I need to learn
what happens during the configure/make install/install process. That one's
scary for me!
>
>
> Lastly,
>
> Good Luck,
> Welcome to Linux,
> We are here to help,
>
> Greg
Thanks a lot for your support; you can't imagine how much I appreciate this
"extra" help. All in all, PLUG's been brilliant with tips for me, I find my
messages are replied to multiple times, rather than being ignored like in the
newsgroups!
Rest assured, I will be diving in with more QQs.
regs
rupert
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