>> Well, when I used it on an old 32 MB laptop (terminal) and a 64 MB >> desktop (cpu server), swap would seem to work all right until you >> hit about 30-40% usage. This was the case with both systems; when >> I asked about it, a couple other people mentioned the same behavior. >> The thing is, it's pretty hard to test swap under normal usage; the only >> time I ran into this problem was while compiling a new kernel. >> > > I forgot to write what happened when swap broke--like Nemo, I found > that the machine would lock solid, requiring a reboot.
years ago i would compile and link kernels on a 4mbyte 386-16/sx (really! and using cpu -c to run awk, because there wasn't a 387). i was in the same room as the file server. you could tell when it was paging, which had a distinctive, dramatic sound. it paged frequently when linking a kernel. it survived. if it's broken now, it sounds as though something changed that probably could be tracked down and repaired. (i tend to suspect the presence of notes, including alarms, but that's just a suspicion, because of the interruptions in the kernel). why bother? perhaps the underlying cause is messing up something else too. could use a useful simple test case, though. ideally, without graphics.
