Re: [DNG] difficulty issuing commands
On Sun, Aug 01, 2021 at 01:59:35PM -0400, Steve Litt wrote: > The preceding paragraphs have a lot of articles (such as "it"), so I > can't be sure what you're saying, but it sounds like "the balance > program" is hogging CPU, so don't use it, or at least don't use it when > you're doing other work. If you're the author of the balance program, > find out what about it is hogging all CPU. Sorry. I compounded the obscurity by starting to call balance.bal backup.bal. The situation seems to indicate a problem in emacs bookmarks. The balance.bal is an emacs bookkeeping program. ~/.balance.bal has -rw-r--r-- permission that is simply a log of a bank account. It is manipulated by a set of commands to perform operations on it. So the .balance.bal file is simple and not a likely source of trouble. The problem is not with bookmarks, for if I try to open .balance.bal simply like any their file in emacs, I get the same problem. If it has not been opened for while the opening hangs with the spinning spiral. I have to stop the open process with Ctl-g and then then I can open it without a problem. I note wo things. One is that there's an array of .balance* files such as .balance.bal.bak that open right up. In emacss or nano. It is emacs that can't open .balance.bal on first try/ Also there is a symlink for .balance.bal: .#balance.bal -> haines@engels.3050:1627212275 'I'm delete it. -- Haines Brown ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
Re: [DNG] difficulty issuing commands
Haines Brown said on Sun, 1 Aug 2021 07:16:00 -0400 >On Sun, Aug 01, 2021 at 02:54:55AM -0400, Steve Litt wrote: >> Haines Brown said on Sat, 31 Jul 2021 21:54:56 -0400 >> >> >Sorry for the ambivalent subject line. >> > >> >I'm running Beowulf with Fluxbox window manager but without a >> >desktop environment. Without knowing what might have triggered it, >> >I find it laborious to start some applications from CLI. What >> >happens is that I get a hang (little spiral rotates) until I kill >> >the process with Crtl-g and try again. >> >> Do you mean Ctrl-c ? I've never heard of ctrl-g killing commands. >> >> [snip other weird intermittent symptoms] >> >> I'd start by collecting data: >> >> df -h >> data.txt > >No problems here. No partition is more than 50% OK, full partition ruled out. > >> vmstat -S M >> data.txt > >I don't know how to interpret all the info. But here it is: > >procs ---memory-- ---swap-- -io >-system---cpu- > r b swpd free buff cache si sobibo in cs us > sy id wa st 2 3 0162 5852 6370008595 > 39 10 3 86 1 0 You have plenty of available RAM, so that's not the problem. > >Nothing here strike my eye > >> Also, run the htop command to see whether you're maxing out your >> CPUs. > >Wow! Don't like this result, It looks like for the four cores, number >is running 100%. The others are low. Currently my machine is running >an automatic bacvkup. I do not have a swap partition. Mem is >3.7G/15.6G > >In the display of processes, CPU runs 98-101% I'm runnng two sessions >of emacs on two virtyual desktops and it is the second that is hogging >CPU. > >I see that in fiddling to start balance program, I left it in hung >state (spinning spiral). So now use C-g to stop the process. This >is enacs for stop the process. Ctl-c has no effect on the emacs >process. I now look to see what effect stopping the process has. > >Sure enough. My CPU is back to normal. My backup running in >the background calls occasionally for as much as 30%. The preceding paragraphs have a lot of articles (such as "it"), so I can't be sure what you're saying, but it sounds like "the balance program" is hogging CPU, so don't use it, or at least don't use it when you're doing other work. If you're the author of the balance program, find out what about it is hogging all CPU. > >So I'm back to the problem that I cannot run ~/.backup.bal without. It >may be that this is a problem specific to emacs. I'm guessing backup.bal is a backup program. I'd advise every night b4 bed, you shut down all other programs and just run backup.bal. > >I'll take the further steps if you think wise. I think it's wise to go further unless your computer is hopefully antiquated, which I doubt given as it seems like you have about 16GB RAM, or you suspect that your hardware's broken. Can you find a substitute for your "balance program"? I computer with 16GB RAM and a processor made in the last 10 years should be fairly snappy with fluxbox. SteveT Steve Litt Spring 2021 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
Re: [DNG] difficulty issuing commands
On Sun, 1 Aug 2021 07:16:00 -0400, Haines wrote in message <2021080600.ge29...@engels.histomat.net>: > On Sun, Aug 01, 2021 at 02:54:55AM -0400, Steve Litt wrote: > > Haines Brown said on Sat, 31 Jul 2021 21:54:56 -0400 > > > > >Sorry for the ambivalent subject line. > > > > > >I'm running Beowulf with Fluxbox window manager but without a > > >desktop environment. Without knowing what might have triggered it, > > >I find it laborious to start some applications from CLI. What > > >happens is that I get a hang (little spiral rotates) until I kill > > >the process with Crtl-g and try again. > > > > Do you mean Ctrl-c ? I've never heard of ctrl-g killing commands. > > > > [snip other weird intermittent symptoms] > > > > I'd start by collecting data: > > > > df -h >> data.txt > > No problems here. No partition is more than 50% > > > vmstat -S M >> data.txt > > I don't know how to interpret all the info. But here it is: > > procs ---memory-- ---swap-- -io > -system---cpu- r b swpd free buff cache si so > bibo in cs us sy id wa st 2 3 0162 5852 6370 > 00859539 10 3 86 1 0 > > Nothing here strike my eye > > > Also, run the htop command to see whether you're maxing out your > > CPUs. > > Wow! Don't like this result, It looks like for the four cores, number > is running 100%. The others are low. Currently my machine is running > an automatic bacvkup. I do not have a swap partition. Mem is > 3.7G/15.6G ..in my final Debian days I used 8GB swap on my 4GB ram laptops. Upgrading to 8GB ram also had me raise that to 24GB swap on an hunch there might be something clever about 32GB total memory, rather than carrying on with the twice-ram-swap rule to 24GB. Works wonderfully well for me. ..and I suspect some programs act up if they can't see any swap memory at all, regardless of whether or not they actually need any swap memory, all it really takes, are bad and badly hardcoded assumptions. > In the display of processes, CPU runs 98-101% I'm runnng two sessions > of emacs on two virtyual desktops and it is the second that is > hogging CPU. > > I see that in fiddling to start balance program, I left it in hung > state (spinning spiral). So now use C-g to stop the process. This > is enacs for stop the process. Ctl-c has no effect on the emacs > process. I now look to see what effect stopping the process has. > > Sure enough. My CPU is back to normal. My backup running in > the background calls occasionally for as much as 30%. > > So I'm back to the problem that I cannot run ~/.backup.bal without. ..what happens if you try run this with nice, e.g. "nice -n 18 ~/.backup.bal &" ? ..or tie it to some specific cpu core(s)? Etc for your Emacs sessions. > It may be that this is a problem specific to emacs. > > I'll take the further steps if you think wise. It maey be that the > problem with .backup.bal is an oddity. I'm about to reconstruct the > bookmark. The problem with accessing bank not understanding my > browser until I try to acess a second time is probably irrelevant. > -- ..med vennlig hilsen = with Kind Regards from Arnt Karlsen ...with a number of polar bear hunters in his ancestry... Scenarios always come in sets of three: best case, worst case, and just in case. ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
Re: [DNG] difficulty issuing commands
On Sun, Aug 01, 2021 at 02:54:55AM -0400, Steve Litt wrote: > Haines Brown said on Sat, 31 Jul 2021 21:54:56 -0400 > > >Sorry for the ambivalent subject line. > > > >I'm running Beowulf with Fluxbox window manager but without a desktop > >environment. Without knowing what might have triggered it, I find it > >laborious to start some applications from CLI. What happens is that > >I get a hang (little spiral rotates) until I kill the process with > >Crtl-g and try again. > > Do you mean Ctrl-c ? I've never heard of ctrl-g killing commands. > > [snip other weird intermittent symptoms] > > I'd start by collecting data: > > df -h >> data.txt No problems here. No partition is more than 50% > vmstat -S M >> data.txt I don't know how to interpret all the info. But here it is: procs ---memory-- ---swap-- -io -system---cpu- r b swpd free buff cache si sobibo in cs us sy id wa st 2 3 0162 5852 637000859539 10 3 86 1 0 Nothing here strike my eye > Also, run the htop command to see whether you're maxing out your CPUs. Wow! Don't like this result, It looks like for the four cores, number is running 100%. The others are low. Currently my machine is running an automatic bacvkup. I do not have a swap partition. Mem is 3.7G/15.6G In the display of processes, CPU runs 98-101% I'm runnng two sessions of emacs on two virtyual desktops and it is the second that is hogging CPU. I see that in fiddling to start balance program, I left it in hung state (spinning spiral). So now use C-g to stop the process. This is enacs for stop the process. Ctl-c has no effect on the emacs process. I now look to see what effect stopping the process has. Sure enough. My CPU is back to normal. My backup running in the background calls occasionally for as much as 30%. So I'm back to the problem that I cannot run ~/.backup.bal without. It may be that this is a problem specific to emacs. I'll take the further steps if you think wise. It maey be that the problem with .backup.bal is an oddity. I'm about to reconstruct the bookmark. The problem with accessing bank not understanding my browser until I try to acess a second time is probably irrelevant. -- Haines Brown ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
Re: [DNG] difficulty issuing commands
Haines Brown said on Sat, 31 Jul 2021 21:54:56 -0400 >Sorry for the ambivalent subject line. > >I'm running Beowulf with Fluxbox window manager but without a desktop >environment. Without knowing what might have triggered it, I find it >laborious to start some applications from CLI. What happens is that >I get a hang (little spiral rotates) until I kill the process with >Crtl-g and try again. Do you mean Ctrl-c ? I've never heard of ctrl-g killing commands. [snip other weird intermittent symptoms] I'd start by collecting data: df -h >> data.txt vmstat -S M >> data.txt The first command finds any mostly-full partitions. The second command finds if you've run out of real RAM. Also, run the htop command to see whether you're maxing out your CPUs. If nothing pops out at you, I'd try power cycling the computer, leaving it powered down for 30 seconds before restarting. A lot of times such a move cures the problem, at least until events happen that bring it back. If none of this works, run a program that can check your drives for problems. And memory test your machine with one of those boot-up memory tests. If these show no problems, run the same programs from a live CD and see if they occur. If they do, you have a hardware problem. If not, you probably have a software problem. Before I go farther, try the stuff I've mentioned. SteveT Steve Litt Spring 2021 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
[DNG] difficulty issuing commands
Sorry for the ambivalent subject line. I'm running Beowulf with Fluxbox window manager but without a desktop environment. Without knowing what might have triggered it, I find it laborious to start some applications from CLI. What happens is that I get a hang (little spiral rotates) until I kill the process with Crtl-g and try again. Prbably happens with some commands but not others. For example, I have a ~/.balance.bal executable. I click it and nothing happens. Only a spining spiral that indicated a hang. I then kill the process with Ctl-g and click it a second time and this time it runs fine. This behavior seems to come and go. The beyavior happened perhaps about the same time that all entries in emacs bookmark were duplicated. For example: home-balance~/.balance.bal home-balance<2> ~/.balance.bal When I try to access my bank account it says my browser is out of date (I run Bassiliks and Firefox). When I exit the process and try again it has no problem with my browser and I can log in. Probably irrelevant but just recently I cannot run aisleriot klondike. When I click on a card it gets selected (greys out) as it should, but I can't drag card anywhere. I rebooted but no change. I reinstalled aisleriot but no change. -- Haines Brown ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
