slow (s-l-o-w) install

[Frank Cox]

On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:41:04 -0500
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com> wrote:

> I don't think the install will run a bit faster for using more memory, 
> while it will run tons slower if you don't run cache. Since this is a 
> one-time thing during install, I don't see any reason to avoid it.

I tried installing again, specifying "mem=2G", and it zipped right along.  Now
I have a working machine that runs fine as long as I specify a "mem=" amount.

 However,  having specified "mem=4024M" in my grub.conf, I
actually ended up with this:

[frankcox at mutt ~]$ free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:       3342416     702628    2639788          0      16480     289760
-/+ buffers/cache:     396388    2946028
Swap:      2031608          0    2031608

I have more ram now than I did with "mem=2G" but I seem to have lost 760mb;
4024-3264=760.

> After 
> install you can look at MTRR adjustments to allow all 4GB during normal 
> operation.

How would I go about making these adjustments and what adjustments should I be
making?  (I know absolutely nothing about MTRR.)

Here is what I've got now:

reg00: base=0x00000000 (   0MB), size=2048MB: write-back, count=1
reg01: base=0x80000000 (2048MB), size=1024MB: write-back, count=1
reg02: base=0xc0000000 (3072MB), size= 256MB: write-back, count=1
reg03: base=0xcf800000 (3320MB), size=   8MB: uncachable, count=1
reg04: base=0xcf400000 (3316MB), size=   4MB: uncachable, count=1
reg05: base=0x100000000 (4096MB), size= 512MB: write-back, count=1
reg06: base=0x120000000 (4608MB), size= 128MB: write-back, count=1
reg07: base=0xd0000000 (3328MB), size= 256MB: write-combining, count=1

What changes should I be looking at making, and how do I go about making them?

(Thanks ever so much for your patience and assistance.  I'm really 100% lost
with this matter at the moment and would love to get a better understanding of
how all of this works as well as make my new computer use all of its ram.  In
other words, I'm interested in "why" as well as "how", if possible.)

-- 
MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ http://www.melvilletheatre.com