You can do
free - m
at the command line to see your total ram, how much is used, etc.

Go to System ->Administration ->System Monitor, and click on the 'System' tab.
You'll see the memory listed under Hardware.

That way I got 1.2 GiB. I was looking for a more accurate number.

The command line free -m worked good.

Entering "cat /proc/meminfo" at a command line will reveal everything
important the kernel knows about memory and swap.

Similarly, "cat /proc/cpuinfo" for the CPU(s), "cat /proc/version"
for the kernel info including what compiler was used to build it, etc.

There's a bunch of "files" (and "directories" containing "files) in
/proc that can be simply typed out (via "cat") for information. "files"
and "directories" are in quotes because /proc is a virtual filesystem.

This looks interesting. I'll check it out.

If you want to test your memory, the excellent MEMTEST86 program is
available on any recent Ubuntu live CD. Boot from the CD, and select
"memory test" (or some such) from the first menu.

I knew that was there. I just wanted the numbers to change from 512 to 1262
meg.

I picked two 1 Gig DIMMs from eBay for 32 bucks, with free shipping. I put
one in each of my computers. This one came up to 2 Gig and the other came up
to 1.25 Gig. It was well worth the money. Sometimes you have to be a little
suspicious of stuff you buy from eBay.

I think I'm going to get some memory for my laptop from the same guy. His
prices are good. It has 2 slots each with a 512 Meg in it. It can take up to
4 Gig. I thought of pulling one and putting a 2 Gig SoDIM. I would put
another in later.