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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
+<!--Converted with LaTeX2HTML 96.1-h (September 30, 1996) by Nikos Drakos (nikos@cbl.leeds.ac.uk), CBLU, University of Leeds -->
+<HTML>
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+<TITLE>What is virtual memory?</TITLE>
+<META NAME="description" CONTENT="What is virtual memory?">
+<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="sag">
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+ <A NAME="tex2html1070" HREF="node61.html"><IMG WIDTH=37 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="next" SRC="./next_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html1068" HREF="node59.html"><IMG WIDTH=26 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="up" SRC="./up_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html1062" HREF="node59.html"><IMG WIDTH=63 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="previous" SRC="./previous_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html1072" HREF="node1.html"><IMG WIDTH=65 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="contents" SRC="./contents_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html1073" HREF="node114.html"><IMG WIDTH=43 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="index" SRC="./index_motif.gif"></A> <BR>
+<B> Next:</B> <A NAME="tex2html1071" HREF="node61.html">Creating a swap space</A>
+<B>Up:</B> <A NAME="tex2html1069" HREF="node59.html">Memory Management</A>
+<B> Previous:</B> <A NAME="tex2html1063" HREF="node59.html">Memory Management</A>
+<BR> <P>
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00610000000000000000">What is virtual memory?</A></H1>
+<P>
+ Linux supports <b>virtual memory</b>, that is, using a
+ disk as an extension of RAM so that the effective size of
+ usable memory grows correspondingly. The kernel will write
+ the contents of a currently unused block of memory to the
+ hard disk so that the memory can be used for another purpose.
+ When the original contents are needed again, they are read
+ back into memory. This is
+ all made completely transparent to the user; programs running under
+ Linux only see the larger amount of memory available and
+ don't notice that parts of them reside on the disk from
+ time to time. Of course, reading and writing the hard disk is
+ slower (on the order of a thousand times slower) than using
+ real memory, so the programs don't run as fast. The part of
+ the hard disk that is used as virtual memory
+ is called the <b>swap space</b>.
+<P>
+ Linux can use either a normal file in the filesystem or a
+ separate partition for swap space. A swap partition is
+ faster, but it is easier to change the size of a swap file
+ (there's no need to repartition the whole hard disk, and
+ possibly install everything from scratch). When you know how
+ much swap space you need, you should go for a swap partition,
+ but if you are uncertain, you can use a swap file first, use
+ the system for a while so that you can get a feel for how much
+ swap you need, and then make a swap partition when you're
+ confident about its size.
+<P>
+ You should also know that Linux allows one to use several swap
+ partitions and/or swap files at the same time. This means
+ that if you only occasionally need an unusual amount of swap space,
+ you can set up an extra swap file at such times, instead of
+ keeping the whole amount allocated all the time.
+<P>
+ A note on operating system terminology: computer science usually
+ distinguishes between swapping (writing the whole process out to
+ swap space) and paging (writing only fixed size parts, usually
+ a few kilobytes, at a time). Paging is usually more efficient,
+ and that's what Linux does, but traditional Linux terminology
+ talks about swapping anyway.<A NAME="tex2html26" HREF="footnode.html#1820"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="gif" SRC="./foot_motif.gif"></A>
+<P>
+<HR><A NAME="tex2html1070" HREF="node61.html"><IMG WIDTH=37 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="next" SRC="./next_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html1068" HREF="node59.html"><IMG WIDTH=26 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="up" SRC="./up_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html1062" HREF="node59.html"><IMG WIDTH=63 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="previous" SRC="./previous_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html1072" HREF="node1.html"><IMG WIDTH=65 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="contents" SRC="./contents_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html1073" HREF="node114.html"><IMG WIDTH=43 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="index" SRC="./index_motif.gif"></A> <BR>
+<B> Next:</B> <A NAME="tex2html1071" HREF="node61.html">Creating a swap space</A>
+<B>Up:</B> <A NAME="tex2html1069" HREF="node59.html">Memory Management</A>
+<B> Previous:</B> <A NAME="tex2html1063" HREF="node59.html">Memory Management</A>
+<P><ADDRESS>
+<I>Lars Wirzenius <BR>
+Sat Nov 15 02:32:11 EET 1997</I>
+</ADDRESS>
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+</HTML>