After some questions on the blog about memory comparisons, I pulled some information together off of my Freescale development board. Here is the information I've pulled together. From what I see the information shows:
MemFree difference = 337320 kB - 265888 kB = 71432 kB saved (21%)
The other interesting one is with the Active in each case:
Active difference = 95892 kB - 44632 kB = 51260 kB saved (53%)
Here is the raw information from the memory usage off of my development board.
Using the standard Android image with no Headless Android changes:
Free shows:
# busybox free
total used free shared buffers
Mem: 442740 177932 264808 0 2000
Swap: 0 0 0
Total: 442740 177932 264808
Here is the meminfo off of the development board.
# cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal: 442740 kB
MemFree: 265888 kB
Buffers: 2000 kB
Cached: 79248 kB
SwapCached: 0 kB
Active: 95892 kB
Inactive: 46456 kB
Active(anon): 61140 kB
Inactive(anon): 328 kB
Active(file): 34752 kB
Inactive(file): 46128 kB
Unevictable: 0 kB
Mlocked: 0 kB
HighTotal: 0 kB
HighFree: 0 kB
LowTotal: 442740 kB
LowFree: 265888 kB
SwapTotal: 0 kB
SwapFree: 0 kB
Dirty: 0 kB
Writeback: 0 kB
AnonPages: 61108 kB
Mapped: 32100 kB
Shmem: 372 kB
Slab: 7888 kB
SReclaimable: 4164 kB
SUnreclaim: 3724 kB
KernelStack: 2056 kB
PageTables: 6276 kB
NFS_Unstable: 0 kB
Bounce: 0 kB
WritebackTmp: 0 kB
CommitLimit: 221368 kB
Committed_AS: 929976 kB
VmallocTotal: 1433600 kB
VmallocUsed: 85784 kB
VmallocChunk: 1320964 kB
With the following process list.
# ps
USER PID PPID VSIZE RSS WCHAN PC NAME
root 1 0 324 188 800e9ea4 0000875c S /init
root 2 0 0 0 80080268 00000000 S kthreadd
root 3 2 0 0 8006f8b4 00000000 S ksoftirqd/0
root 4 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S events/0
root 5 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S khelper
root 8 2 0 0 80086f80 00000000 S async/mgr
root 9 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S pm
root 12 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S suspend
root 81 2 0 0 800558a0 00000000 S usb_wakeup thre
root 82 2 0 0 800558a0 00000000 S usb_wakeup thre
root 240 2 0 0 800b925c 00000000 S sync_supers
root 242 2 0 0 800b9d3c 00000000 S bdi-default
root 244 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S kblockd/0
root 258 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S mxc_spi.0
root 266 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S otg_switch/0
root 272 2 0 0 80294ca8 00000000 S khubd
root 295 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S kmmcd
root 309 2 0 0 80315228 00000000 S pmic-event-thre
root 373 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S rpciod/0
root 393 2 0 0 800b3904 00000000 S kswapd0
root 441 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S aio/0
root 451 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S nfsiod
root 455 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S crypto/0
root 1073 2 0 0 8022bd8c 00000000 S kapmd
root 1148 2 0 0 802bb8d4 00000000 S file-storage
root 1199 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S kstriped
root 1204 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S kconservative/0
root 1209 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S vpu_wq/0
root 1216 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S esdhc_wq/0
root 1219 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S esdhc_wq/0
root 1228 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S usbhid_resumer
root 1231 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S binder
root 1250 2 0 0 8032eefc 00000000 S mmcqd
root 1289 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S l2cap
root 1290 2 0 0 804517f4 00000000 S krfcommd
root 1302 2 0 0 80315c1c 00000000 S mxc_ts
root 1303 1 300 156 800e9ea4 0000875c S /sbin/ueventd
root 1485 2 0 0 80247e28 00000000 S scsi_eh_0
root 1487 2 0 0 802aef98 00000000 S usb-storage
root 2147 2 0 0 8015a0e4 00000000 S jbd2/mmcblk0p2-
root 2148 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S ext4-dio-unwrit
root 2149 2 0 0 800f9d94 00000000 S flush-179:0
root 2150 2 0 0 8015a0e4 00000000 S jbd2/mmcblk0p5-
root 2151 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S ext4-dio-unwrit
root 2152 2 0 0 8015a0e4 00000000 S jbd2/mmcblk0p6-
root 2153 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S ext4-dio-unwrit
root 2155 1 744 328 8006d5a0 6fd0c3ac S /system/bin/sh
system 2156 1 816 272 80343750 6fd0b6fc S /system/bin/servicemanager
root 2157 1 3872 588 ffffffff 6fd0bdac S /system/bin/vold
root 2158 1 3872 576 ffffffff 6fd0bdac S /system/bin/netd
root 2159 1 820 320 800e9ea4 6fd0b844 S /system/bin/dispd
root 2160 1 676 256 8037b6ac 6fd0c0cc S /system/bin/debuggerd
root 2161 1 83416 27160 800e9ea4 6fd0b844 S zygote
media 2162 1 27572 5492 ffffffff 6fd0b6fc S /system/bin/mediaserver
bluetooth 2163 1 1264 696 800e9ea4 6fd0c59c S /system/bin/dbus-daemon
root 2164 1 824 332 803fd98c 6fd0b45c S /system/bin/installd
keystore 2165 1 1752 424 8037b6ac 6fd0c0cc S /system/bin/keystore
radio 2166 1 5460 700 ffffffff 6fd0bdac S /system/bin/rild
root 2230 2 0 0 80247e28 00000000 S scsi_eh_1
root 2231 2 0 0 802aef98 00000000 S usb-storage
system 2256 2161 192540 38596 ffffffff 6fd0b6fc S system_server
root 2266 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S z1xx_workq
app_17 2410 2161 99260 19152 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.inputmethod.latin
radio 2417 2161 109916 20816 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.phone
system 2419 2161 140892 20728 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.systemui
app_16 2485 2161 98312 22172 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.launcher
app_1 2498 2161 104776 22132 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S android.process.acore
app_11 2529 2161 105400 17672 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.mms
app_12 2534 2161 94620 17996 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S android.process.media
app_20 2558 2161 94648 17988 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.email
app_21 2568 2161 93140 16192 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.deskclock
app_26 2583 2161 92336 16520 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.providers.calendar
app_30 2593 2161 92368 16312 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.bluetooth
app_5 2600 2161 92172 15680 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.quicksearchbox
app_7 2611 2161 91804 14856 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.protips
app_10 2623 2161 92340 15004 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.android.music
app_19 2630 2161 93468 16588 ffffffff 6fd0c51c S com.cooliris.media
root 2766 2155 904 312 00000000 6fd0b45c R ps
Using the Headless Android image on my development board.
Free shows:
# busybox free
total used free shared buffers
Mem: 442740 105240 337500 0 1464
Swap: 0 0 0
Total: 442740 105240 337500
Meminfo after five minutes shows:
# cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal: 442740 kB
MemFree: 337320 kB
Buffers: 1464 kB
Cached: 57140 kB
SwapCached: 0 kB
Active: 44632 kB
Inactive: 35124 kB
Active(anon): 21168 kB
Inactive(anon): 200 kB
Active(file): 23464 kB
Inactive(file): 34924 kB
Unevictable: 0 kB
Mlocked: 0 kB
HighTotal: 0 kB
HighFree: 0 kB
LowTotal: 442740 kB
LowFree: 337320 kB
SwapTotal: 0 kB
SwapFree: 0 kB
Dirty: 0 kB
Writeback: 0 kB
AnonPages: 21160 kB
Mapped: 21564 kB
Shmem: 220 kB
Slab: 6108 kB
SReclaimable: 3268 kB
SUnreclaim: 2840 kB
KernelStack: 832 kB
PageTables: 1384 kB
NFS_Unstable: 0 kB
Bounce: 0 kB
WritebackTmp: 0 kB
CommitLimit: 221368 kB
Committed_AS: 173048 kB
VmallocTotal: 1433600 kB
VmallocUsed: 69096 kB
VmallocChunk: 1343484 kB
With the following ps list:
# ps
USER PID PPID VSIZE RSS WCHAN PC NAME
root 1 0 324 188 800e9ea4 0000875c S /init
root 2 0 0 0 80080268 00000000 S kthreadd
root 3 2 0 0 8006f8b4 00000000 S ksoftirqd/0
root 4 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S events/0
root 5 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S khelper
root 8 2 0 0 80086f80 00000000 S async/mgr
root 9 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S pm
root 12 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S suspend
root 81 2 0 0 800558a0 00000000 S usb_wakeup thre
root 82 2 0 0 800558a0 00000000 S usb_wakeup thre
root 240 2 0 0 800b925c 00000000 S sync_supers
root 242 2 0 0 800b9d3c 00000000 S bdi-default
root 244 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S kblockd/0
root 258 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S mxc_spi.0
root 266 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S otg_switch/0
root 272 2 0 0 80294ca8 00000000 S khubd
root 295 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S kmmcd
root 309 2 0 0 80315228 00000000 S pmic-event-thre
root 373 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S rpciod/0
root 393 2 0 0 800b3904 00000000 S kswapd0
root 441 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S aio/0
root 451 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S nfsiod
root 455 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S crypto/0
root 1073 2 0 0 8022bd8c 00000000 S kapmd
root 1148 2 0 0 802bb8d4 00000000 S file-storage
root 1199 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S kstriped
root 1204 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S kconservative/0
root 1209 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S vpu_wq/0
root 1216 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S esdhc_wq/0
root 1219 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S esdhc_wq/0
root 1228 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S usbhid_resumer
root 1231 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S binder
root 1250 2 0 0 8032eefc 00000000 S mmcqd
root 1289 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S l2cap
root 1290 2 0 0 804517f4 00000000 S krfcommd
root 1302 2 0 0 80315c1c 00000000 S mxc_ts
root 1303 1 300 156 800e9ea4 0000875c S /sbin/ueventd
root 1489 2 0 0 80247e28 00000000 S scsi_eh_0
root 1491 2 0 0 802aef98 00000000 S usb-storage
root 2147 2 0 0 8015a0e4 00000000 S jbd2/mmcblk0p2-
root 2148 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S ext4-dio-unwrit
root 2149 2 0 0 800f9d94 00000000 S flush-179:0
root 2150 2 0 0 8015a0e4 00000000 S jbd2/mmcblk0p5-
root 2151 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S ext4-dio-unwrit
root 2152 2 0 0 8015a0e4 00000000 S jbd2/mmcblk0p6-
root 2153 2 0 0 8007cacc 00000000 S ext4-dio-unwrit
root 2155 1 744 340 8006d5a0 6fd0c3ac S /system/bin/sh
system 2156 1 816 252 80343750 6fd0b6fc S /system/bin/servicemanager
root 2157 1 3872 564 ffffffff 6fd0bdac S /system/bin/vold
root 2158 1 3868 572 ffffffff 6fd0bdac S /system/bin/netd
root 2159 1 820 320 800e9ea4 6fd0b844 S /system/bin/dispd
root 2160 1 676 256 8037b6ac 6fd0c0cc S /system/bin/debuggerd
root 2161 1 83412 27140 800e9ea4 6fd0b844 S zygote
media 2162 1 24300 5232 ffffffff 6fd0b6fc S /system/bin/mediaserver
bluetooth 2163 1 1264 564 800e9ea4 6fd0c59c S /system/bin/dbus-daemon
root 2164 1 824 336 803fd98c 6fd0b45c S /system/bin/installd
keystore 2165 1 1752 424 8037b6ac 6fd0c0cc S /system/bin/keystore
radio 2166 1 4444 672 ffffffff 6fd0bdac S /system/bin/rild
root 2230 2 0 0 80247e28 00000000 S scsi_eh_1
root 2231 2 0 0 802aef98 00000000 S usb-storage
system 2255 2161 130548 30352 ffffffff 6fd0b6fc S system_server
root 2381 2155 904 308 00000000 6fd0b45c R ps