how can i reduce RAM usage on my blackhole image

[paraprem]

hello friends

i am a fan of the blackhole image and i am running it on my VU +DUO
i am really satisfied with this image
the only reservation i have is about the ram usage
i find it often at 98%
i am using ***** to read my Orange french card
to my knowledge ***** is the only cam that can read my card
the problem is that it disconnects once in a while and i wonder if it is not related to the ram not available at that time
how can i reduce RAM usage on my blackhole image ?
thanks for your suggestions

 

[ab9adr]

hello friends

i am a fan of the blackhole image and i am running it on my VU +DUO
i am really satisfied with this image
the only reservation i have is about the ram usage
i find it often at 98%
i am using ***** to read my Orange french card
to my knowledge ***** is the only cam that can read my card
the problem is that it disconnects once in a while and i wonder if it is not related to the ram not available at that time
how can i reduce RAM usage on my blackhole image ?
thanks for your suggestions

Try to use a plugin for free memory 'LSK, in plugins section' or make a swap file to have more memory (much slower but workes )
Ps: Read rules please

 

[Dzoni]

I recommended Youu, like said You colleague yet, lsk free memory plugin.

 

[Lincsat]

lsk does reduce the RAM usage, but the box can still crash when you load EPG data if you have a large load. Try using a small swapfile as well.

 

[Dzoni]

No, I have not crachs nothing more then before install this plugin.

 

[bh4me2]

lsk does reduce the RAM usage, but the box can still crash when you load EPG data if you have a large load. Try using a small swapfile as well.

After much testing I've found sort of a workaround;

Start crossepg,
Select 1 provider and start download,
after finish exit all menu's and wait 5 minutes,
- start crossepg, Select next provider and start download,
- after finish exit all menu's and wait 5 minutes,
- etc....
Copy ext.epg.dat to epg.dat in root HDD
Start crossepg, select reload epg.dat, done.

You can do this everyday without a crash, I've tried to script this but can't get it to work yet, so alot of manual button pushing but at least it doesn't crash anymore.

 

[Dzoni]

Hmmm,interesting,but You must wait half our form few providers

 

[tobler]

never a ram issue here,
i suggest to use a swap file
and remove the unused plugins

for clean ram (but i think useless for yours prob), you can use the microscopic (as memory size) "free ram script" in the plugins sub-board

 

[bh4me2]

I don't believe in that script, linux is good enough to handle ram usage. I have no idea what's going on other then bugs, I have 2 providers benlx and uk nothing more, when run automatically the box crashes about every 2-3 days, when done manually like described maybe a crash about every 2 months so there are differences like crossepg not being loaded between processing the 2 providers. Also when run automatically the epg only lists 4-5 days, when done manually 6-7 days.
Yesterday I did add a swapfile (256mb usb stick) for more testing. I have only 2 plugins, crossepg(0.6.2-svn-300-r0) and the triple-c thing(2.2.1), nothing exiting.
Top doesn't show anything drastic either:
Mem: 130036K used, 11444K free, 0K shrd, 2020K buff, 49888K cached
CPU: 0.6% usr 0.4% sys 0.0% nic 98.6% idle 0.0% io 0.0% irq 0.1% sirq
Load average: 0.08 0.07 0.03 2/81 24626
Epg file is usually about 10mb (7-12).
Currently the swapfile is active but unused according to BH stats.

 

[tobler]

you don't believe in the script, and linux handle well the ram,
but he told about ram usage problem, so without clean the cached one you cannot understand how many ram is used by the epg
for that i suggested to use the script...

 

[bh4me2]

Agreed, but all scripts and workarounds aside, would it not be easier to lift out the ram and put a bigger ram module in the vu+ ? has anyone ever looked if this is possible ? I mean, one image and a handful of plugins and you face crashes?? this is simply a huge design problem! I've had many topfields for many years and some had problems that were solved by board modifications so how difficult would it be to change the ram module in a vu+ ?

 

[Armageddon]

Agreed, but all scripts and workarounds aside, would it not be easier to lift out the ram and put a bigger ram module in the vu+ ? has anyone ever looked if this is possible ? I mean, one image and a handful of plugins and you face crashes?? this is simply a huge design problem! I've had many topfields for many years and some had problems that were solved by board modifications so how difficult would it be to change the ram module in a vu+ ?

Very interesting view!

 

[tobler]

i have not any ram issue (at this moment)
for sure increase the ram can looks fine, but at the sime time very dangerous (not on slot/socket) so assuming that is possible is needed a very high solder skill
i like to put the hands inside the duo, but this one looks too many angerous

the unusual issue is:
if i boot the duo, and i use it for some hours for sure i'll find the swap used (so the ram sometimes is fully used)
but if i waste the cached ram datas, the free command still report many free ram (and 0 swap), as well after many hours of intense vu+duo use

so actually i clean the cache in auto just after the boot and after the backup script (that use many ram)

 

[tobler]

one day up and box used (with some epg..)
Mem: total 141476 used 89628 free 51848

the cached datas was deleted just after the boot

 

[daif01]

I have blackhole 1.5.4. i want to download E2 LSK free memory plug in . i cant find the plug in in blckhole addons neither in ipk packages.When i download the plugin from internet to my pc and unzip it i get many files, i can use DCC but to which folder i have to direct this files.Tanks in advance.

 

[angelofsky1980]

I have blackhole 1.5.4. i want to download E2 LSK free memory plug in . i cant find the plug in in blckhole addons neither in ipk packages.When i download the plugin from internet to my pc and unzip it i get many files, i can use DCC but to which folder i have to direct this files.Tanks in advance.

You can find the plugin on this Board.
Put the IPK file into your box folder /tmp and install it using BH image directly (Green button -> Yellow button -> Manual install IPK file).

 

[bh4me2]

Well I've added lsk 03 and at first it seems it's not doing anything but after a few hours I get this:
Mem: 88192K used, 53288K free, 0K shrd, 432K buff, 13412K cached
CPU: 0.8% usr 0.4% sys 0.0% nic 97.0% idle 0.0% io 0.0% irq 1.5% sirq
Load average: 0.79 0.22 0.07 2/82 5344
So the Cache does remain used but gets reduced, swap file still active but still not used.

 

[bh4me2]

Can a coder tell me what (if any) changes, when adding a swapfile, to memory management? it seems, even when the swapfile remains unused, the presence of a swapfile greatly improves memory management, ea. almost no crashes even without the lsk add-in. It might be useful to add this (and maybe lsk) to the default BH image like a 8mb swap on the HDD which is more then enough because it doesn't get used anyway.

 

[Armageddon]

I had a lot of troubles before with full memory craches on Solo. But after installed 64M Swap on USB and using LSK free memory plugin it´s very stable and fast.

 

[bh4me2]

Update: today I saw the swapfile being used at 10% (of 256mb), mainly when watching HD channels the ram use creeps up a lot. Can we conclude that without a swapfile and more ram is needed then available a crash is imminent ? Come on coders, someone must be able to say something about what's going with memory management as swapfile use clearly indicates something is running out of space.