Dialog process running up CPU

[marksgt]

I am completely new to linux having just installed Caldera 2.2.3 a week ago. I configured it per the instructions in a Sams book and have it running fairly smoothly. At times though, using the KDE task manager I notice a "dialog" process that will eat up 90 to 100 percent CPU usage. At this point I can't do anything but logout and restart my machine. <br>
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I also notice that when I am running Netscape 4.51 that came installed that I cannot launch any other program. Clicking on them results in not only the program not starting, but no noticeable task in the KDE task manager.<br>
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Can anyone give me some helpful hints on how to optimize my system. So far I am impressed by what I see and it would be nice if I didn't have to restart to kill the process. Killing it manually kills the system entirely and I have to restart and then get nasty messages about the drives not unmounting cleanly.<br>
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THanks in advance.<br>
<br>
Mark Sargent<br>
<br>
Please respond to mws02@cho.litton-marine.com

 

[rycamor]

Some specs about your system would help, such as how much RAM, CPU speed, HD type and size. Also, what is the size of the swap partition you installed? KDE and Netscape are memory hogs, but I haven't seen this much trouble with them. I am not sure what the 'dialog' process is, but will check my KDE info.<br>
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There are plenty of other 'window managers' that take a lot less system load, such as FVWM95, AfterStep, WindowMaker (one of my favorites), and even Blackbox, (One of the most memory-efficient, if you're a little more brave).<br>
<br>
Not to self-plug, but a tip I posted earlier in this forum, "TIP: IDE hard drive tuning" might help you with some of these problems. I found KDE a lot more responsive afterwards.

 

[marksgt]

I have an older 166mhz, with 64megs of ram, a Western Digital 4.3 gig hard drive running Win 98 and Linux. The linux file system is on a 1 gig partition and I have a 300mb swap partition configured. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[rycamor]

As far as I know, Linux cannot have a single swap partition greater than 127 MB. You can run more than one swap partition, each at a maximum of 127 MB, if you really feel you need the virtual mem. My opinion: you probably would get by fine even with a 64 MB swap partition.<br>
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You would probably do best to simply reinstall, though there is a way to repartition your swap.<br>
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Your _older_ 166mhz system should be fine for Linux and X-windows. (I had KDE running fine with a P100 and 32 MB of RAM) I'm not familiar with Caldera's install routine, but you should be able to choose other window managers besides KDE. KDE will probably be the default when you type 'startx', but if you try 'xinit', then you will get an X terminal, where you can enter wmaker, Afterstep, or the names of some other window managers. Give them a try, and if they run faster, and give you less trouble with Netscape, then you will know it is a KDE problem. You might have to spend some time tracing exactly what process 'dialog' is. Try browsing

http://www.kde.org,

or

http://www.calderasystems.com

for answers.<br>
<br>
Spend some time OUT of X-windows in your command line learning the Linux system, reading HOWTOs, etc... Midnight Commander (mc) is a great file browser and simple text viewer/editor that can help open up the Linux system architecture to you.<br>
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In KDE or any X manager, if you hit CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE, you can kill X-windows and get back to a command line. CTRL-ALT-F1 lets you keep X-windows running while placing you at the command line terminal; hitting ALT-right arrow will take you to other virtual terminals, while ALT-left arrow will take you back to X windows. (I might have those arrows reversed)<br>
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Maybe this seems like too much, but it depends on what you want to do with Linux. If you have serious computing needs it will be worth it.

 

[warmongr]

Just a heads up. I have no idea what the solution to your problem is, however in rycamor's latest response he states that Linux cannot have a swap space bigger than 127Mb. This limitation was done away with in Redhat 6.0 I don't know about Caldera. Information only.

 

[rycamor]

Cool...

 

[jamesh]

The swap limit wasn't present with RH4.2 but then appeared at 5.n + . Nice to see large swaps are back