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I'm running some tests on my old and trusted Raspberry Pi A+.
I've installed Raspbian - latest release, lite version. At the prompt, it's using 92 MB of RAM, mainly due to systemd and NetworkManager. As soon as you use it (even just for apt), it starts swapping and becomes almost unusable. It took 5 minutes just to install Python.
I tried NetBSD (on the same memory card): 35 MB of RAM used (including Postfix!) and it's totally usable.
@stefano My first UNIX ARM machine ran BSD in 16Mb of RAM perfectly well, with OSF/Motif on top. A lovely machine; I really enjoyed it. And that's only 37 years ago.
https://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Mags/PCW/PCW_Aug90_R260.pdf
@stefano I wonder if zramswap along with adjusting to less video memory would help any.
@stefano can confirm NetBSD makes for a great Raspberry Pi model A setup!
https://social.chinwag.org/@mike/112589494524739713
Reminds me, I need to find out where I left that code to drive an LCD panel from it so I can finish my build. It's only been on the to-do list for about 18 months now.
@stefano This story always brings me back to this site
https://www.luke.maurits.id.au/writing/why-i-use-netbsd.html
@pinkopanterata @stefano I run NetBSD on a Pentium II with 192MB of RAM and while it can be a bit slow to install packages, it’s quite usable.
NetBSD is the best 💕
@stefano try zram-config, you may spare some swapping.
My raspberrypi pi b+'s cpu was at 100% on apt update/upgrade
@stefano Every time I fresh install FreeBSD, I run `ps ax` to enjoy how noting is running. :)
@stefano You answered the question I didn't know I had, thanks.
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