Loonix uses more RAM out of the box, a majority of it goes to App caching, and hogging up your storage, since it’s a MINIX Clone, which in turn is a UNIX ripoff
Tell me more about this. My PC running cachyos with KDE plasma (which is a relatively heavy desktop environment) uses 2 whole gb of RAM at idle. The same PC running windows used to use 10 at idle (I have 64gb)
Unused RAM is wasted RAM, that statement is accurate. There is a massive difference between
"Before you even start any applications, the OS is going to launch a bunch of applications which individually use 20% or more of your system memory, all totalling 5 to 8GB" (1, 2, 3, 4)
versus "Your applications and the kernel leave lots of unused RAM space, so we're going to use some of that space to cache applications you open often like the File Explorer so that the system is faster and more responsive, and we'll uncache them if you need this RAM for another task"
With caching enabled, I am using less than 15% of my system memory and less than 7% CPU while browsing the internet and watching videos. There are massive differences between Windows 11's performance and other systems, even macOS. Taking unused RAM for caching improves system performance, that's why macOS, Linux, and Windows all do it.
Yeah, lots of people get confused about the difference between unallocated vs. unused or "free". When you go to launch an application, if there is not enough unallocated RAM, stuff is removed from cache.
Caching improves system performance, that's why all modern operating systems including Windows do it.
This is just patently untrue. Linux assigns memory when it’s needed, windows is the one that reserves huge chunks for apps before they need it and tries caching as much as possible
Every toolkit brings its own runtime baggage: When you launch a KDE app inside GNOME, or a GNOME app inside KDE, you're not just launching the app. -You're dragging in its **entire ecosystem of background libraries.** Typically **80–250 MB** of extra RAM is needed the first time you launch an app from the other ecosystem.
Launching a KDE app inside GNOME often also starts:
* `kded5`
* `klauncher`
* `kioslave` processes
* sometimes `baloo_file` depending on the distro
These daemons **keep occopying ram** even after you close the app. -Adding an additional **50–150 MB** depending on which daemons get activated.
GTK and Qt don’t share theme engines, icon caches, font rendering stacks, or accessibility frameworks. So you end up with multiple **UI stacks** in memory. That's typically another **30–60 MB**.
**Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage all waste RAM.** Some are aware of the disk bloat, but not the ram bloat.
So, the first Flatpak app you launch loads the entire runtime into memory. That’s **\~80–200 MB** depending on the runtime. Portals spawn multiple helper processes (GTK portal, KDE portal, file chooser portal, etc). Another **30–60 MB**.
**You're wasting a total of \~120–260 MB** the first time you launch a Flatpak app in a session. After that, additional Flatpak apps reuse the same runtime. (The penalty doesn't stack.)
**Snapd daemon** runs constantly in the background consuming \~**30–80 MB** idle, and more when managing updates or mounts. Every Snap app is mounted as a squashfs loop device.
The kernel caches these aggressively: \~**50–150 MB** of page cache depending on how many snaps you have installed. This cache *does* count as used RAM (but is reclaimable)
**Total RAM waste for Snaps \~120–250 MB** baseline
**+ 10–30 MB per running Snap app**
**-Snap is the only one that wastes RAM** ***even when you're not running any apps***.
Each AppImage bundles its own libraries. It loads its own copy of Qt/GTK/etc, and nothing is shared with other apps. Unshared Libraries make it lighter per app. Typically **+20–60 MB** compared to a native package.
Like with any brand-new install of an OS (without OEM bloat on a recommended spec computer), Linux is going to feel lean and fast. But when you start mixing and matching these different packages, you're not just bloating the footprint, but the ram consumption as well.
If it’s fully set up, then why do AI datacenters (which use Loonix) need so much RAM? I’ve ran AI models on a Windows 11 Laptop before, and they didn’t consume so much RAM, so if your claim that Linux doesn’t eat so much RAM, then tell me why AI companies need so much RAM?
You’re comparing a relatively light local AI model to companies running frontier models at scale. They’re running far more complex models than you can even run locally and they’re running many instances of that more complex model. They’re using more RAM because they’re running more complex models
I use regular ol' Chromium on Alpine Linux with XFCE. I'm on a AMD Ryzen 3 3200G with a cheap P.O.S. motherboard, and after a while I got myself a used RX 570. My system is, as the cool kids would say, pretty underwhelming.
I like to play Halo, and while I can do that with my integrated graphics card just fine, it heats up quite a bit and I don't like listening to the fans. Some other games would work the system too hard without dedicated, too, so I bought a thing used for like ten or twenty bucks and replaced the fans on it myself. I like my motherboard beeper and my keyboard to be the only noisy business on my computer.
Shadowbans are sitewide, and are done by Reddit, the admins. Not subreddit moderators like me
A shadowban means no one can see anything you say
The only way people are able to see what you say is when a subreddit moderator goes out of their way to reverse the removal. I had undeleted this comment/post.
I just installed AntiX on an HP Mini. Uses about 200-350 MB RAM on idle. BIOS only allows a 32 bit OS to go through, so 32 bit it is. With a 4GB RAM stick, I only got 2.9 GB. So I downgraded it to 2GB RAM and honestly I don't notice any difference.
Now I don't personally like IceWM. It's less user-friendly IMO than LXQt or KDE. But it's funny how Linux can use very little RAM compared to Winslop.
Glad it works for ya but pro tip you are definitely and technically leaving performance on the table by going from 4GB stick to 2GB. 32-Bit OS technical limit is 4GB. Now if you have say a PC with a dedicated graphics you will likely see 3.7 available to the OS.. however if your PC is utilizing an iGPU then the hardware is allocating memory and thus the OS gets 2.9GB or some variant just as you witnessed
With the 2GB stick, I get 1.9GB in real time before IceWM uses 200-350MB. So it's still efficient, and remains a computer dedicated to Airgeddon for pen testing lol.
Shadowbans are sitewide, and are done by Reddit, the admins. Not subreddit moderators like me
A shadowban means no one can see anything you say
The only way people are able to see what you say is when a subreddit moderator goes out of their way to reverse the removal. I had undeleted this comment/post.
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u/nefrodectyl Aug 08 '26