Questions about processes

[cpghost at cordula.ws]

On Tue, Apr 26, 2005 at 12:14:26AM -0400, Alexander Chamandy wrote:
> On 4/25/05, Lord Raiden <me at raiden.net> wrote:
> >          Hi all.  Looking for some info about some processes I've got
> > running on my box.  I'm new to 5.3 having used the 4x line for a long time
> > and I'm curious about my process list.  When I do "ps -ax" I get the
> > following list as seen below.  Are all of these items really needed and if
> > not, what items can I get rid of and how?  The machine in question is a
> 
> Most of those processes are used by the kernel, some of them, if you
> aren't using the specific hardware or functionality they provide (such
> as USB or ktrace) can be disabled by compiling your own kernel (see
> here: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/kernelconfig.html).
>  While this may not provide a *HUGE* performance increase, it may be a
> good idea to try.

That would not really make a difference. I've tried it once on my EPIA
boards, and ran some custom benchmarks. I didn't notice any difference
at all. It's really not worth it for most practical uses.

> I would also recommend, perhaps, adding some more RAM?  :-)

Yes, more RAM is always a good idea. But if you're using EPIA 5000 boards,
you should be aware of one catch: use just one of the two slots (you can
use one 512 MB PC-133 RAM module, but not two modules!), because these
boards can't reliably drive both for some strange reasons.

> > very simple fetching mail server running on a 500mhz Via Eden Mini-ITX
> > board.  Any insight would be welcome.  I'm really only asking this because
> > I tend to be a process minimalist.  IE I like to have as few processes
> > running as is absolutely necessary.  Well, anyways, enough of my
> > babbling.  Here's the list.

Regards,
-cpghost.

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