# # Info file for Linux Meminfo tool # Copyright (C) 1993 Kenneth Osterberg # This file is free software, covered by the GNU General # Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation # ##########This_Line_Is_50_Characters_Long######### #2345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 # :Canvas: The Meminfo tool displays information about the Linux system. The information is obtained from services provided by the kernel through the /proc filesystem interface. The information is updated on regular intervals, which can be specified by the user (within certain limits). :UpdateInput: You can modify the interval between updates using this numerical input. The number specifies the number of seconds between updates. The more often the information is updated, the more closely you are able to follow the changes. On the other hand, the tool eats more resources with very short intervals. Allowed range: 0-60, where 0 means a 0.5 second interval. :UptimeText: The uptime displays how long since the system was started. :UsedGauge: This gauge shows how much RAM memory is in use at the moment. This amount is the total amount, including shared data, file buffers and private data, but excluding memory occupied by the kernel or swapped to disk. The ticks on the side roughly correspond to 1 MB memory. :SharedGauge: This gauge shows how much RAM memory is being shared by more than one program. The larger this value is, the more efficiently your memory is being used. :BuffersGauge: The "Buffers" gauge shows the amount of memory occupied by file system buffers. The linux kernel dynamically changes the size of the buffer, depending on RAM size, other programs. etc. The larger the buffer size is, the more information can be cached in memory, thus speeding up disk accesses. :SwapGauge: The "Swap" gauge shows how much of the disk swap space is in use. If this value is significant, your system will slow down because data has to be paged to disk. The gauge helps you determine if you need to buy more RAM, or allocate more disk swap. :Load1Gauge: The "1 Min" gauge shows the load average calculated by the kernel over 1 minute. The load average is usually thought to represent the number of processes in the run queue. The gauge max value is 4, but the load average can in exterme cases go over this (arbitrarely chosen) value. :Load5Gauge: The "5 Min" gauge shows the load average calculated by the kernel over 5 minutes. The load average is usually thought to represent the number of processes in the run queue, on average during the time interval. The gauge max value is 4, but the load average can in exterme cases go over this. :Load15Gauge: The "15 Min" gauge shows the load average calculated by the kernel over the last 15 minutes. The load average is usually thought to represent the number of processes in the run queue, on average during the time interval. The gauge max value is 4, but the load average can in exterme cases go over this. :MemInfo: The memory value displayed is the number of bytes available for user space data. The RAM occupied by the linux kernel is not included in the value. :SwapInfo: The swap total value shows how many bytes of disk swap space is configured. :LoadInfo: The system load is represented by three gauges, which show the average load during a 1, 5, and 15 minute period. :UsedValue: This value shows how much RAM memory is in use at the moment. The same information is shown graphically by the gauge above. :SharedValue: This value shows how much RAM memory is shared by more than one program at the moment. The same information is shown graphically by the gauge above. :BuffersValue: This value shows how much RAM memory is occupied by file system buffers at the moment. The same information is shown graphically by the gauge above. :SwapValue: This value shows how much memory is paged out to the swap area(s) on disk at the moment. The same information is shown graphically by the gauge above. :Load1Value: This value shows the load average during a 1 minute interval. It is a floating point value, where 0 means no system load. The value has no specific upper limit, but the value seldom goes over 10 even in very loaded systems. :Load5Value: This value shows the load average during a 5 minute interval. It is a floating point value, where 0 means no system load. The value has no specific upper limit, but a value that often goes over 4 might mean it's time to upgrade your system. :Load15Value: This value shows the load average during a 15 minute interval. It is a floating point value, where 0 means no system load. The value has no specific upper limit, but a value that often goes over 4 might mean it's time to upgrade your system (or get a life :-)