Questions about processes

[Lord Raiden]

         Hi all.  Looking for some info about some processes I've got 
running on my box.  I'm new to 5.3 having used the 4x line for a long time 
and I'm curious about my process list.  When I do "ps -ax" I get the 
following list as seen below.  Are all of these items really needed and if 
not, what items can I get rid of and how?  The machine in question is a 
very simple fetching mail server running on a 500mhz Via Eden Mini-ITX 
board.  Any insight would be welcome.  I'm really only asking this because 
I tend to be a process minimalist.  IE I like to have as few processes 
running as is absolutely necessary.  Well, anyways, enough of my 
babbling.  Here's the list.

     0  ??  DLs    0:00.56 [swapper]
     1  ??  ILs    0:00.04 /sbin/init --
     2  ??  DL     0:12.09 [g_event]
     3  ??  DL     0:13.98 [g_up]
     4  ??  DL     0:17.21 [g_down]
     5  ??  DL     0:00.00 [thread taskq]
     6  ??  DL     0:00.00 [kqueue taskq]
     7  ??  IL     0:00.00 [acpi_task0]
     8  ??  IL     0:00.00 [acpi_task1]
     9  ??  IL     0:00.00 [acpi_task2]
    10  ??  DL     0:00.00 [ktrace]
    11  ??  RL   2889:39.85 [idle]
    12  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq0: clk]
    13  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq1: atkbd0]
    14  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq3:]
    15  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq4: sio0]
    16  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq5:]
    17  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq6:]
    18  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq7: ppc0]
    19  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq8: rtc]
    20  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq9:]
    21  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq10: uhci0 uhci1]
    22  ??  WL     0:01.12 [irq11: vr0]
    23  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq12: acpi0]
    24  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq13:]
    25  ??  WL     0:01.86 [irq14: ata0]
    26  ??  WL     0:00.00 [irq15: ata1]
    27  ??  WL     0:01.20 [swi1: net]
    28  ??  WL     3:55.06 [swi5: clock sio]
    29  ??  WL     0:00.00 [swi4: vm]
    30  ??  DL     0:13.88 [yarrow]
    31  ??  WL     0:00.00 [swi6:+]
    32  ??  WL     0:00.00 [swi2: camnet]
    33  ??  WL     0:00.00 [swi3: cambio]
    34  ??  WL     0:00.00 [swi6: acpitaskq]
    35  ??  WL     0:00.00 [swi6: task queue]
    36  ??  WL     0:00.00 [swi6:+]
    37  ??  DL     1:21.80 [acpi_thermal]
    38  ??  DL     0:00.03 [usb0]
    39  ??  DL     0:00.00 [usbtask]
    40  ??  DL     0:00.03 [usb1]
    41  ??  WL     0:00.00 [swi0: sio]
    42  ??  DL     0:11.71 [pagedaemon]
    43  ??  DL     0:00.00 [vmdaemon]
    44  ??  DL     0:12.99 [pagezero]
    45  ??  DL     0:01.53 [bufdaemon]
    46  ??  DL     2:05.27 [syncer]
    47  ??  DL     0:01.51 [vnlru]
    48  ??  DL     0:00.71 [hpt_wt]
    49  ??  IL     0:00.00 [nfsiod 0]
    50  ??  IL     0:00.00 [nfsiod 1]
    51  ??  IL     0:00.00 [nfsiod 2]
    52  ??  IL     0:00.00 [nfsiod 3]
    53  ??  DL     0:15.77 [schedcpu]
   178  ??  Is     0:00.00 adjkerntz -i
   234  ??  Is     0:00.00 /sbin/devd

(sshd, spamd and other standard mail stuff running below here)


Steven Lake
-Owner/Webmaster
Raiden's Realm
www.raiden.net

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