The simpliest method to check RAM usage is via /proc/meminfo. This dynamically updated virtual file is actually the source of information displayed by many other memory related tools such as free, top and ps tools. From the amount of available/free physical memory to the amount of buffer waiting to be or being written back to disk, /proc/meminfo has everything you want to know about system memory usage. Process-specific memory information is also available from /proc//statm and /proc//status