this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Linux Magic SysRq keys
Some distros disable these by default such as Arch.
Yeah, try pressing
Alt+[PrintScreen, F]to invoke the OOM killer. It kills the memory-hoggingest process, usually the web browser.Fedora documentation says this sysrq functionality may be disabled by default. You can enable it once by typing at a terminal:
echo 1 | sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/sysrqor permanently withecho 'kernel.sysrq = 1' | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/90-sysrq.confIf it turns out that memory overconsumption is the problem, you can sometimes fix this lag by disabling swap. 16GB is easily enough RAM to do all normal desktop things.
Even if the sysrq key is disabled, most systems automatically invoke the oom killer. If your work is super important, just let your system sit for a day or two the problem may resolve itself.
If you don't get any logs about why it locked up I recommend enabling kernel message logging to disk.
When I was but a lad, I learned the phrase "raising skinny elephants is utterly boring." At my first job where I had a messenger (and thus could set a status message), I set this to display.
I was chastised because the leadership didn't know what it meant, but thought it might be offensive. I don't know whom they thought I might offend; one of the many skinny elephants on the team?
I was too nervous to set it again for several subsequent jobs, but eventually I got in a pretty technical one and displayed the message there. Not only did no one express offense, but I actually taught it to someone who put it to use when a mission critical server died.