On Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:30:30 -0700 Joe C <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 4:14 PM, Charles Curley > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Questions: > > > > * Where is the rest of my 4 GB? I paid good money for those 641MB! > > My best guess is you are loosing memory to I/O address unless you are > running the 64-bit version of the OS. I remember getting calls like > that back when I did support for Dell with customers on the 32-bit > versions of Windows XP. Like why is Windows saying that I only have > 3.6 GB of RAM when I have 4 when I ordered it.
I was referring to the difference between the 4 GB the BIOS reported as installed and the 3455 MB it says is "usable". Why is the missing 641 MB "unusable"? Looking at dmsg for 64 bit finnix, it looks like the BIOS is reserving that much. What ever for? The 64 bit finnix reports finding 3335 MB, which is close enough to what the BIOS reports as "usable" that I won't quibble. I had forgotten about memory mapped I/O, thanks for reminding me. Clearly a 64 bit OS can put that wherever it wants (MMU permitting), but the 32 bit OS has problems. That's a *lot* of I/O, though. Gaakk, this brings back nightmares of the 286/386 days when you had to play all sorts of games to use any more than 640 Kb. > > > * Why the gap between the memory chunks? Not that it matters, Linux > > seems able to use them anyway. > > My best guess is a 32 bit version of the OS was installed, sorry > that's the only thing that I can think of. Except that it was memtest86+ that reported them. OK, if memtest86+ is a 32 bit app, that would explain that and why it tested in chunks even if two were contiguous. Thanks. > > > > Any other thoughts? > > Are you running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Ubuntu? The Ubuntu is 32 bit. It's a recent installation, with /home on its own LV. I wonder if installing a 64 OS will be worth it, at least for now. -- Charles Curley /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign Looking for fine software \ / Respect for open standards and/or writing? X No HTML/RTF in email http://www.charlescurley.com / \ No M$ Word docs in email Key fingerprint = CE5C 6645 A45A 64E4 94C0 809C FFF6 4C48 4ECD DFDB /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
