[svlug] Need a good authoritative article.

[James Sparenberg]

All,

   I fully understand why when I type free on a linux server at best no matter 
how large the RAM total is, It shows only a few meg free.   I get this part.  
However I've got a number of computer experts with degree's in Finance (long 
story) who can't understand why a box with 8G of ram has only 14M free, or a 
box with 48G of ram and a minimal install only has 172M free.  (obviously I 
don't know how to configure Linux, and they can't offer any help on what I've 
done wrong).

   Since I don't have my Finance degree, I've learned it's impossible for me 
to understand how memory usage works.  So what I'm looking for is a good 
paper on this topic, probably one that will go so far over the "experts" head 
that they won't be able to admit it, that covers this topic. 

  Any suggestions as to papers/websites etc that I can point my experts too?

James