I'm confused by Linux's memory usage.

[Block]

I'm using KDE on Red Hat Linux.
From the time X Window starts, the system monitor programs tell me that about 90% of my 192mb or RAM is in use. This seems to change at random--I could check in a few hours and have 60% in use, then it could go back up.. and I'd always be running the same programs.

[fancypiper]

All you ever wanted to know about Linux memory management but were afraid to ask (http://linux-mm.org/)

[TacKat]

The kernel allocates memory that is currently unused by programs for its own use in speeding up the system (frequently loaded files might be loaded into memory for example) then when a program requests memory that is being used in this way, the kernel lets it go. In theory this keeps the system running close to peak performance by making sure there isn't anything going to waste.

That's the quick explanation anyway.

[Block]

Cool... thanks for the link and the explanation. =)