You shouldn't want to decrease your RAM usage. It is there it may as well be used.
this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2024
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But to be more clear/TLDR, make sure you're looking at "available" RAM not "free" ram (if your tool doesn't show this try free -h), and ignore buffer/cache usage, as the kernel will free this up as needed for other programs, but otherwise uses it to cache/accelerate I/O
There's probably lower hanging fruit than this, but if you are aiming for the lowest RAM use possible, don't require compatibility with third party binaries, and don't expect to exceed 4GB, running an i686 build will reduce binary size and memory consumption across the board. There is an unofficial 32 bit version of ArchLinux available (https://archlinux32.org/). Never tried it myself though.
Compiling a custom kernel and vastly limiting the number of enabled features can make an impact. If 250MB is too high, even the choice of filesystem (and number of filesystems mounted) might have considerable implications on memory usage.
The main sticking point is that you are stuck with the binaries Arch ships. Perhaps you can replace some with leaner alternatives versions provided in AUR, but the key to reducing RAM use below where you're at now is going to be completely disabling optional compile-time features.
32 bit Arch sounds sweaty as fuck, no thanks
I would never go back unless I absolutely needed to get something running on a 2003 Dell or something. I just retired a system with 32GB for one with 128GB lmao.
Is there a hardware restriction that you're trying to work with, or are you just interested? A fresh install for me (with only the base meta-package and the bootloader) uses about ~160mb. Though this number might be a bit "bloated" simply due to the fact that the kernel will use available memory for disk caching
The RAM consumption question is hard to answer scientifically. But if you want to reduce your footprint even further you can use Artix to drop systemd and replace it with an init system such as openRC or runit.
You can swap DWM for sway if you want to Wayland proof your desktop without sacrificing that much memory and use foot as your terminal.
In any case your RAM usage will skyrocket if you use any HTML5 web browser (like browsing hexbear).
But really RAM usage on Linux is fine. People say that any unused RAM is wasted RAM and I'd agree. Unless there's a memory leak or anything related to chromium or firefox your RAM usage should remain low. If you really want to push Linux to be even smaller you'd want to look at Puppy-Linux or Damnsmall Linux.
OpenRC is available in AUR, i was thinking about giving it a try
Browser on X11 use a lot of extra memory as well. A lot of pixmap will be loaded.