Yes, this is how you're supposed to read memory usage in 'top' and 'free'. One m... | Hacker News

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FooBarWidget on April 9, 2013 | parent | context | favorite | on: Ubuntu low-memory install for VMs

Yes, this is how you're supposed to read memory usage in 'top' and 'free'. One must substract caches and buffers from the 'free memory' value. A lot of people read the values wrong and think that they're running out of memory.

redblacktree on April 9, 2013 [–]

Obviously there is the man page, but could you explain that a little more fully? (or link to something that does)

I think I may have been misreading the numbers, but I don't quite follow your recommended approach.

heiska on April 9, 2013 | [–]

http://www.linuxatemyram.com explains it.

redblacktree on April 10, 2013 | | [–]

Thanks! Exactly what I needed and entertaining too!

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