Document remaining neon customizations from shell history; fix zram loose ends
Persist vm.swappiness=100 in /etc/sysctl.d/99-zram.conf and delete the unused /swapfile. New NEON-CUSTOMIZATIONS.md covers keyd, USB-C DP modules, HWE-edge kernel, tmpfs /tmp and localepurge, r8152 DKMS history, tailscale, and third-party repos/tools. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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ergosteur
co-authored by
Claude Opus 5.5
Claude Opus 5.5
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637dd035cc
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7b64fdb539
@@ -153,5 +153,16 @@ the eMMC has no audio yet (not investigated).
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Disk swapfile replaced by an 8GiB zstd zram device via `zram-tools`
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(`/etc/default/zramswap`), set up 2026-03-05. Documented in **`ZRAM.md`**.
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Loose ends as of 2026-09-27: `vm.swappiness=100` was only set at runtime
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(back to 60), and the unused 512MiB `/swapfile` is still on disk.
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`vm.swappiness=100` is persisted in `/etc/sysctl.d/99-zram.conf`, and the
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old `/swapfile` was deleted (both 2026-09-27).
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## Other neon customizations
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See **`NEON-CUSTOMIZATIONS.md`** (reconstructed 2026-09-27 from shell
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history): keyd Chromebook keyboard remap (built from source,
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`/etc/keyd/default.conf`, internal keyboard only), USB-C DisplayPort
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via `/etc/modules-load.d/cros-video.conf` (`cros_ec_typec`,
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`typec_displayport`), `linux-generic-hwe-24.04-edge` (why it's on 7.x
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kernels) plus the 6.17 fallback, `/tmp` on tmpfs + localepurge to spare
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the USB-card root, the removed r8152 DKMS driver, disabled tailscaled,
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and third-party apt repos and hand-installed tools.
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@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
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# Other neon customizations on hp-chell
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Reconstructed on 2026-09-27 from `~matt/.bash_history` (551 lines,
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roughly early March 2026 onward), `/root/.bash_history`, and the live
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system. Topics with their own docs:
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[`AUDIO.md`](AUDIO.md), [`ZRAM.md`](ZRAM.md),
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[`CHROMEOS-FLEX.md`](CHROMEOS-FLEX.md), and the kernel 7.x black-screen
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fix in `CLAUDE.md`.
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## Keyboard: keyd remapping for the Chromebook layout
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The Chromebook keyboard has no F-keys, Delete, Home/End, PgUp/PgDn or
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Caps Lock; there's a "Search" key where Caps Lock would be. **keyd**
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remaps it at the evdev level, so it works everywhere (console, X,
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Wayland, the login screen).
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- Built from source, not from apt (apt has no keyd for noble):
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`~/github/keyd` (<https://github.com/rvaiya/keyd>, `7c0aecb`,
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**v2.6.0**), `make && sudo make install`, which puts the binary at
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`/usr/local/bin/keyd`. Then `sudo systemctl enable --now keyd`. Neither
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apt nor unattended upgrades will ever update it; rebuild from the
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checkout to upgrade.
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- Config: `/etc/keyd/default.conf`. Apply edits with `sudo keyd reload`;
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find key names and device IDs with `sudo keyd monitor`. Summary:
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- `[ids] 0001:0001`: **only the internal keyboard** (`AT Translated Set
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2 keyboard`); external USB keyboards are left alone (use `*` to
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include them).
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- `leftmeta = overload(meta, leftmeta)`: Search acts as Meta when held
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and taps as Meta (opens the KDE launcher).
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- **Search + top row gives F1 to F10** (back, forward, refresh, zoom,
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scale, brightness down/up, mute, volume down/up). **Search + `-`/`=`
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gives F11/F12.**
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- The same top-row to F-key mapping with Alt, Ctrl or Shift held. The
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`A-`/`C-`/`S-` prefixes re-apply the modifier, which keyd otherwise
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strips, so e.g. Alt+F4 works as Alt+Search+Zoom.
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- Search + Backspace = Delete; Search + arrows = Home/End/PgUp/PgDn.
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- Alt + Backspace = Delete; **Alt + Search = Caps Lock**.
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## USB-C DisplayPort output: load the cros_ec Type-C drivers
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`/etc/modules-load.d/cros-video.conf` (2026-03-12):
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```
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cros_ec_typec
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typec_displayport
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```
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These don't autoload on chell, and without them the USB-C ports don't
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negotiate DisplayPort alt mode, so there's no video out over USB-C.
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Both are loaded as of 2026-09-27.
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## Kernel: HWE-edge meta package
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`linux-generic-hwe-24.04-edge` is installed (alongside the plain
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`linux-generic-hwe-24.04`), and it's why the machine is on 7.x kernels
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(`7.0.0-34` now), not noble's regular HWE line. Also installed
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deliberately as a known-good fallback: `linux-image-generic-6.17` /
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`linux-headers-generic-6.17` (`6.17.0-42`), which is the fallback kernel
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named in the black-screen notes in `CLAUDE.md`. Old 7.x kernels
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(`7.0.0-30`, `7.0.0-14`) are still installed as well.
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`/etc/default/grub` (edited by hand several times; both `matt` and root
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history show `nano /etc/default/grub` + `update-grub`): `GRUB_DEFAULT=0`,
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`GRUB_TIMEOUT=5`, `GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu`,
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`GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT='splash'` (see `setup-i915-kernel7-fix.sh`).
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## Storage / wear on the USB-card root
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neon's root is an external USB/SD card, so a few changes cut down writes
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and space use:
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- **`/tmp` is tmpfs** (in `/etc/fstab`:
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`tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0`). Not in the shell
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history, so it was probably added in the same `nano /etc/fstab` edit
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that disabled the swapfile.
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- The swapfile was replaced by zram (see `ZRAM.md`).
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- **`localepurge`** is installed and configured (via `dpkg-reconfigure
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localepurge`) to keep only `en`, `en_CA.UTF-8`, `en_US.UTF-8` and
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`fr_CA.UTF-8`, and delete other locales' files on every package
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install (`USE_DPKG`, `MANDELETE`). If another language's translations
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or man pages are ever needed, add them with
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`sudo dpkg-reconfigure localepurge`.
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## Networking
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- **Realtek USB Ethernet (`enx00e04c68003e`, r8152-family 2.5G
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adapter):** the out-of-tree driver from
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<https://github.com/awesometic/realtek-r8152-dkms> (`~/github/realtek-r8152-dkms`)
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was once installed with DKMS, together with unloading `cdc_ether` /
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`cdc_ncm` / `cdc_mbim` and testing with `iperf3` against `pet630`,
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MTU 9000 and `ethtool -K` offloads. It was **later removed**
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(`sudo ./dkms-remove.sh`), around a kernel upgrade that it probably
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broke. `dkms status` is empty now, so the adapter gets the in-kernel
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driver. The MTU and offload tweaks were runtime-only and aren't
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persisted anywhere.
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- **Tailscale** is installed (repo in `tailscale.list`) but
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`tailscaled` is **disabled** (`systemctl disable tailscaled`, around
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the time the agent account was created).
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## Firmware and access
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- MrChromebox firmware utility run twice
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(`curl -LOf https://mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh && sudo bash
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firmware-util.sh`); the second run was the 2026-09-03 update to
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`MrChromebox-2606.1` (see `CLAUDE.md`).
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- `agent-user` created with
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`create-agent-user.sh` from
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`https://gist.ergosteur.com/ergosteur/41df939a435741bfac431ac3d4b888d0`
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(a copy is in `~matt`).
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## Software and third-party apt repos
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Not hardware-specific, but needed to rebuild the machine. The
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repositories in `/etc/apt/sources.list.d/` beyond neon's own:
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| Source file | What | Set up via |
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| `vscodium.sources` | VSCodium (`codium`) | paulcarroty key into `/usr/share/keyrings/vscodium-archive-keyring.gpg` |
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| `google-chrome.sources` | Google Chrome | installing the `.deb` from Downloads; set as `x-www-browser` / `gnome-www-browser` via `update-alternatives` |
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| `docker.sources` | Docker CE | Docker's official apt instructions; `matt` added to the `docker` group |
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| `ansible-ubuntu-ansible-noble.sources` | `ansible-core` | `ppa:ansible/ansible` |
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| `nodesource.sources` | Node.js 24 | `deb.nodesource.com/setup_24.x`; then `npm i -g @google/gemini-cli` |
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| `tailscale.list` | Tailscale | (disabled, see above) |
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Other tools installed by hand:
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- **`bws`** (Bitwarden Secrets Manager CLI) v2.0.0: unzipped into
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`/opt/bitwarden/bws/`, symlinked to `/usr/local/bin/bws`, with
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completions in `/opt/bitwarden/bws/completions.bash` sourced from
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`~/.bashrc`.
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- **GlobalProtect VPN** (`PanGPLinux-6.3.3-c31`, `gp_install.sh`, from
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`~/Downloads`).
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- `pipx`: `mkdocs` plus the injected `mkdocs-material`.
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- Claude Code (`curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash`).
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Notable apt packages installed on top of neon: `codium ffmpeg yt-dlp
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imagemagick python3-pip python3-venv pipx python3-bs4 build-essential
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ncdu bwm-ng wireshark mpv filezilla rpi-imager ntfs-3g exfatprogs
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exfat-fuse hfsutils hfsprogs samba samba-vfs-modules krdc remmina ssh
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iperf3 netcat-openbsd htop btop git pavucontrol-qt bash-completion
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tesseract-ocr{,-eng,-fra,-kor} inxi lsscsi qrencode localepurge
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zram-tools dkms`.
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Git identities: `~/.gitconfig` plus `~/.gitconfig.ergosteur` and
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`~/.gitconfig.tfo`, with SSH key aliases in `~/.ssh`:
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`git_ssh_id_ergosteur` → `id_rsa`, and `git_ssh_id_myip4tfo` →
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`id_ed25519`.
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## Dead ends in the history (nothing left installed)
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- `~/github/chell_audio` (iofq's chell audio repo) was cloned and
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`linux-modules-extra` / `snd_soc_skl` poked at, before switching to
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WeirdTreeThing's scripts (see `AUDIO.md`).
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- `ntfs2btrfs` / `ntfsfix` against a `/dev/sda1` of the time. That was
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an external data card before this layout, not the current neon
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install, whose `sda1` is its ESP.
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@@ -56,22 +56,17 @@ zram-related on the kernel command line.
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4. **Raised `vm.swappiness` to 100**, at runtime only
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(`sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=100`). See the loose ends below.
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## Loose ends (as of 2026-09-27)
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## Loose ends (fixed 2026-09-27)
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- **`vm.swappiness=100` was never made persistent.** It's back to the
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default **60** now: no `swappiness` line in `/etc/sysctl.conf`,
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`/etc/sysctl.d/` or `/usr/lib/sysctl.d/`. To keep it (a common choice
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with zram-only swap, since swapping to zram is cheap):
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```
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echo 'vm.swappiness=100' | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/99-zram.conf
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sudo sysctl --system
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```
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Some zram guides also set `vm.page-cluster=0` (currently `3`), because
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zram has no seek cost and readahead just wastes work.
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- **`/swapfile` still exists**: 512MiB, `root:root 0600`, dated
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2026-03-04. It's unused since its fstab line is commented out. Remove
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it with `sudo rm /swapfile` to get the space back, or keep it as a
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low-priority fallback.
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- **`vm.swappiness=100` hadn't been made persistent**: it had been set
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with `sysctl` at runtime only and was back to the default 60. Now
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persisted in `/etc/sysctl.d/99-zram.conf` (`vm.swappiness=100`) and
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applied live. Swapping to zram is cheap, so a high swappiness is the
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usual choice. Not changed: `vm.page-cluster` (still `3`). Some zram
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guides set it to `0`, since zram has no seek cost and readahead just
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wastes work.
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- **The unused `/swapfile`** (512MiB, dated 2026-03-04, fstab line
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commented out) was deleted.
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## Reapplying on a fresh neon install
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@@ -86,7 +81,7 @@ EOF
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sudo systemctl enable --now zramswap
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# comment out any /swapfile line in /etc/fstab, then:
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sudo swapoff /swapfile
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# optional: persist swappiness
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# persist swappiness
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echo 'vm.swappiness=100' | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/99-zram.conf && sudo sysctl --system
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```
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