Reserved memory

[adib]

Hi,

 

I use Armbian Stretch 4.19 on an OrangePi Zero Plus2 board with 512MB  of memory, cat /proc/meminfo shows:

MemTotal:         460224 kB

I assume that the missing amount of memory is reserved for the GPU.

I do not use the GPU, how can I decrease the amount of reserved memory?

 

 

[guidol]

Did you use a server or desktop image?
I didnt know any GPU-setting (like at the Raspberry Pi config-file).

My OPi Zero Plus2 H5 does show the follwing memory-values:
 

root@opi-zplus2-h5(192.168.6.26):/home/guido# cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal:         490828 kB
MemFree:          195680 kB
MemAvailable:     421708 kB

top
KiB Mem :   490828 total,   195380 free,    58268 used,   237180 buff/cache
KiB Swap:   245412 total,   245412 free,        0 used.   421408 avail Mem

Welcome to ARMBIAN 5.77 user-built Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch) 5.0.6-sunxi64
package bsp-kernel[5.77] u-boot[5.77] dtb[5.77] firmware[5.77] config[5.77]

Memory usage:  13 % of 479MB

 

[adib]

I use the server image.

[guidol]

its 2 years old, but maybe this would help?
https://github.com/armbian/build/issues/651#issuecomment-292714029

Quote

igorpecovnik commented on 8 Apr 2017 • 

Ahaa. You can pass kernel parameters in boot script. Check this, it's self explanatory:
https://github.com/igorpecovnik/lib/blob/master/config/bootscripts/boot-sunxi.cmd#L40
So you can add disp_mem_reserves=on to /boot/armbianEnv.txt ... yes, we have wrong/reversed logic here.

Other just edit boot.cmd, save and convert to boot.scr when done and reboot.

 

[adib]

I added "disp_mem_reserves=on" in the /boot/armbianEnv.txt file. Same result. I also tried the minimal desktop image.

In all of them cat /proc/meminfo shows:

MemTotal:         460224 kB 

 

[adib]

adi@orangepizeroplus2:~$ free
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:         460224       84952      199060        2784      176212      363532
Swap:        230096           0      230096
adi@orangepizeroplus2:~$

[guidol]

thats my free-output, BUT I deinstalled/removed NetworkManager from my System.
Maybe thats the around 20MB less memory-usage?
 

root@opi-zplus2-h5(192.168.6.26):/boot# free
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:         490828       62880      156776        1668      271172      416788
Swap:        245412           0      245412

I do use ifupdown and /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/resolv.conf

[adib]

38 minutes ago, guidol said:

My OPi Zero Plus2 H5 does show the follwing memory-values:

What armbian image do you use? I have the same board.

[guidol]

Just now, adib said:

What armbian image do you use? I have the same board.

ARMBIAN 5.77 user-built Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch) 5.0.6-sunxi64

Its the dev-image out of the armbian-build-system:

Armbian 5.77 with Kernel 5.0.6 in stretch/server flavour

 

https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Build-Preparation/

[adib]

I also uninstalled the NetworkManager from the system to save memory

The "MemTotal" field should show the total amount of available memory in the system, and should not be affected by NetworkManager de-installation.

 

[adib]

Thanks, I'm on ARMBIAN 5.75 stable Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch) 4.19.20-sunxi64.

I'll try to move to the dev image.

[adib]

I've upgraded the kernel to 5.0.5 using armbian-config, now I have 2MB less than before

ARMBIAN 5.77.190404 nightly Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch) 5.0.5-sunxi64   
System load:   0.26 0.17 0.07   Up time:       1 min
Memory usage:  18 % of 447MB    IP:            192.168.1.112

 

[adib]

I discovered that if I boot without the HDMI display connected the MemTotal is 481MB. With the HDMI display connected MemTotal is 449MB.

So it seems that not the GPU but the HDMI or the Frame buffer are to blame. It's not too much 32MB reserved for a 800x480 display?

 

[guidol]

1 hour ago, adib said:

So it seems that not the GPU but the HDMI or the Frame buffer are to blame. It's not too much 32MB reserved for a 800x480 display?

 

Ahh - yes - I only use the SSH-Console, so no HDMI connected here.
32MB is way to much for 800x480, BUT for FullHD (1920x1080) it should fit
The memory seems to be automatically reserved for the HDMI-Output.