abadideaJan 28, 2024

I'm not saying there's no such thing as software bloat (there is) but the reason that your computer magically always seems to use 80-90% of the ram no matter how much ram you install is that the computer understands empty ram doesn't do anything but ram being used to cache files makes your user experience much faster

this is a good thing! if your computer stopped doing this everything would suddenly feel very sluggish and stuttery!

Show threadCassandrichJan 28, 2024
@0xabad1dea But this isn't the "using 80-90% of ram" we actually experience. The actual is that Chrome (or whatever Electron app) has allocated for its private use (not fs page cache) 80-90% of ram, thereby preventing fs cache from working and making the computer sluggish & stuttery.
Show threadeaterJan 28, 2024
@dalias @0xabad1dea what i am reading is "we need electron in the kernel"
Show threadMaxJan 28, 2024

@eater @dalias @0xabad1dea @chucker We have the worst of both worlds already. We *have* chrome (or safari) near the kernel in every major OS and then electron comes along and suggests the OS chrome isn’t enough and we need to stack more chromes like turtles in userspace because you all love chrome so much

“Yo dawg, I heard you like chrome so I boooted more chrome from your chrome so you can chrome while you chrome.”

Show threadabadideaJan 29, 2024

@max sorry for the late reply but I am very confused. You appear to be describing an architecture where the main chrome installation is on a special ultra low layer of existence near the metal, and then additional copies of chrome in electron are not, and it sounds like you think electron is chrome implemented on top of chrome?

I am not aware of any system that works that way. Main chrome and electron chrome are two copies of the same app running on the same level of user space, the only difference is that one is configured to run a single web app in isolation

Show threadMax

@0xabad1dea I took some liberties for amusement, it’s not exactly “technically correct” in all cases, but some of the OS level app launchers are web views (or related/derived tech) and it is funny using them to launch electron apps.

The boundaries between “kernel” and “userspace” are fuzzy in the graphical side of the modern OS, especially today when even core functionality is shipped as “apps” for software lifecycle reasons, and the main browser has some light privileges others don’t.

Jan 29, 2024 at 1:48pmWeb
Show threadMaxJan 29, 2024
@0xabad1dea Also electron bundles both node and chrome and node is an additional copy of Chrome’s v8 engine, so there is a bit of “chrome in chrome” in electron. In most electron apps they reduce to a single shared v8 lib, but not all electron apps
Show threadSörenJan 30, 2024

@max @0xabad1dea

> Also electron bundles both node and chrome and node is an additional copy of Chrome’s v8 engine

Heh. I hadn’t even thought of that.