February 11, 2010
Ubuntu desktop x86 issue: 3Gb RAM only, no PAE support
Upgraded RAM to 4Gb, just noticed that only 3Gb is used by Ubuntu 8.10 x86 desktop, because it has Ubuntu Desktop kernel (the default one) which has no PAE support.
We see in this desktop open-source Ubuntu world the same ugly issue as when using Windows XP: either use much more stable 32-bit (x86) applications and face the inability of using whole 4Gb RAM or go into experimenting with 64-bit apps and have your whole >=4GB RAM used.
So, if you want to use 4Gb RAM or more in your 32bit Ubuntu - you have 2 options:
* either install "server kernel" (which is not optimized for desktop usage and it has issues with third party drivers and the server kernel, especifically, nvidia video adapter drivers), or
* rebuild desktop kernel by yourself (and do it on any kernel update which happens some each month or two).
Welcome to the open-source: Ubuntu have all their own branch of kernel, but do not support PAE there.
I'll try to switch to server kernel and see what happen.
PS I'm thinking of switching workstation from ubuntu to centos or fedora core 12 (btw, it has Gnome by default now!).
We see in this desktop open-source Ubuntu world the same ugly issue as when using Windows XP: either use much more stable 32-bit (x86) applications and face the inability of using whole 4Gb RAM or go into experimenting with 64-bit apps and have your whole >=4GB RAM used.
So, if you want to use 4Gb RAM or more in your 32bit Ubuntu - you have 2 options:
* either install "server kernel" (which is not optimized for desktop usage and it has issues with third party drivers and the server kernel, especifically, nvidia video adapter drivers), or
* rebuild desktop kernel by yourself (and do it on any kernel update which happens some each month or two).
Welcome to the open-source: Ubuntu have all their own branch of kernel, but do not support PAE there.
I'll try to switch to server kernel and see what happen.
PS I'm thinking of switching workstation from ubuntu to centos or fedora core 12 (btw, it has Gnome by default now!).
