idea for running out of RAM

[Albert Cahalan]

On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 6:04 PM, Jim Gettys <jg at laptop.org> wrote:

> Note that more current Linux kernels, such as that in 8.2, are much
> better at being able to account for what process is using what memory.
> It's probably worth a little experimentation after 8.2 ships to see if
> the original concept is now viable.

I think a memory usage pie graph is beyond excellent.
I'm not so sure it should show current usage though.

It probably should show maximum expected usage,
based on previous behavior and/or RAM reservations.

The point of a pie display is to show the user how much
of the machine is occupied. If an activity is using 12 MB
now but will likely need 34 MB, then that extra 22 MB is
definitely not available for running other stuff.

Things work out nicely this way. The user can see why
the OS is refusing to let him start more activities. The
minimum activity size (for the icon) is no problem; it is
simply the minimum RAM reservation.

If the pie graph is exclusively based on RAM reservation,
then there isn't even any need to mess with /proc data.

An interesting extension of the idea would be to mark
activity icons (or their hover menus) with pie fragments.
This would let the user know in advance if an activity
would be unstartable, and would let the user know how
much he needs to free up to resolve that.