

So this column really means “all RAM that is in use by something, even if it can be reclaimed instantly.” The Free Column Freeing up this RAM and using it for other applications won’t impact the correct operation of your Linux system-nothing’s going to break-but it might impact the performance of the system. If a request for memory is received that can only be serviced by relinquishing some of the RAM the kernel is using for its own devices, then that is what happens, seamlessly. At least they would be fighting if the kernel wasn’t refereeing. This is the precious resource that all of the running processes are fighting over. It’s how much RAM you have installed on your motherboard. Let’s see what the figures in the columns represent. Instead of a Buff/cache column, we get a Buffers column and a Cache column. Here are the figures in a table: total used free shared buffers cache available To separate the Buff/cache figures into their own columns, use the -w (wide) option: free -w

Free: The remaining (unused) swap space.Total: The size of the swap partition or swap file.
#Linux cpuinfo command software#
Available: This is an estimation of the memory that is available to service memory requests from applications, any other functioning software within your computer, such as your graphical desktop environment and Linux commands.Buff/cache: Memory used for buffers and cache.Shared: Memory that is used by the tmpfs file system.Why doesn’t Total=Used+Free? We’ll explain that shortly. Used: This is calculated by Total-( Free+ Buffers+ Cache).Total: The total amount of physical RAM installed in your computer.We’ll introduce the columns here, then look at them in more detail shortly. The columns for the memory line are as follows: The top line reports on system memory, the bottom line reports on swap space.
