Database Develop

Best settings for CyanogenMod

Hey guys can you suggest me the perfect settings for my 2GB sd?
Do I need to use Swap? (now I have 64 mb of swap)
What kind of EXT it's best? (now I have ext4)
Thank you!

Krishath said:
Hey guys can you suggest me the perfect settings for my 2GB sd?
Do I need to use Swap? (now I have 64 mb of swap)
What kind of EXT it's best? (now I have ext4)
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe ext4 is best, as it's the newest linux filesystem. I'm currently using ext3, because most ROMs don't support ext4, but I'll probably upgrade soon.
As for swap, I also have a 64mb swap partition, but default it isn't utilized. CompCache is already enabled, but I'd also like to know how to enable it.
EDIT: Swap requires a userinit.sh I'm about to try it out...

AdrianK said:
I believe ext4 is best, as it's the newest linux filesystem. I'm currently using ext3, because most ROMs don't support ext4, but I'll probably upgrade soon.
As for swap, I also have a 64mb swap partition, but default it isn't utilized. CompCache is already enabled, but I'd also like to know how to enable it.
EDIT: Swap requires a userinit.sh I'm about to try it out...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but what it's the best setting for this ROM?
EXT4 + SWAP 64MB are alright?
So swap partition isn't used by default? How we "activate" it?

Krishath said:
Yeah but what it's the best setting for this ROM?
EXT4 + SWAP 64MB are alright?
So swap partition isn't used by default? How we "activate" it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't much difference between ext3 and ext4. Cyanogen himself uses ext4, so...
You need to make a custom userinit.sh, follow that guide I posted.
Swap size probably doesn't matter too much, as long as it's not too big. 64 will be fine, any speed increase from a different size will be minimal.

This is how I'm running 4.0.4...
- 32MB Linux Partition - enabled using Swapper.
- 528MHz set ALL the time - enabled using SetCPU(Makes the UI sooo much smoother. Didnt really notice a difference in battery life either).

Using userinit.sh I enabled CompCache with linux swap on a 64 partition and it does seem smoother. Also switched to ext4 now, don't really see a difference.

Will try it now

AdrianK said:
Using userinit.sh I enabled CompCache with linux swap on a 64 partition and it does seem smoother. Also switched to ext4 now, don't really see a difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you post your usernit.sh?

AdrianK said:
Using userinit.sh I enabled CompCache with linux swap on a 64 partition and it does seem smoother. Also switched to ext4 now, don't really see a difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would suggest you stick to ext3 because it's more commonly used as of right now... also 64mb is a good sized partition, and linux swap is good, but compcache and Backing Swap is a lot better...

prince.siraj said:
i would suggest you stick to ext3 because it's more commonly used as of right now... also 64mb is a good sized partition, and linux swap is good, but compcache and Backing Swap is a lot better...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I have some "made" files to put in my SD card? I have a "normal" 2GB microsd card with 64 mb of swap... I'd be glad for this

I really dont see anything wrong with ext4, Ive had a look in a few rom release threads and most of them have support for it. I use cyanogen mod 99% of the time anyway...
Krishath said:
Can I have some "made" files to put in my SD card? I have a
"normal" 2GB microsd card with 64 mb of swap... I'd be glad for this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you talking about userinit.sh and user.conf? Just follow the link I posted earlier, took me about 10 minutes to set up.

for swap dont go over 45mb. i honestly can notice the dif. i us my g1 as a test dummy. ext2,3,4 honestly does not make a dif in my eyes. i have tried all. i use linux mint to partition my sd. which by the way is the easiest and sickest way to partition. just had to put that out there for lin users. root root lol!! but ya. over 45mb makes me feel its really trying to find the swap space. try it and give me your opinion. i have partitioned my sd from recovery mkpartfs, windows partition to linux partition editor. ya. trust me. i currently use 40mb swap. that is what really matters. use at ur comfort and day to day usage. fosho!!

Linux-swap Cynanogen?

ok so i made a linux-swap partion on my sd card that is 64mb. Now do i need to activate it somehow? or does cynogen do it for me? i tried to search but couldnt find. also do i need update my radio? it is 2.22.19.26I

You need user.conf and userinit.sh files on your ext partition. There's a guide on how to set that up here.

ok and can i have compcache and linux-swap at the same time? or do they do the same thing? also do i need to make a partion for compcache? and i cant find the htc keyboard in 4.2.3.1, does it come with it?

i thought if you have 4.2.3.1 you didnt have to add the files as it does everything for you? am I missing something.

is compcache and linux swap the same thing? and do we need both?

nahanee20 said:
is compcache and linux swap the same thing? and do we need both?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, no.
Swap is virtual memory. It uses a seperate partition to act as extra RAM, but it's nowhere near comparable to real RAM.
Compcache compresses what's in the RAM, so there's more space to cram files in. The problem is constantly compressing and decompressing files in RAM puts a heavy strain on the CPU.

so do i need to put the usernit files on or did this rom already do it?

does anyone know how to use the user.config app to do this?

nahanee20 said:
does anyone know how to use the user.config app to do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You DO NOT have to add any user int files to your sd for swap to work.
Its already rolling if you installed correctly.
go to terminal and use the print command to view your allocated spaces for each ext

Better yet, use the "free" command to see if it is really being used. I am pretty sure Cynanogen does not use a swap partition by default. It needs to be enabled. A easy way to check and setup your swap it to download swapper.

When I type free in the terminal I see 0 for total, used and free swap. I made an ext4 and a 32mb swap partition on my sd card. How do I enable swap on Cyanogen 4.2.5?

beav_35 said:
When I type free in the terminal I see 0 for total, used and free swap. I made an ext4 and a 32mb swap partition on my sd card. How do I enable swap on Cyanogen 4.2.5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
search user.conf app on market

[Q] best partition for 2gb sd card (stock) ????

how should i partition my 2gb stock Kingston sd card because i am currently using Sparksmod 2.1 Rom and they require a ext3 or ext4 partition so i parititoned my sd card with a 32 mb linux swap partition and 512 mb ext 3 partition. At first everything was fine, but after a few weeksd my phone is REALLY SLOW and unstable.
EDIT: FAT 32 has 1423 MB
What should i do? Did i partition it the wrong way.

Upgrade you EXT to 4. See if that help.

BeenAndroidized said:
Upgrade you EXT to 4. See if that help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ext2/3/4 has nothing to do with slowing down, most likely it's swap, especially when swappiness is set too high ...
Sent from my Gingerbread on Dream using XDA App

AndDiSa said:
Ext2/3/4 has nothing to do with slowing down, most likely it's swap, especially when swappiness is set too high ...
Sent from my Gingerbread on Dream using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking about that too, but since the SD card was only 2GB, space is limited. May be making the swap to 128MB instead of 62MB. might help then. And set the swappiness to the middle setting.

BeenAndroidized said:
I was thinking about that too, but since the SD card was only 2GB, space is limited. May be making the swap to 128MB instead of 62MB. might help then. And set the swappiness to the middle setting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would be better to renounce on swap completely. If there is no chance, set swappiness at most to 20-30, but this depends also on your "profile", i.e. what apps you are using, what services are running, etc.
Sent from my Gingerbread on Dream using XDA App

Im not even sure if my phone is using swap at all and the rom doesnt need you to have swap so should i remove the 32 mb linux swap partition then?

Oh and i checked and i am not using swap
so if its not the swap then could it be the apps2sd ext?
Cuz i read somewhere that apps2sd makes the phone take longer to run apps
and this is what is happening to my phone the apps are lagging it, when i launch them they take at least 5 seconds to load, and when i use the browser my phone becomes really unstable.

Startup time for apps stored on sd-ext may be a bit longer, but do not change over the time. Are you using also data on sd? This might be a problem, if not, there must be something different ...
Sent from my Gingerbread on Dream using XDA App

how can i check if i am using data on the sd?

what is need partition SD card?

"Its recommend to partition your sdcard before flash"
whats the use?..........

you can use cwm with the phone or minitool partition wizard with the pc

venkatarajeev131 said:
"Its recommend to partition your sdcard before flash"
whats the use?..........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the rom maybe containing a2sd script that's why it need a second partition do it there is no harm

What size this partition should be? 100MB is enough?

felipevsw said:
What size this partition should be? 100MB is enough?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
atleast 512 mb for ext parttion you should create a swap partition of 256 mb,
swap will replace the ram according to the swappiness set by you

dhlalit11 said:
atleast 512 mb for ext parttion you should create a swap partition of 256 mb,
swap will replace the ram according to the swappiness set by you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it should be 2 partitions: one with 512 MB and another with 256 MB... The one with 512 should be formatted ext4? and the other swap (of course)?

felipevsw said:
So it should be 2 partitions: one with 512 MB and another with 256 MB... The one with 512 should be formatted ext4? and the other swap (of course)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Set it as ext2, it's faster.
---------- Post added at 08:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:06 PM ----------
dhlalit11 said:
atleast 512 mb for ext parttion you should create a swap partition of 256 mb,
swap will replace the ram according to the swappiness set by you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's some info on how Linux (and thus Android) uses swap. http://www.linux-tutorial.info/modules.php?name=MContent&pageid=89
I wouldn't bother with it on a phone since Linux will just swap unchanged files right back to where they are on the phone storage without the need for a swap file and since it's unlikely that you'll ever multitask large user files on it there really is no need for it.

felipevsw said:
So it should be 2 partitions: one with 512 MB and another with 256 MB... The one with 512 should be formatted ext4? and the other swap (of course)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
swap is optional but it's good to have

dhlalit11 said:
swap is optional but it's good to have
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For what? Who is changing large data files on their phone? In all likelihood it will cost you more memory to have a swap file than it will save you memory since it won't be used.
Linux won't use it at all if the file in memory hasn't changed since it was last read from storage, it will just swap it back to where it was last read, that is, if you have an app open and more memory is needed linux will first check to see if the file has been changed since last read and since it's an app it will just link it back to where it was read from in the first place rather than to put yet another copy in swap.

Jinxxed said:
For what? Who is changing large data files on their phone? In all likelihood it will cost you more memory to have a swap file than it will save you memory since it won't be used.
Linux won't use it at all if the file in memory hasn't changed since it was last read from storage, it will just swap it back to where it was last read, that is, if you have an app open and more memory is needed linux will first check to see if the file has been changed since last read and since it's an app it will just link it back to where it was read from in the first place rather than to put yet another copy in swap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
am not talking about swap file am talking about swap partition and if you think there is no need then why are there paid apps like swapper for root and why are people paying for them.
suppose you are playing shadow gun with help of cf3d after the play you find that all the app like launcher background working apps are stopped due to low ram but if you have swap then the app's memory will move to swap partition and it will not close
when I had mini I had a swap partition of 512 MB and it was really working and if you think the life of SD will decrease then you should know that it has a veeeeeery lil effect on life so don't worry there is no harm

Thank u for this useful thread..

dhlalit11 said:
am not talking about swap file am talking about swap partition and if you think there is no need then why are there paid apps like swapper for root and why are people paying for them.
suppose you are playing shadow gun with help of cf3d after the play you find that all the app like launcher background working apps are stopped due to low ram but if you have swap then the app's memory will move to swap partition and it will not close
when I had mini I had a swap partition of 512 MB and it was really working and if you think the life of SD will decrease then you should know that it has a veeeeeery lil effect on life so don't worry there is no harm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whether you use a swap file or partition is irrelevant, Linux can use either and they work exactly the same.
In your example, all the apps would be swapped RIGHT BACK TO WHERE THEY ARE STORED since they did not change since last read, the swap would be unused and the apps would still be swapped.
I don't know if it's that you fail to comprehend the simple subject or refuse to read both what i post and what i link to but you are not understanding this.
Of course it won't affect the SD cards lifetime, it won't be used.

[DEV-HINT] Implementing a swap partition or swap file for new and old bootloader

[DEV-HINT] Implementing a swap partition or swap file for new and old bootloader
Wikipedia defines swap file (or paging) as: "[..] use disk storage for data that does not fit into physical random-access memory (RAM)."
With CM10 or CM10.1 around, the 'about phone' screen usually shows 343 MB of usable RAM on the LG-P990, so one gets ideas. With CM9 it was a bit better, but still.... Take Chrome for example: nice to the eye, but not so nice to the RAM of devices that have been around a lot longer than the Nexus 4 with its whopping two Gigabytes. So what's the catch with swap? For example, a HDD swap partition on a PC offers some sort of relief when RAM is scarce by moving some parts of the RAM (pages) to the HDD and moving them back when it needs it. Of course, it comes for a price: performance! But it works. So why not using it on Android too? To hell with the fact that virtual RAM on the internal memory card is a lot slower than physical RAM, there are times when it would be just nice to have the extra megabytes at hand.
Were you a bit envious too when you saw that the 'new' partition layout that came with the ICS bootloader on our beloved LG-P990 had a swap partition included? Well, I was. I even changed to a customized layout to get one for a little while too... But that is not really necessary. Never was, actually. I came back to the original layout and old bootloader weeks ago. What still bugged me was the missing swap partition. CM10.1, CM10 or even CM9 could really use swap from time to time but commonly don't use it.
So, is there really a big difference between the two partition layouts? Yes, but regarding the swap it doesn't count. In fact, the situation for both user groups is pretty much the same: both do not use any kind of swap space whatsoever. First, there are the users with the new bootloader. They have the swap partition but actually don't make use of it. As compared with users with the old bootloader: they may not have the swap partition on their partition table but even they can easily implement a solution very similar to a standard swap partition: a swap file. Then they can benefit as well from some extra Megabytes in certain low memory situations. You don't have a swap partition/file in use yourself yet? In just a few minutes you can change that no matter what bootloader you have.
First you have to find out which bootloader/partition layout is on your LG-P990:
here is how you determine your bootloader/partition layout: reboot!
If you see a pink LG logo when the phone boots then you have the new bootloader/new partition layout (ICS)
If you see a white LG logo when the phone boots then you have the old bootloader / old partition layout(GB)
All commands used in the terminal are shown with a '$'-sign or '#'-sign (root). Copy just the commands without the signs to the terminal, unless stated otherwise.
New bootloader/partition layout (ICS) - Pink LG logo as splash screen - You have the old bootloader/partition layout? Skip to the second part below.
If you are using the new partition layout, then it is easy to use the swap mechanism. The 350MB swap partition is just waiting for you to be switched on.
Use 'adb shell' or the terminal:
check the situation with
Code:
$ free
Does it show 0 0 0 in the swap line? Then swap is not working at the moment and has to be switched on.
Use
Code:
$ su
to get superuser rights
Make the swap partition usable (Be extra careful! Triple-check the command!)
Code:
# mkswap /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
Switch it on
Code:
# swapon /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
Change swappiness to zero at runtime
Code:
# sysctl -w vm.swappiness=0
To keep the swap partition switched on, after reboot and even after flashing ROM updates
create the file /data/local/userinit.sh
Put these lines inside (with the '#' sign)
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
swapon /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
sysctl -w vm.swappiness=0
swappiness=0 lets the kernel use the swap partition only when there is no more physical RAM left.
Save the file.
Now reboot.
Check it via adb shell or terminal if it is working.
Code:
$ free
The swap line should show that 350 MB are available (total/free).
Check the swappiness with
Code:
$ cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
It should show 0 now.
Testdrive your work. Start Chrome or a game or whatever uses a lot of RAM on your system. Use it heavily and then check the swap usage of your kernel again with a final
Code:
$ free
Just try it!
Old bootloader/partition layout (GB) - White LG logo as splash-screen
The task is to create a 128 MB Swap-File on the data partition. 128 MB seems enough since it is just for memory emergencies. And it's best to create it on the data partition and not on the sdcard because of the USB mass-storage support that would interfere with any swap file on sdcards. By the way, it doesn't format your data partition. It just makes your usable space of the data partition 128 MB smaller than it is right now. Basically, it creates an empty file with the fixed size of 128 MB and makes it usable as a swap 'partition'. It has the same functionality as a swap partition. And the same speed. And everything else. It just doesn't reside in its own partition. It is even better: when you don't want it anymore or change the size of it, just stop the swap-file with 'swapoff' and delete the file 'swapfile' in your data partition and it's gone for good. Immediately you can use the freed-up space for something else.
Use 'adb shell' or the terminal:
check the situation with
Code:
$ free
Does it show 0 0 0 in the swap line? Then it is not working at the moment and has to be switched on.
See with
Code:
$ df
whether there is enough free space left on /data. 200 MB or more should be free on /data. 128 MB will be used.
Get superuser rights
Code:
$ su
Optional: To see more interesting memory stats you can use
Code:
# cat /proc/meminfo
Now create the file named 'swapfile' with the size of 128 MB
Code:
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/data/swapfile bs=1024 count=128000
This can take a moment.
Limit the rights of the swapfile
Code:
# chmod 600 /data/swapfile
now set up the swapfile for swap usage
Code:
# mkswap /data/swapfile
Switch it on
Code:
# swapon /data/swapfile
Hint: switch off would be swapoff /data/swapfile
Now it is already working!
Tune it to your needs: we just want the swap file to be used in emergencies when there is no RAM left anymore and Android would turn Project Butter in Project Stutter.
Check the status of swappiness
Code:
# cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
Default is 60. That is much too high. swappiness=0 lets the kernel use the swap file only when there is no more physical RAM left.
Change it to zero
Code:
# sysctl -w vm.swappiness=0
With this sysctl command you can change the swappiness setting (0-100) on runtime.
If you want to make these settings permanent no matter if you reboot or even flash a ROM update without wiping data then
create the file /data/local/userinit.sh
Put these lines inside (with the '#' sign)
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
swapon /data/swapfile
sysctl -w vm.swappiness=0
Save it.
Reboot and check it with a last
Code:
# free
in terminal. Now testdrive your swap file with two browsers and a game simultanously or whatever suits your needs to stress your P990.
Just try it yourself!
Have fun!

and another awesome dev thread by Raum1807 :good:
Interested in making a flashable zip out of it? If not I could do it next week.
Just adding everything into one sh-file which gets called by the updater-script - or just via the Terminal.

tonyp said:
and another awesome dev thread by Raum1807 :good:
Interested in making a flashable zip out of it? If not I could do it next week.
Just adding everything into one sh-file which gets called by the updater-script - or just via the Terminal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the offer. Thought about that, too. But I think it is more interesting to understand what we are doing here by following it step-by-step. A script makes it too easy... Maybe later, we will see.

sorry for this dumb question.
what's the difference between using this method and using roehsoft ram expander?
both of them have the option to change swappiness and to enable/disable swap from sdcard (roehsoft ram expander can even choose ext sd as swap location)
i don't get it :silly:

old bootloader:
/data/swapfile # that's internal sd right?
wouldn't it be better to use external sd for swapping as swapping heavily might in the long run kill a flash drive?

derEremit said:
old bootloader:
/data/swapfile # that's internal sd right?
wouldn't it be better to use external sd for swapping as swapping heavily might in the long run kill a flash drive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i don't think so, AFAIK the max reading speed for ext sd is 10 MBps, which is lower than reading speed in our int sd (about 13 MBps). that's why using int one for swapping would be a better choice
please CMIIW, i'm still noobs in this kind of stuff. though, i just want to share what i know

I have one point to this.
You write "swappiness=0 lets the kernel use the swap partition only when there is no more physical RAM left."
But there is every time some free space on RAM, because android never let decrease memory to zero.

babi_perang said:
sorry for this dumb question.
what's the difference between using this method and using roehsoft ram expander?
both of them have the option to change swappiness and to enable/disable swap from sdcard (roehsoft ram expander can even choose ext sd as swap location)
i don't get it :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Doesn't use the external sdcard
- Doesn't cost 7 Euro
- gives you an idea how things work
Sent from my LG-P990 using xda app-developers app

derEremit said:
old bootloader:
/data/swapfile # that's internal sd right?
wouldn't it be better to use external sd for swapping as swapping heavily might in the long run kill a flash drive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Swapping is only happening when the RAM is critically low. Btw, the swap partition of the ICS partition layout is also located on the internal memory. No difference so to speak. Using this method shouldn't harm the internal memory at all.
Sent from my LG-P990 using xda app-developers app

tomsi91 said:
I have one point to this.
You write "swappiness=0 lets the kernel use the swap partition only when there is no more physical RAM left."
But there is every time some free space on RAM, because android never let decrease memory to zero.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the memory management of Android tries to keep the RAM clean while keeping the last few opened apps in the RAM. Four or five running CM10.x on the P990. But the less RAM you have on your phone the harder this balance gets. Imagine memory eating apps like Gallery/Camera or Chrome. They benefit from more memory being available.
Sent from my LG-P990 using xda app-developers app

Thank you for this helpful guide! It is so easy to make it. And now I know a bit much more about Android and RAM.
Gesendet von meinem LGP990 mit CM10.

Hey! This seems interesting but i have a question , before doing this we have 343 RAM available and after all this trouble only 350 ? so thats 7more RAM or am i missing something ?

Soare23 said:
Hey! This seems interesting but i have a question , before doing this we have 343 RAM available and after all this trouble only 350 ? so thats 7more RAM or am i missing something ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you forgot to read the original post that explains what exactly swap is:
So what's the catch with swap? For example, a HDD swap partition on a PC offers some sort of relief when RAM is scarce by moving some parts of the RAM (pages) to the HDD and moving them back when it needs it. Of course, it comes for a price: performance! But it works. So why not using it on Android too? To hell with the fact that virtual RAM on the internal memory card is a lot slower than physical RAM, there are times when it would be just nice to have the extra megabytes at hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reported RAM will remail the same because you aren't increasing your physical RAM.

When i try to creat a swap file, this Error appears:
/def/zero/: canot open for read: Not directory
I'm a superuser
---------- Post added at 09:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:13 PM ----------
After disconnecting from computer it worked!

Swappiness=0 doesn't stick for me after reboot It returns to 60 everytime.

@Raum1807
Awesome thread. Thanks for kindly explaining everything. I learned a lot here!

Ajsh said:
Swappiness=0 doesn't stick for me after reboot It returns to 60 everytime.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just put:
echo "0" > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
at the end of a .sh file in init.d

As we´re talking about using the wasted Swap-Partition:
Is it possible to use it as a "new" kind of Ramhack?
As for now we cut off some shared Ram of GPU to use it as normal RAM. What if we let the GPU use the Swap-Partition as its Memory and get all physical RAM available?
GPU will not perform as good as now, but some People don´t need a Phone to play Games...
Is this possible or restricted to some Nvidia-Libs that are Closed-Source??

zerocoolriddler said:
As we´re talking about using the wasted Swap-Partition:
Is it possible to use it as a "new" kind of Ramhack?
As for now we cut off some shared Ram of GPU to use it as normal RAM. What if we let the GPU use the Swap-Partition as its Memory and get all physical RAM available?
GPU will not perform as good as now, but some People don´t need a Phone to play Games...
Is this possible or restricted to some Nvidia-Libs that are Closed-Source??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is interesting... it could really make a difference , only if it works tho heh.
Sent from my LG-P990 using xda app-developers app

Can we have both Swap and Zram on in CM 10 ? Any possible side effects