SliTaz Forum

hint on memory use

(21 posts) (6 voices)

• Started 12 years ago by christophe
• Latest reply from christophe
• This topic is not a support question

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1. 

   christophe
   

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   Can anyone give me a hint on how Slitaz would handle 8 GB of RAM ?

   I understand Slitaz is 32 bits, will it support 64 bits in the foreseeable future ?

   with 8 GB, can I hope that some amount (1or 1.5 GB) will be used my the graphic card if it can do that, then the rest would be split between / (frugal or usb install) , tmpfs, and the "ram" in the classical sense of the word, (for execution of processes), so that most of the 8GB could be used and it is making sense to get that much memory ?

   Thanks

   Posted 12 years ago #
2. 

   rjarrrpcgp
   

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   For 32-bit, it would need to be PAE.

   Posted 12 years ago #
3. 

   Trixar_za
   

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   It should handle 8GB RAM just fine and will at most probably end up using max 1,6GB after you install everything you need on it (including compiler). I also don't think you'll need more than 512MB for Graphics - I only use 32MB with SliTaz. The rest should be free for the system to use as needed.

   Posted 12 years ago #
4. 

   christophe
   

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   Tx

   What is PAE ?

   Posted 12 years ago #
5. 

   christophe
   

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   i am realizing my question carries some ambiguity.
   Being 32 bits, will the system be able to handle 4GB of Ram PLUS the space needed for / if i use an install with / in Ram, PLUS, a tmpfs ?

   In other words, will all these be in different address spaces which allows all of them to use together more than 4GB ?

   The underlying question being, is it worth to buy more than 4GB, (or not since the 4-8 GB part is not in the addressable space anyway) ?

   Tx

   Posted 12 years ago #
6. 

   kultex
   

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   what is PAE Kernel?

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension

   Posted 12 years ago #
7. 

   christophe
   

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   ok this is what i found there:

   Linux

   The Linux kernel includes full PAE mode support starting with version 2.3.23,[7] enabling access of up to 64 GB of memory on 32-bit machines. A PAE-enabled Linux kernel requires that the CPU also support PAE. As of 2009,[8] some common Linux distributions have started to use a PAE-enabled kernel as the distribution-specific default[8] because it adds the NX bit. [9]

   it also says
   The Linux kernel supports PAE as a build option and most major distributions provide a PAE kernel either as the default or as an option

   So...
   Does Slitaz support PAE ?

   Posted 12 years ago #
8. 

   kultex
   

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   it is the question, what you mean with does slitaz support PAE - if you mean, is the kernel of slitaz a PAE kernel - the answer is no.

   But you can build your own PAE Kernel if you want, because SliTAz uses Kernel 2.6.37

   as I remember you have to set CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G=y in the kernel config - the rest is in this guide

   http://doc.slitaz.org/en:guides:kernel

   Posted 12 years ago #
9. 

   christophe
   

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   I am guessing that some day i will have to go into learning how to do that ...

   thanks for your answer

   Posted 12 years ago #
10. 

    christophe
    

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    one more question on that one....
    Will or should a PAE-enabled kernel be able to run any 32 bit slitaz package ? and should I expecte everything to work flawlessly.

    Or should slitaz packages specifically be recompiled for it ?

    Thanks

    Posted 12 years ago #
11. 

    christophe
    

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    Let me explain why i ask.

    If PAE enabled kernel is able, in theory, to run all 32 bit packages unchanged, THEN,

    Instead of creating a 64 bit version why not have "only" an additional PAE version ?
    This way the work of creating and maintaining packages would be divided by 2
    plus, i have been struggling on a 64bit ubuntu like with wine :(
    so that i am starting to wonder why a 64bits version would be needed, if a PAE version would do the job....

    And there will be a long time before we exhaust the 64GB that can be addressed with a PAE kernel.

    Any thought from the developers ?

    Posted 12 years ago #
12. 

    kultex
    

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    I am not a developer, but I think you are right

    I use on my Audio and Video Machine AV-Linux - and AV Linux just provides a normal kernel and a pae-kernel

    There exists also another AV Distro - 64Studio with 64 bit Kernel and 32 bit Kernel - I was using it before, but AV-Linux is much better (lets say was, because I did not test their distri for now 2 years

    I think, thus we have no paid devs, its much better to concentrate on 32 bit with pae and on arm

    maybe I will try to make a pae kernel in the next days...

    Posted 12 years ago #
13. 

    domcox
    

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    I'm afraid that not all processors are PAE compatible, some old processors will bring you this message:

    This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU:
    pae

    Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.

    Among them are: pre-Pentium Pro (including Pentium MMX), Celeron M and 400 Mhz Pentium M processors, AMD K6 and earlier, VIA C3 and earlier, and Geode GX and LX.

    Posted 12 years ago #
14. 

    kultex
    

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    thats clear - nobody wants slitaz with pae - just as post-install or as a special flavor

    see AVLinux http://www.bandshed.net/AVLinux.html

    Posted 12 years ago #
15. 

    Trixar_za
    

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    Honestly, it's not a viable option for 32bit systems since even Windows needs a hack for it. Hell, most 32bit applications won't be able to use more than the first 4GB anyway...

    It makes more sense to have PAE for 64bit and ARM kernel versions instead.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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