- snip -
Run top from a terminal to see your true memory usage - Task Manager doesn't report it properly.
From my testing, if you want to browse the web on a 512MB device there are some extra steps that need to be taken.
* Use the 32-bit version Bookworm. The 32-bit versions consume less memory.
* Chromium currently uses less memory than Firefox.
* Gnome Web (epiphany-browser) uses a bit less memory than both of the above, if you are willing to make some compromises (limited settings, lack of webextension support, etc).
Two options next:
* Increase the swap size to at least 250MB and accept that your SD card life will be shortened.
OR
* Setup zram, use zstd compression set size to at least 60% and disable the swap file. There are guides for this and it works well.
So yes, it can technically be done, the above steps will allow you to fire up a browser and peruse these forums for example - but I don't recommend it. It's a lot of faff for a compromised experience. The OOM killer will be waiting to murder your processes once you open one too many tabs or the webpage is too heavy. Or worse, if you keep the swap it will just thrash endlessly resulting in the 'crashing' behaviour you have experienced.
The 512MB devices are best suited for headless work as forgoing the desktop saves about 100 MB or so of memory. The 1GB 3B and 3B+ will do let you browse the web using Chromium out of the box and let you have a few tabs open. Double the RAM gives a lot more breathing room. I'd still recommend the 32-bit OS for these devices personally as the memory savings are still worth it in my opinion.
Of course, the Pi 4 will do the same things but quite a bit faster and since there is the option to do so, I'd spring for a 2GB one at least.
Statistics: Posted by JimJamJamie — Tue Feb 06, 2024 10:11 am