[RAM]Swap Works on Archos 70 IT 250GB HDD Version! (Ram increase) - Gen8 Android Development

Hi all,
First, sorry for my english since english is not my mother language.
I've brought Archos 70 IT 250GB last week, and start to study all about it from the internet to make it faster faster and faster...
Gathering all information from XDA, ArchosFans, Mobile01, HKEPC...etc.
Almost all archos owner is flash 8GB version, and they totally wrote the guide for flash version, HDD version are roughly mentioned....
But its okay for that, because ROOT, SDE, Flash AOS...all is same in both hardware version, but one thing only is different, the SWAP part!
8GB flash version have internal 8GB memory and able to insert SD card, so they can play a lot about SWAP, EXT4, Class 6, 8, 10...bra bra bra
How about HDD version....my little poor A70H !?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think is enough for my speak...main part coming..
From my own test, SWAP is works and faster than put the file onto the HDD.
--Step1--
Download the SWAP file from below, thanks marclh1992
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=872697
--Step2--
Unzip the file to the desktop, and choose the suitable swapXXX for your Archos 70 IT, I use swap256 for demo.
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--Step3--
put the SWAP file into the root of your Archos
--Step4--
Download 'GScript Lite' from Market, and install RootExplorer from !?
--Step5--
Open RootExplorer, and point to your HDD as '/mnt/storage'
--Step6--
Long click on the SWAP file and choose 'copy'
--Step7--
point to the internal memory as '/data' and paste it
**this folder is your whole internal memory (have 1.6G spaces) that you store apps data here, don't touch anything unless you know what it is!!
--Step8--
jobs done with RootExplorer, now open GScript Lite
--Step9--
Type below code to Enable SWAP:
Code:
cd /data
swapon swap256
free
or
type this for Disable SWAP:
Code:
cd /data
swapoff swap256
free
then press save, then click on it, RUN!
*Or you can download my gscript to run it
--Step10--
Work done! Now you can see you have a lot of swap ram.
This trick will not affect you HDD at all time, you no need to Disable the SWAP to mount your HDD to your PC anymore!!
--extra Step--
Add auto-run script
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11669637&postcount=11
by Leo

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SWAP 2596
Tested, work like a charme.
did you try with swap bigger than 256?

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cocto said:
Is it needed with the new Updates 2.1.08?
did you try with swap bigger than 256?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, I've downloaded all 3 swap files and tried by myself.
but I've choose 256 since Android System seems will not use SWAP until it feels free RAM is close to zero...

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LeoNg628 said:
yes, I've downloaded all 3 swap files and tried by myself.
but I've choose 256 since Android System seems will not use SWAP until it feels free RAM is close to zero...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I understand correctly, thats fairly normal for Linux.
However, I have put the 512 file onto mine for the swap (I don't use many apps on the Archos, I use an Android phone so use apps on there mostly, so the internal memory is free to use here instead) and it does seem to fly.
Thanks for the guide!!

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LeoNg628 said:
yes, I've downloaded all 3 swap files and tried by myself.
but I've choose 256 since Android System seems will not use SWAP until it feels free RAM is close to zero...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can change swappiness behavior by increasing or decreasing the value (60 in the example below) to more or less:
in terminal (or in a startscript to make it permanent)
# sysctl -w vm.swappiness=60
sets it to 60
to see what you have currently set, do command
# cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
higher values: the kernel swaps out memory pages earlier
best to test the optimal value by loading a lot of memory sucker programms like flash .... and see how the swap is used
more for example here: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-kernel-tuning-virtual-memory-subsystem/

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Thank you for this guide!
Seems like i have to enable the swap file each time i reboot, is that correct?

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woti23 said:
you can change swappiness behavior by increasing or decreasing the value (60 in the example below) to more or less:
in terminal (or in a startscript to make it permanent)
# sysctl -w vm.swappiness=60
sets it to 60
to see what you have currently set, do command
# cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
higher values: the kernel swaps out memory pages earlier
best to test the optimal value by loading a lot of memory sucker programms like flash .... and see how the swap is used
more for example here: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-kernel-tuning-virtual-memory-subsystem/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just use this to change:
echo 60 > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

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-NRG- said:
Thank you for this guide!
Seems like i have to enable the swap file each time i reboot, is that correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup, need re-swap every time when you boot up the device

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A question about the swap.
What is the maximum swap usage you have seen?

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wdl1908 said:
A question about the swap.
What is the maximum swap usage you have seen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've set swappiness to 60 and use autokiller memory optimizer to set Optimum(40 50 60), usually the devices will use up to 60MB into swap, if I playing music and web surfing, the devices will use up to 90MB into swap.

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Has anyone found a way to keep it permanent or load it at startup?
I can't get it to work with init.d, looks like init.d isn't working on oc kernal.
autostart doesn't seem to work either...
I will be verry thankfull if anyone would be able to provide a solution!
EDIT : After a lot of trial and error >
SOLVED!: (CAUTION I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF ANYTHING STOPS WORKING, ON YOUR OWN RISK)
Create a file in /data/opt/autostart.sh
Edit "autostart.sh" and add swapon /data/swap256 (asuming you placed a 256mb swap file in the /data directory)
Goto /etc/init
Edit init.A70H.rc for Hardisk based A70 (for 8gb use init.A70S.rc)
Scroll down (botom) to "service omx_pm /system/bin/OMXPolicyManager"
Type directly below this line:
"service enable_swap /system/bin/sh /data/opt/autostart.sh
Done, reboot en use terminal/gscript command "free" to check if swap file is enabled, now swapfile is permanent and enabled each time you boot!

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-NRG- said:
Has anyone found a way to keep it permanent or load it at startup?
I can't get it to work with init.d, looks like init.d isn't working on oc kernal.
autostart doesn't seem to work either...
I will be verry thankfull if anyone would be able to provide a solution!
EDIT : After a lot of trial and error >
SOLVED!: (CAUTION I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF ANYTHING STOPS WORKING, ON YOUR OWN RISK)
Create a file in /data/opt/autostart.sh
Edit "autostart.sh" and add swapon /data/swap256 (asuming you placed a 256mb swap file in the /data directory)
Goto /etc/init
Edit init.A70H.rc for Hardisk based A70 (for 8gb use init.A70S.rc)
Scroll down (botom) to "service omx_pm /system/bin/OMXPolicyManager"
Type directly below this line:
"service enable_swap /system/bin/sh /data/opt/autostart.sh
Done, reboot en use terminal/gscript command "free" to check if swap file is enabled, now swapfile is permanent and enabled each time you boot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice trick!
But is it a "must" to create 'autostart.sh'? can I create another sh file and just change to location in lower part?

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LeoNg628 said:
Nice trick!
But is it a "must" to create 'autostart.sh'? can I create another sh file and just change to location in lower part?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes that should work fine. You can also add other optimizations like setting the swapiness and such in the "autostart.sh" (or whatever you like to call it) file.
I'm currently testing out some optimizations from the galaxy tab, will report back soon.
I also saw a setting usb_charging = no in the "init.A70H.rc" file, i wonder if anyone tried changing it to yes?
I'm a little bit scared to change it since i'm not sure it might do damage..

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-NRG- said:
Yes that should work fine. You can also add other optimizations like setting the swapiness and such in the "autostart.sh" (or whatever you like to call it) file.
I'm currently testing out some optimizations from the galaxy tab, will report back soon.
I also saw a setting usb_charging = no in the "init.A70H.rc" file, i wonder if anyone tried changing it to yes?
I'm a little bit scared to change it since i'm not sure it might do damage..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice! Waiting your great news from Galaxy Tab, but what setting from it have you saw?
usb charging is not work on my 70H, it just show up usb charging on MSC mount screen but not really charging..
*can I add multiple line in the SH file? and what is 'enable_swap' stand for? is it internal function from froyo?

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double post...please del..

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LeoNg628 said:
Nice! Waiting your great news from Galaxy Tab, but what setting from it have you saw?
usb charging is not work on my 70H, it just show up usb charging on MSC mount screen but not really charging..
*can I add multiple line in the SH file? and what is 'enable_swap' stand for? is it internal function from froyo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can add multiple lines in the SH file.
"Enable_swap" was just a name i gave to the service, might as well be "optimize_performance" or whatever name you like so you easily recognize it.
The following settings from the galaxy tab i'm testing, came from a topic in the galaxy tab section. I came across it while searching for solutions.
Code:
# Lower the amount of unwritten write cache to reduce lags when a huge write is required.
# DEF 20
echo_ "10" "/proc/sys/vm" "/dirty_ratio"
# Increase minimum free memory, in theory this should make the kernel less likely to suddenly run out of memory.
# DEF 3102
echo_ "4096" "/proc/sys/vm" "/min_free_kbytes"
# Increase tendency of kernel to keep block-cache to help with slower RFS filesystem.
# DEF 100
echo_ "1000" "/proc/sys/vm" "/vfs_cache_pressure"
# Increase the write flush timeouts to save some battery life.
# DEF 250
echo_ "2000" "/proc/sys/vm" "/dirty_writeback_centisecs"
# DEF 200
echo_ "1000" "/proc/sys/vm" "/dirty_expire_centisecs"
# Make the task scheduler more 'fair' when multiple tasks are running,
# which improves user-interface and application responsiveness.
# DEF 10000000
echo_ "20000000" "/proc/sys/kernel" "/sched_latency_ns"
# DEF 2000000
echo_ "2000000" "/proc/sys/kernel" "/sched_wakeup_granularity_ns"
# DEF 1000000
echo_ "1000000" "/proc/sys/kernel" "/sched_min_granularity_ns"
The defaults are from the galaxy tab, not the archos.
Format should be in the sh or gscript : echo 1000000 > /proc/sys/kernel/shed_min_granularity_ns
To check current setting: cat /proc/sys/kernel/shed_min_granularity_ns

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-NRG- said:
Yes, you can add multiple lines in the SH file.
"Enable_swap" was just a name i gave to the service, might as well be "optimize_performance" or whatever name you like so you easily recognize it.
The following settings from the galaxy tab i'm testing, came from a topic in the galaxy tab section. I came across it while searching for solutions.
Code:
# Lower the amount of unwritten write cache to reduce lags when a huge write is required.
# DEF 20
echo_ "10" "/proc/sys/vm" "/dirty_ratio"
# Increase minimum free memory, in theory this should make the kernel less likely to suddenly run out of memory.
# DEF 3102
echo_ "4096" "/proc/sys/vm" "/min_free_kbytes"
# Increase tendency of kernel to keep block-cache to help with slower RFS filesystem.
# DEF 100
echo_ "1000" "/proc/sys/vm" "/vfs_cache_pressure"
# Increase the write flush timeouts to save some battery life.
# DEF 250
echo_ "2000" "/proc/sys/vm" "/dirty_writeback_centisecs"
# DEF 200
echo_ "1000" "/proc/sys/vm" "/dirty_expire_centisecs"
# Make the task scheduler more 'fair' when multiple tasks are running,
# which improves user-interface and application responsiveness.
# DEF 10000000
echo_ "20000000" "/proc/sys/kernel" "/sched_latency_ns"
# DEF 2000000
echo_ "2000000" "/proc/sys/kernel" "/sched_wakeup_granularity_ns"
# DEF 1000000
echo_ "1000000" "/proc/sys/kernel" "/sched_min_granularity_ns"
The defaults are from the galaxy tab, not the archos.
Format should be in the sh or gscript : echo 1000000 > /proc/sys/kernel/shed_min_granularity_ns
To check current setting: cat /proc/sys/kernel/shed_min_granularity_ns
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it almost same setting in my A70H....but it didn't have sched_XXX in vm folder.

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Do you know what happen if I turn on Laptop-mode in proc/sys/vm/laptop-mode?
Thx=]

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to -NRG-:
the auto script is work!! Thanks!
I've putted an "enableswap.sh" into /data, then edit the A70H.rc to add "service enable_swap /system/bin/sh /data/swap256"
the body of sh file:
swapon /data/swap256
echo 60 > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

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-NRG- said:
Yes, you can add multiple lines in the SH file.
"Enable_swap" was just a name i gave to the service, might as well be "optimize_performance" or whatever name you like so you easily recognize it.
....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-NRG-, have you find any side effect after doing this?
my archos seems a little laggy after add that line..