Memory 3Gig or 4Gig?

[JosBR]

Hi,

Linux Mint Helena.

Here is part of the output of lshw command executed in the terminal:


*-memory
description: System Memory
physical id: 15
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 4GiB
*-bank:0
description: SODIMM DDR2 Synchronous 800 MHz (1.2 ns)
product: NT2GT64U8HD0BN-AD
vendor: 7F7F7F0B00000000
physical id: 0
serial: 4412295A
slot: DIMM_A
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 800MHz (1.2ns)
*-bank:1
description: SODIMM DDR2 Synchronous 800 MHz (1.2 ns)
product: NT2GT64U8HD0BN-AD
vendor: 7F7F7F0B00000000
physical id: 1
serial: 5E122957
slot: DIMM_B
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 800MHz (1.2ns)

Here is what is stated by Memory System Information under "System Information" System profiler and Benchmark.

-Memory-
Total Memory : 3061884 kB
Free Memory : 1522000 kB
Buffers : 188692 kB
Cached : 740300 kB
Cached Swap : 0 kB
Active : 949272 kB
Inactive : 474940 kB
Active(anon) : 518976 kB
Inactive(anon) : 16 kB
Active(file) : 430296 kB
Inactive(file) : 474924 kB
Unevictable : 0 kB
Mlocked : 0 kB
High Memory : 2200840 kB
Free High Memory : 949716 kB
Low Memory : 861044 kB
Free Low Memory : 572284 kB
Virtual Memory : 8964228 kB
Free Virtual Memory : 8964228 kB
Dirty : 64 kB
Writeback : 0 kB
AnonPages : 495216 kB
Mapped : 197312 kB
Slab : 49492 kB
SReclaimable : 36760 kB
SUnreclaim : 12732 kB
PageTables : 7040 kB
NFS_Unstable : 0 kB
Bounce : 0 kB
WritebackTmp : 0 kB
CommitLimit : 10495168 kB
Committed_AS : 1730496 kB
VmallocTotal : 122880 kB
VmallocUsed : 41104 kB
VmallocChunk : 78044 kB
HugePages_Total : 0
HugePages_Free : 0
HugePages_Rsvd : 0
HugePages_Surp : 0
Hugepagesize : 4096 kB
DirectMap4k : 12280 kB
DirectMap4M : 897024 kB

Notice the difference in Total memory in bold( 3Gig versus 4Gig).

Why is the difference there?

Thanks for any help.

[holastickboy]

I'm assuming you are running a 32bit version of Linux Mint, which can only address 3gb (the linux kernel will consume the other 1gb). If you want to take advantage of the FULL 4gb, without taking any performance hit by using PAE, then install the 64 bit version of Linux Mint. The same thing will be present if you install windows.

[emorrp1]

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=27775
the extra 1G is not used by the kernel, but mainly by the graphics card.

[JosBR]

Thank you for explaining the issue.
I know now that Dell did not pull my leg.

Can I update the 32bit to 64bit Helena version?
I do not want to install the 64bit from scratch. My 32 bit is working fine. It took me weeks to get all the things ( Evolution, doc transfer, Apache, MySQL PHP, etc.) to work.

Thanks again.

[emorrp1]

no, every single app would need replacing with the 64bit version, so you should just do a fresh install when you're ready. Be honest though, will you actually need that extra 1G RAM?

[holastickboy]

Well if you have it, you might as well use it. You may not need 4 cores on a processor, but its nice to use them. If you are doing lots of video editing, or massive image editing, I definitely recommend 64 bit. I have been running the 64bit version of Linux Mint 8, and have had no problems. Flash, video codecs, and applications in general have been fine (with the exception of adobe air). Here is the download information about the 64 bit version if you choose: http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=46

[Fred]

I hate to be the one to break the news to you guys, but you are just playing a numbers game. Memory wise, it makes no difference whether you are using the 32 bit version or the 64 bit version. The 4th Gig of memory is either unusable or buys you nothing.

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... al#p221399

Fred

[JosBR]

Thank you all for the useful reactions.

As a conclusion, for the time being: "never clean a (nice) running machine".
I am very content with my Helena. I take her the way she is. She does not have to be a superstar........yet.

I came over from Windows (XP sp3) in Sept 09, tried OpenSuse 11.2, stepped over to Helena and I am very enthusiastic about this Linux version, which installed without problems on a brand new Dell.

Kudos for the developers!

My best,

[Locuust]

Thanks, emorrp1, I followed that rabbit hole of a link and now I'm reliving the nightmares of the DOS era.

Qemm, 386Max, Memmaker, etc.
Stacker hard drive compression..
Device=c:\dos\himem.sys /loadhigh (something like that)
Dos Protected mode extenders
EMS and Extended memory

But what all made it worth it was ANSI escape codes in your prompt definition so your prompt was in pretty colors Ah the things I did out of boredom.

Lol.. and before the Net was mainstream I even briefly ran a BBS using WWIV on top of deskview (I think that was the name) which was a decent attempt at multi-tasking in DOS.

lol I remember watching my first guest logon to the board. A guy with the screen name superman - he was running at 300 baud

I remember salivating over the idea of having 16 meg of memory or having an Amiga which was supposed to have far better multitasking for that day and age. Of course somewhere in there I did try loading a linux distro but I think I gave up when I really couldn't find any help and I didn't really have the memory to run X anyway.

Of course I remember upgrading to 768k of memory from the 512k that came pre installed in my Tandy 1000 Ex. What's a hard drive? Please insert disk 10.

CGA/EGA graphics ftw - moving from 4 colors to 16 colors was exciting and VGA? 256 colors?!

God I feel like an old man..

wait.. I *am* an old man.

[Fred]

Locuust,

I too like old just fine. Especially when you consider the alternative.

I remember the first time I really began to feel old. It was when my first granddaughter was born. Surely I wasn't old enough to have grandchildren. But that feeling passed quickly. Grandchildren have a way of making everything ok. The hardest part was getting used to the idea of sleeping with someones grandmother. That took a little longer.

Fred

[MysticGold04]

Wow! those were the days! I remember them! Things have really come a long way since then... lol!

Thanks, emorrp1, I followed that rabbit hole of a link and now I'm reliving the nightmares of the DOS era.

Qemm, 386Max, Memmaker, etc.
Stacker hard drive compression..
Device=c:\dos\himem.sys /loadhigh (something like that)
Dos Protected mode extenders
EMS and Extended memory

But what all made it worth it was ANSI escape codes in your prompt definition so your prompt was in pretty colors Ah the things I did out of boredom.

Lol.. and before the Net was mainstream I even briefly ran a BBS using WWIV on top of deskview (I think that was the name) which was a decent attempt at multi-tasking in DOS.

lol I remember watching my first guest logon to the board. A guy with the screen name superman - he was running at 300 baud

I remember salivating over the idea of having 16 meg of memory or having an Amiga which was supposed to have far better multitasking for that day and age. Of course somewhere in there I did try loading a linux distro but I think I gave up when I really couldn't find any help and I didn't really have the memory to run X anyway.

Of course I remember upgrading to 768k of memory from the 512k that came pre installed in my Tandy 1000 Ex. What's a hard drive? Please insert disk 10.

CGA/EGA graphics ftw - moving from 4 colors to 16 colors was exciting and VGA? 256 colors?!

God I feel like an old man..

wait.. I *am* an old man.

[holastickboy]

I was using computers back in the Winodws 3.1 days ( i was less than 10 years old then lol). I'm so glad I dont have to deal with all that DOS stuff. I was using Linux however when installing software was a nightmare, and CD Roms, were really annoying to mount/dismount.