[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Thanks for the explanation. And yeah, I'll get back to you with that number. LOL

The other part of the explanation is virtual memory.

Linux, like other modern OSes, divides installed RAM into pages. If you try to do something, like load another program, that needs more RAM than is currently available, the OS will take pages in RAM not recently used and move them to a storage area on the hard drive. In Linux, that area is swap, and is a separate slice on the drive. In Windows, it's the page file, and exists as a large file on the hard drive in the root of the Windows file system.

If something tries to access what is in a swapped out page, a page fault occurs, and the OS swaps the page back in to RAM.

Total memory is considered the amount of installed RAM plus the amount of allocated swap space.

One reason for adding RAM to a computer is the reduce the need to swap. RAM is an order of magnitude faster than HD. If you have more RAM, the OS can do a better job of caching disk access, and will have less need to read the disk. It wall also have less need to swap pages in memory out to the HD as RAM gets filled.

http://www.cnet.com/products/dell-latitude-d505/specs/

And I've never adding anything to any of them.

So they have the stock 256MB RAM that is the base model? I'd add more RAM. Ubuntu runs in 256 but really wants more. The other Linux flavors you switched to do better in low RAM systems.

I get rid of the old kernels regularly via:

sudo aptitude remove

I too usually only leave the previous kernel, but after this latest nonsense I'll leave at least two previous kernels.

One is likely adequate. I still don't think the kernel was your problem.

Ubuntu Tweak said it was no longer maintained. https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-tweak

Do you think it will be a big help (or that much easier than what I'm already doing)?

It still works here. It's a generalized cleanup utility. Removing older kernels is one thing it does.

Thanks a lot. I am definitely going long term from now on. Like I said I'm not a beta guy.

Not by intent, at any rate.

Do the apps get updated (like I have Sigil and mkusb and Kate etc) via the regular 'software updates' Xubuntu sends?

You can always check for new versions. Most of what you have is likely in Canonical's repositories. I have a few things here that aren't or I want to stay bleeding edge on, and those have been added as PPAs to the places Ubuntu will look.

The computer has been a little snarky (eg. When I click on a tab in Firefox about 10% of the time it will open a new browser), but I am pretty happy with things the way they are working. And I'm thinking that now that I am turning on the computer the conventional way and it's booting to the latest kernel that I should have a decent chance of the boot delay issue clearing up with the next upgrade.

You can hope.

Thanks for all the great explanations and help. You know, I amazed that my computers work as well as they do with as little as I know about them. Yes, like you say, I should know what I'm doing before I pull the trigger, but I can also tell you that if I waited till I knew what I was doing I would not have gotten 95% of the stuff I got done by pretty much by trusting others and flying by the seat of my pants.

I'd advise trying to find out a bit more than you currently know before making such changes. I'm pleased to help, but I've reached a point elsewhere of simply not bothering to respond to some requests. There are people too lazy to Look Stuff Up, who do something, get bit by it, then whine at others for solutions they could probably discover for themselves, and wouldn't need if they'd actually bothered to learn before doing.

The good news is the longer I'm around the more I know. I'm getting there.

"Oh, no! Not another learning experience..."
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Dennis