[sf-lug] PC with only 4 GB of installed RAM (was the most recent: "some notes..."

[aaronco36]

Quoting <me> from [1]:
> If I heard this correctly, Victor mentioned that he was using
> Windows 10, Oracle Virtualbox and Lubuntu under Virtualbox on
> a [desktop?] PC with 4 GB of RAM. ...
then further down...
> Continuing on from Victor's availability of only 4 GB of installed
> RAM on his PC, I think that two of the top cost factors to
> upgrading and speeding up such desktops as John S is donating ...

and more extensively quoting <Rick Moen rick at linuxmafia.com> from [2]:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know people perceive this as a real problem, and I really shouldn't laugh, 
but I do boggle and chuckle every time I see people using phrases like 'only 
4GB of installed RAM' (in the context of desktop Linux) with no discernible 
sense of irony.

I'll just gently point out, once again, that it's not necessary to run 
bloatware, and that part of the task of getting to know Linux is to customise 
your installation and decide actively what you wish to run and why you wish to 
run it.  Just accepting all the distro-installer defaults and then declaring 
the task 'done' when it terminates and reboots is short-changing yourself, and 
never learning what the heck you're doing.

Anyhow, when folks are done doing protracted tire-kicking and want to actually 
learn, and get much greater satisfaction with less waste of machine resources, 
they can.  I'm pretty sure a properly lean, non-bloated Linux desktop system 
will still be confortable with 2 GB total RAM, even with 2021-grade apps .....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And most of us should realize that the Lubuntu that might
be installed within Virtualbox on Victor's Windows 10 PC with
"only 4 GB of installed RAM" is of course the Ubuntu Linux
desktop distro having the Lightweight X Desktop Environment.

And yeah, Rick, as two of the common expressions go ...
==> "Preaching To The Choir!" and "Right You Are!" :-D
I fully agree that it will very greatly help to *really* (and more 
effectively!) get to "know Linux [by] customis[ing] your installation and 
decid[ing] actively what you wish to run and why you wish to run it" on that 
Lubuntu VM anytime or upon Vbox installation of any Linux distro.

Even immediately found a few websites on that and on perhaps better customizing 
VirtualBox VM's of Lubuntu and of other Linux distros
- Easy Linux Tip Project's 'Speed Up your Ubuntu![3]
- 10 Killer Tips To Speed Up Ubuntu Linux[4]
- Ask Ubuntu's 'How do I improve the performance of my VirtualBox guest?'[5]
- How-To Geek's 'The Complete Guide to Speeding Up Your Virtual Machines'[6]

OTOH, even with all of any of the above optimizations, am not really certain 
that they may really help under that Windows 10 PC with 4 GB installed RAM :-\
According to at least this direct quote from a Silicophilic.com posting 
'Windows 10 VirtualBox Running Slow? Here Is How To Fix!' at [7]:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Step 1: Allocate More Memory
Each operating system comes with a different set of minimum system 
requirements, which denotes the minimum stats your PC must have to run that 
operating system. Windows 10 requires a minimum of 4GB RAM to function 
normally.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Other than adding more physical RAM to that Windows 10 PC (perhaps doubling it 
to 8GB?), am admittedly inexperienced in significantly and safely lowering 
Windows 10 OS's "normally functioning" RAM requirements :-|

Directly continuing the quote from [7]:
~~~~~~~~~~~~ quoting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This means that to split your resources, you will have to reserve at least 4 GB 
RAM to prevent Windows 10 from slowing down. If you have more memory than that, 
then allocate more RAM space to the virtual memory that you are running.

In VirtualBox., open the virtual OS settings, and go to the System option from 
the left pane. In the right column, you will find a slider that controls the 
memory allocation. Drag the memory slider to a higher value, one that is enough 
to support both the host and the virtual operating systems.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I do note even with one of my 4GB RAM laptops with *Linux* VBox-as-host distros 
(not Win10) installed, and then running a Linux-distro guest under that host -- 
that when I try to "drag the memory slider to a higher value" in order to 
heavily squeeze as much guest performance as possible -- Vbox Warning messages 
regularly appear (are they really so severe??) whenever I try approaching or 
going beyond a 75percent memory allocation point (3072MB for that 4GB laptop.)
What I seem to carry out more effectively with that particular 4 GB laptop is 
to use a lower-resource Linux distro host using a much lighter desktop 
environment/window manager -- and then create and install within the Virtualbox 
on that host a lightweight distro guest VM. Even a Linux guest VM of Lxde 
Ubuntu or Linux Mint Lxde doesn't quite work out for me :-|

Usually follow the guest installation with additional tweaking of that 
non-Ubuntu-based VBox guest OS at least similar if not much more extensive to 
those described above in [3] and [4], but have still kept the level of 
VirtualBox's memory allocation well-under 75percent.

FWIW, have kept the memory allocation at 50percent/2048MB to no apparent ill 
effect performance-wise; might try tweaking the percentage upwards in smaller 
increments until Vbox should disable further tweaking perhaps increase the 
severity of its pop-up Warnings upon the attempt(s) :-o

Am definitely open to considering additional and better-recommended Linux 
host/guest OS or VirtualBox customisation suggestions as well for 4 GB RAM 
machines, but _not_ so open to Windows 10 host suggestions here for the same, 
sorry ;-)

-A

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REFERENCES
==================================================
[1]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2021q1/015126.html
[2]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2021q1/015128.html
[3]https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/speed-ubuntu.html
[4]https://itsfoss.com/speed-up-ubuntu-1310/
[5]https://askubuntu.com/questions/190330/how-do-i-improve-the-performance-of-my-virtualbox-guest
[6]https://www.howtogeek.com/124796/THE-HTG-GUIDE-TO-SPEEDING-UP-YOUR-VIRTUAL-MACHINES/
[7]https://silicophilic.com/virtualbox-running-slow/
==================================================

aaronco36 at sdf.org
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