linux-kernel - Re: Keys get stuck

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Date:	Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:21:43 +0100
From:	Mike Galbraith <efault@....de>
To:	"Carlos R. Mafra" <crmafra2@...il.com>
Cc:	Jan Knutar <jk-lkml@....fi>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Hans-Peter Jansen <hpj@...la.net>,
	Jiri Kosina <jkosina@...e.cz>,
	David Newall <davidn@...idnewall.com>,
	Theodore Tso <tytso@....edu>, "Fred ." <eldmannen@...il.com>
Subject: Re: Keys get stuck


On Thu, 2008-03-13 at 09:02 -0300, Carlos R. Mafra wrote:
> On Thu 13.Mar'08 at 12:28:13 +0100, Mike Galbraith wrote:
> >[...]
> > Swap can definitely keep X off the cpu for extended periods,
> >[...]
> 
> So I would like to ask if swap letting X (and everything else
> in my experience) out of the cpu for extended periods is
> considered normal behaviour, in the sense that nobody is
> trying to "fix" it (due to it being considered impossible
> to fix)...?

No, it's not normal.  I'd say the VM makes bad decisions if _moderate_
swapping behaves badly.  Heavy swapping is another story.  (I think Rik
is addressing some VM issues as we speak, so hopefully it will improve
soonish) 

> Sorry for being off-topic, but I run a minimal Window Maker
> desktop in a P4 3.0 GHz with 512 MB of RAM (around 140 MB
> being used as per 'free'), and trying to load a 380 MB text
> file in xjed editor makes my whole desktop quite unfair...
> it takes tens of seconds to switch desktop, type things in
> the terminal etc. 
> 
> When xjed finishes loading the text file, everything comes
> back to "fair" again.
> 
> Is there some law in the nature of computers which says
> that when swapping everything else waits for swap to finish 
> its business? I hope not :-)

Me too.  In the past, I tested swap heavily (and beat it into submission
when it misbehaved for me), but haven't tested swap performance since
becoming fairly ram-wealthy.

	-Mike

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