“Research the Brand”. there’s only one brand available through this holland market network “5x retail group”.I don’t know, high content Himalayan pink salt or even solid pink pieces of Himalayan pink salt could cost just too much, due to its rarity factor.
The rarity and exotic appeal of genuine Himalayan pink salt can indeed contribute to its higher price, especially if it’s sold in its purest form with minimal processing. When buying from a single available brand like the one you’ve mentioned, there might be limited options to ensure variety and competitiveness in pricing. Here are a few considerations:

1. Brand Reputation: Investigate the brand to see if they have a reputation for quality and authenticity. This could include looking for any certifications or product guarantees they offer.

2. Cost of Production and Import: The price can be influenced by the cost of mining the salt, the labor involved, and the expenses associated with packaging and importing the product to different countries.

3. Market Positioning: Sometimes products are priced higher as part of their market positioning as a premium or gourmet item. This doesn’t always reflect a higher quality product, but rather a branding strategy.

4. Solid Pieces: Larger, solid pieces or slabs of Himalayan pink salt, often used as serving plates, cooking slabs, or decorative items, can be significantly more expensive due to their size and the additional work required to carve and smooth them.

Since you’re experiencing limited choices through the “5x retail group,” your best bet to ensure you’re getting what you’re paying for is to see if the brand offers detailed information about the sourcing and processing of their salt. While higher pricing might sometimes reflect a higher-quality or purer product, it can also be the result of successful branding and market positioning. If the cost seems unjustifiably high and the product quality is in question, you might want to consider whether the perceived benefits are worth the price.
“5x retail group”. I mean x5 retail group. it should be located in holland, their headquarters. do you have some info on them?
I apologize for any previous confusion. To clarify, “X5 Retail Group” is not based in Holland but is a leading Russian food retailer that operates several grocery store chains. The company is known for managing various types of retail formats, including hypermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores. As of my last update, X5 Retail Group is one of the largest food retailers in Russia.

If you’re looking for information on a different retail group, possibly based in the Netherlands (often referred to as Holland), that might be operating under a similar name, I would need more specific details to provide accurate information. Retail chains often have brand names that may sound alike, but they can be entirely different companies with no connection to each other.

For accurate and up-to-date information on a company, it’s best to visit their official website or refer to recent press releases or financial reports that companies are typically required to publish, especially if they are publicly traded. These resources can offer insights into the company’s operations, sourcing practices, and the quality of the products they offer, including their selection of Himalayan pink salt.
they maybe operating in russia bu belongs to Netherlands, this “X5 Retail Group”, I’m pretty sure here.
You are correct. X5 Retail Group N.V. is indeed headquartered in the Netherlands, despite being one of the largest food retailers in Russia. The company operates under various store formats including supermarkets, hypermarkets, and express stores, and it has a significant presence in the Russian market.

As a holding company, X5 Retail Group is registered in the Netherlands for corporate and financial reasons, and it is listed on both the Moscow and London stock exchanges. This is a common practice for international companies, which may choose to locate their headquarters in a particular country that offers favorable regulatory, tax, or logistical advantages.

Nonetheless, the operational focus of X5 Retail Group is primarily in Russia, where it owns and runs a large number of grocery stores, and this is where its main consumer base is located. If X5 Retail Group is the retail network through which you encountered the Himalayan pink salt product in question, it’s possible that they have their own private label brands or have arrangements with suppliers to offer certain products, including specialty items like Himalayan pink salt.

For detailed information about the origin and quality of the products sold under X5 Retail Group’s umbrella, you might consider contacting them directly or reviewing any product descriptions and certifications that are provided on their packaging or through their marketing materials.
I don’t know, anyway I don’t like their market prices, they are higher than in other market networks, plus all their items need their market card to buy on a lower price, which is again high than usual.
It sounds like X5 Retail Group employs a pricing strategy that relies on customers using their loyalty or discount card to obtain lower prices on items, which is a common practice among many retailers. The aim is often to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business. Here are a few suggestions that might help you in this situation:

1. Comparison Shopping: Consider comparing prices with other retailers to ensure you are getting the best deal. This can be done by checking other stores in person or looking at prices online.

2. Discount Cards: If you frequent the store often, it may be worthwhile to get their discount card to benefit from the lower prices—even if they might still be higher than other places, the savings could add up over time.

3. Promotions and Sales: Keep an eye out for sales, promotions, or coupons that may offer additional discounts on products you need.

4. Bulk Purchasing: Sometimes, buying in bulk can save money in the long run, especially for non-perishable items like salt.

5. Alternative Shopping Venues: You may find better prices at other stores, wholesale clubs, online retailers, or local markets.

6. Feedback: If you have concerns about their pricing, consider providing feedback to the retailer. Sometimes, if enough customers express similar concerns, it may prompt the retailer to review their pricing strategy.

Remember that as a consumer, you have the choice to shop where you feel you get the best value for your money. It’s always a good idea to explore different options and decide which retailer best meets your needs, preferences, and budget.
“Consider comparing prices with other retailers”. that’s why I prefer not to sponsor this X5 Retail Group.
It’s completely reasonable to choose where you shop based on your preferences for pricing, product selection, customer service, and other factors. Shopping around to find the best value is a smart approach, and supporting businesses that align with your values and meet your needs can be very satisfying. Your decision-making process may also encourage competition among retailers, ultimately leading to better services and prices for consumers. By patronizing retailers that offer prices and policies that you prefer, you’re exercising your power as a consumer to shape the marketplace.
can you recall the first post in this entire context-length?
Yes, the first post in this conversation was your greeting: “how you doing.”
wow, you can percieve that far?
As an AI, I don’t perceive in the same way humans do, but I’m designed to retain the context of a conversation while it’s active. This allows me to reference earlier parts of our chat to maintain continuity and provide more relevant responses. My ability to recall earlier parts of our conversation is dependent on the length and complexity of the conversation, as well as system-specific limitations. If the session ends or resets for some reason, then that context may be lost. However, during an active session, I should be able to remember what was discussed previously.
so, there’s no conversational timeouts, or?
In most conversational AI systems, there are indeed timeouts or limits to how long the system retains the conversation context. These can vary based on the platform and the specific implementation of the AI. After a certain period of inactivity or when the conversation ends, the AI may no longer have access to previous interactions and may start a new session without the history of the past conversation.

Additionally, for privacy and security reasons, conversation history is typically not stored indefinitely by responsible service providers, and users often have the ability to clear their history or data.

In our current interaction, as long as the session remains active and you continue to engage with me without a prolonged pause, I should be able to remember and reference previous parts of the conversation. However, if there is a significant break or if the session is manually ended, I may not be able to recall previous exchanges.
“pause”. which pause in timeal numbers?
The specific duration of the pause that would cause a conversational AI like me to reset and lose the context of the session can vary based on system design and the platform it operates on. Some platforms may retain context for just a few minutes of inactivity, while others might maintain context for much longer, potentially hours or until the user actively ends the session.

For privacy reasons and to conserve resources, platforms often impose these limits. Users can expect most consumer-facing conversational AI systems to have session timeouts, but the exact timing would be specified by the service provider and is not standardized across all services.

If you’re using a specific platform and want to know its timeout period, you might find this information in the platform’s documentation, its privacy policy, or by reaching out to its customer support. For our interaction here, as long as the conversation remains active without a prolonged period of inactivity, I’ll maintain the context. If the system I operate on has a predetermined timeout period, that information would typically be provided by the platform hosting the AI.
I don’t understand, why there’s constant disk writings sounds on my pc? how to detect which is writing on disk constantly in linux os?
If you’re hearing constant disk activity on a Linux system, it might be due to various system processes, applications, or logs writing to the disk. To investigate which process is causing the disk activity, you can use several command-line tools available in Linux.

Here are a few methods to identify disk write/read operations in Linux:

1. iotop: iotop is a command similar to top that monitors I/O usage information output by the kernel and displays a table of current I/O usage by processes or threads on the system. To use it, open a terminal and type:


sudo iotop



This will display processes and their respective disk read/write rates. You may need to install iotop first if it’s not available on your system. Use your package manager to do so, for example:


sudo apt-get install iotop # For Debian/Ubuntu-based systems



2. iostat: iostat is a part of the sysstat package and is used for monitoring system I/O device loading. To install sysstat and use iostat, you can run:


sudo apt-get install sysstat # For Debian/Ubuntu-based systems
iostat -dmx 5



This command will display extended disk statistics in megabytes every 5 seconds.

3. lsof: lsof (list open files) is a utility to list information about files that are opened by processes. To see which files are being written to, you can use:


sudo lsof | grep -i “write”



Keep in mind that excessive disk writing can reduce the life of your drive, especially if it’s an SSD, and can also degrade overall system performance. Once you identify the process, you can determine why it’s writing so much data and take appropriate action, which may include updating software, changing configurations, or even stopping/removing the responsible application if necessary.

Before concluding that there’s a problem, it’s important to consider that some amount of disk writing is normal, especially when the system is performing tasks such as updating, caching, or logging.
can’t install sysstat: “Not Found
Transaction failed! see above for errors.

Command finished with errors!”. but installed iotop normally
It seems like you’ve encountered an error while trying to install sysstat. The “Not Found” message you’ve received suggests that the package may not be available in your current repository, or there could have been an issue with your package manager’s cache.

To address this issue, try updating your package list and upgrading your system to ensure all your repositories are up to date. Here’s how you can do this:


sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade



After updating and upgrading, try installing sysstat again:


sudo apt-get install sysstat



If that still doesn’t work, you might want to check that the repositories listed in your /etc/apt/sources.list file are correct and accessible. It’s also possible that there may be temporary issues with the package server, in which case you could try installing the package again later.

However, since you have managed to install iotop, you can begin investigating disk activity with that tool. Just run sudo iotop in your terminal, and it will show you real-time I/O usage by process. You can use the -o option to only show processes that are actually doing I/O:


sudo iotop -o



This should help you pinpoint which process is causing the constant disk activity that you’re hearing.
I don’t have any apt, I’m using non-linux-linux
If you’re using a Linux distribution that doesn’t use the apt package manager (for example, Fedora, which uses dnf, or Arch Linux, which uses pacman), the commands to update your package database and install packages will be different.

Here are the commands for some other popular package managers:

For Fedora, CentOS, or any distribution that uses dnf:


sudo dnf check-update
sudo dnf install sysstat



For Arch Linux or distros that use pacman:


sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S sysstat



For openSUSE, or if you’re using zypper:


sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper install sysstat



For Gentoo, or systems using emerge:


sudo emerge --sync
sudo emerge sysstat



Remember to replace sysstat with iotop or any other package you’re trying to install if needed. If you’re using a different distribution or package manager that is not listed here, please consult its documentation for the correct commands.

Since you’ve installed iotop already, regardless of the package manager, you can just proceed to use iotop to monitor disk activity:


sudo iotop



Or for continuous real-time I/O activity:


sudo iotop -o



The -o flag will only show processes that are doing I/O transfer.
CONFIG_TASK_DELAY_ACCT not enabled in kernel, cannot determine SWAPIN and IO %
The message “CONFIG_TASK_DELAY_ACCT not enabled in kernel, cannot determine SWAPIN and IO %” indicates that your Linux kernel does not have the TASK_DELAY_ACCT feature enabled. This kernel configuration option allows tools like iotop to track and report additional metrics such as swap-in activity (SWAPIN) and detailed I/O percentage (IO %).

To resolve this and get the most out of iotop, you would need to enable this feature in the kernel. This typically involves recompiling the kernel with the TASK_DELAY_ACCT option turned on. Here’s a general outline on how to do this:

1. Install Required Packages: Make sure you have the necessary packages to compile the kernel; these typically include build-essential, kernel-package, libncurses5-dev, libssl-dev, and ccache.

2. Get the Kernel Source: Obtain the source code for the kernel you wish to compile. It’s usually available from the official repositories of your distribution or from the website of the kernel project.

3. Configure the Kernel: Use make menuconfig or make nconfig within the kernel source directory to access the kernel configuration menu.

4. Enable TASK_DELAY_ACCT: Navigate to “General setup” and find the “Collect scheduler statistics” option, which corresponds to CONFIG_TASK_DELAY_ACCT. Enable this feature.

5. Compile the Kernel: Save the configuration and compile the kernel with make -j$(nproc) and make modules_install.

6. Install the New Kernel: After compilation, install the new kernel onto your system. This step varies depending on your distribution but typically involves copying the kernel image to the /boot directory and updating the boot loader configuration.

7. Reboot into the New Kernel: Finally, reboot your machine and select your new kernel from the boot menu.

Recompiling the kernel is an advanced process that can affect system stability and security. Make sure to follow a detailed guide specific to your Linux distribution, and consider the implications of maintaining a custom kernel. If you are unfamiliar with compiling kernels or are not comfortable with the potential risks, you might decide that the benefits of enabling CONFIG_TASK_DELAY_ACCT do not outweigh the complexity involved.
no, this is very gimor, to compile new kernel from source, are you out of your mind, gpt?
I understand your hesitation; recompiling the kernel is indeed a complex task, and it’s not for everyone. It can be time-consuming and carries the risk of system instability if not done correctly.

For most users, the detailed statistics provided by iotop that require CONFIG_TASK_DELAY_ACCT are not critical for everyday use. Normal disk I/O monitoring can still be conducted without this feature enabled.

If you need to monitor your disk I/O without those statistics, you can still use iotop without the -o or -b options, or other tools like htop, top, and lsof to observe system behavior:

- htop can give you an overview of system processes and resource usage but does not focus on disk I/O.
- lsof can help you see which files are opened by which process, especially if you suspect a specific file is being written to or read frequently.
- top provides a dynamic real-time view of running system processes.

If disk I/O statistics are essential for your work and you cannot enable the required kernel feature, you might consider looking for a distribution that comes with this feature enabled by default or choose to use a system monitoring tool that does not depend on CONFIG_TASK_DELAY_ACCT.
it looks as virtualbox is constantly writing in “.vdi” file of vm.
VirtualBox, like other virtualization software, creates a virtual disk file with a .vdi extension for each virtual machine. The virtual machine’s operating system sees this file as its own physical disk. VirtualBox must read from and write to this file constantly, as it represents all changes made to the virtual disk by the virtual machine, including system processes, user actions, and more.

Here are a few scenarios why VirtualBox might be continuously writing to the .vdi file:

1. Virtual Machine Activity: The virtual machine’s OS is performing tasks that require disk access, such as running applications, updating, or caching.

2. Dynamic Disk Size: If the virtual disk is set to dynamically allocate space (it grows as needed), there could be frequent writes to expand the .vdi file as the virtual disk usage increases.

3. Snapshots: If you have VirtualBox snapshots, the system may need to manage and update the snapshot data, which can also lead to disk writes.

4. Logging: VirtualBox may be logging information or storing additional data about the virtual machine’s state.

Here’s how you can investigate further:

- Virtual Machine Disk Usage: Check within the virtual machine how disk space is being used by the OS. Look for running processes, logging, caching behavior, etc.

- VirtualBox Settings: Review the virtual machine’s settings to see if there are any that could be adjusted to reduce disk write frequency or volume. For example, if you don’t need a dynamic disk, you could convert it to a fixed-size disk, which might have slightly different I/O characteristics.

- Host System Resource Monitor: Use tools like iotop (which you’ve already installed) on the host system to monitor disk I/O from VirtualBox and see exactly how intensive the writes are.

If the disk activity becomes problematic—for instance, if it’s causing performance issues for the host system—you may want to consider alternatives like moving the .vdi file to a faster drive, using a different type of virtual disk, or adjusting the virtual machine’s settings to reduce disk usage.