[UFO Chicago] >4G ram/64 bit OS

[Neil R. Ormos]

Politik Durden wrote:

> Hello all, 

> If a motherboard takes more than 4G of ram, say it
> takes 8, I would need a 64 bit OS to use all 8 G
> of ram ? And if I use a 32 bit OS, the OS would
> only be able to see the first 4G of ram on the
> board ?

That's not quite right. 

Assuming you are using an x86-derived processor, it
is possible to use more than 4G of RAM with a 32-bit
operating system if both the processor and operating
system support the Physical Address Extension
feature.

For example, Debian has a linux-image-2.6-686-bigmem
package for its 32-bit x86 systems (so-called "i386
architecture") which causes a kernel supporting PAE
to be installed. YMMV for other distributions/
operating systems.

I haven't used a bigmem Debian kernel because I
don't have any machines with more than 4gb
installed.  However, the availability and use of
PAE-supporting kernels has been widely
reported. E.g.,

  <http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2009/04/msg00289.html>

Best regards,

--Neil Ormos