Kernel - PAE vs. non-PAE

Steven F. LeBrun steven at lebruns.com
Wed Jul 1 03:51:01 UTC 2009


On 06/30/2009 11:06 PM, Shannon McMackin wrote:
> On 06/30/2009 09:27 PM, Steven F. LeBrun wrote:
>> When I installed F11 on my Toshiba laptop, it installed the PAE version
>> of the kernel. I am assuming that my laptop has a CPU with Physical
>> Address Extensions functionality and can therefore address up to 64GB of
>> memory.
>>
>> My laptop only has 3 GB installed. Can anyone explain the pro's and
>> con's of using the PAE version of Linux kernel instead of the non-PAE
>> version?
>>
>> Would the PAE version of the 32-bit Linux Kernel see 4 GB of memory if
>> it was installed where Vista 32-bits only sees about 3GB? For that
>> matter would the non-PAE version see the full 4 GB?
>>
>> -- 
>> Steven F. LeBrun
>>
>> Quote: /"There are 10 types of people in this world, those that
>> understand binary and those who don't."/
>>
> Some laptops can only physically use 3gb of RAM.  In this case, the 
> PAE kernel would not be an advantage for you.  If you install 4gb of 
> RAM, then you will need the PAE kernel to use all 4gb.  Again, this 
> depends on the chipset.  The core-duo can only use 3gb, but the 
> core2-duo can use 4gb.
>

In my case, where my laptop only has 3GB of memory installed, is there a 
disadvantage to using the PAE kernel instead of the non-PAE?

-- 
   Steven F. LeBrun

Quote: /"The objection to fairy stories is that they tell children there 
are dragons. But children have always known there are dragons. Fairy 
stories tell children that dragons can be killed."/
      -- G.K. Chesterton

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