On Thu, Nov 07, 2002 at 01:33:44PM -0800, Jeremy C. Reed wrote:
> rainier:~$ free
>              total       used       free    buffers
> Mem:        125632     123576       2056          0
> Swap:       197564     197560          4
> 
> (This free is a awk script using "vmstat -s" output. Remind me and I will
> send-pr package for it.)
> 
> Then I started kword:
> 
> USER      PID %CPU %MEM   VSZ   RSS TT  STAT STARTED     TIME COMMAND
> reed    26868  0.0 11.6  2116 15128 p8  S+    1:25PM  0:04.87 kword
> 
> And the free shows:
>              total       used       free    buffers
> Mem:        125632     124872        760          0
> Swap:       197564     197564          0
> 
> And "systat vmstat" displays:
> 
>           memory totals (in KB)             PAGING   SWAPPING
>          real   virtual    free             in  out   in  out
> Active  67584    265148    1436     ops
> All    124196    321760    1436     pages
> 
> 
> If I understand correctly, the OS is trying to be efficient by using
> nearly all available physical and virtual memory.
> 
> But, I can continue to load more and more stuff into memory, even though
> the "free" amount is very little.
> 
> So how do I know how much memory is really available?

Tools like top or 'vmstat buf' will show you how much RAM is used to cache
file data and executables. This memory can be reclaimed for other use if
needed.

-- 
Manuel Bouyer <bouyer@antioche.eu.org>
     NetBSD: 23 ans d'experience feront toujours la difference
--