Dirk, you mentioned some error messages.
Can you post them, maybe? Use the typewriter symbol (http://lunatics.at/Themes/enhanced/images/bbc/tele.gif)in the editor to make a preformatted field, then paste it in there like
thirteen:~# free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 256664 253216 3448 0 51988 84452
-/+ buffers/cache: 116776 139888
Swap: 1204864 3804 1201060
thirteen:~#
Because otherwise formatting of shell error messages just sucks.
Thanks, that would really help in tracking down your problem.
HTH,
Simon.
Basically, you could run it without Xwindows and KDE - that would make Seti@Home get lots more CPU.
Then you would only have a text console, but that of course uses a lot less RAM as well.
As for the cache issue, I wouldn't believe what some programs say - instead use this:
cat /proc/cpuinfo
in a console to find out what your CPU supports and how much cache is detected. 64-bit operating systems do not have anything to do with cache size.
Also, I'm not sure you are running 64-bit Linux - did you install SUSE from the AMD64 installation discs or i386/i686 ones? The kernel you list does not specifically say anything about 64-bit. You could find out more by
uname -a
thirteen:~# uname -a
Linux thirteen 2.4.27-3-k7 #1 Tue May 30 00:34:05 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux
The part at the end here where it says i686 means this is not a 64-bit version of Linux.
Compare the next one:
schnecke:~# uname -a
Linux schnecke.alo.de 2.6.8-16-amd64-schnecke.alo.de #3 Thu Apr 27 11:59:31 CEST 2006 x86_64 GNU/Linux
where it says x86_64 at the end, this is a 64-bit version.
HTH,
Simon.