You can use a 64bit kernel (to get good memory addressing) with a 32bit install (to get flash et al).
The packaging system won't let you do this exactly, but you can install a regular 32bit system and then download and unpack a 64bit kernel (using dpkg-deb) this is the best of both worlds in alot of ways but the trade off in kernel management hassle may be more than you want to pay for it. -Jon On Wed, Aug 29, 2007 at 09:27:12AM +0100, Gavin McCullagh wrote: :Hi, : :On Wed, 29 Aug 2007, Krsnendu dasa wrote: : :> I'll be starting with 4 GB of RAM, (possibly increasing it in future.) Which :> kernel should I use? : :As 32-bit machines usually address memory on a 32-bit address space, if you :have more than 2^32 bits of memory (about 4GB), you run out of addresses :and can't use the remaining RAM. Actually, PCI devices must also be mapped :into the 32-bit address space which usually leaves you with more like :3-3.5GB). : :If you're using a 32-bit kernel, you can either use: : : - the -generic- which will usually use a little over 3GB (4GB minus some : address space used by the pci devices) : : - the -server- which should use the full memory (using PAE), but at some : processing cost : http://www.spack.org/wiki/LinuxRamLimits : :If you use a 64-bit kernel, just using the standard -generic- kernel will :allow you to address 2^64 bytes, so you don't need to worry about memory :limits. The only thing is that fully 64-bit systems are relatively new and :still have some issues, usually with proprietary software (eg. there is no :adobe flash plugin or acrobat reader for 64-bit). You can if you wish do :more complex things to run 32-bit apps on a 64-bit system. : : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/32bit_and_64bit : http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=616&num=1 : :I'm not sure what the issues are with WINE and 64-bit but it seems likely :a 32-bit windows app will need to run in 32-bit mode on linux. : :Gavin : : :-- :edubuntu-users mailing list :edubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com :Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-users -- edubuntu-users mailing list edubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-users
