Where have all the posters gone?

[Tom]

why would you run XP with PAE in a system with only 2GB of RAM?

I'm just remembering how the linux kernel will only see 800 or so MB of actual physical memory if you don't have all of the BIGMEM and possibly PAE options enabled.

Yeah, I wasn't talking about Linux.  To be clear, the term "PAE" is used for both the physical capability of a processor to address physical memory above 4GB and support for that physical capability within the operating system.  The processor I have is PAE-capable.  But there's no point to making my OS (WinXP) use the processor's PAE capability because there's no actual physical memory greater than 4GB on the board.  I'd wager that the same holds true for Linux and PAE capability.  I have no idea what the BIGMEM option does for you, though.

I just assume XP has the same limitation.

[Thorin]

What are you attempting to answer or ask with that link, Darren?

[Mr. Analog]

I can see that we were missed haha!

How are the new computers working out for the fam?

P.S. I think my server died, so I'm going to need the parts anyway hahaha.

[Darren Dirt]

What are you attempting to answer or ask with that link, Darren?

Just wondering if PAE was what is described at that Wiklink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_Windowing_Extensions ?

[Tom]

What are you attempting to answer or ask with that link, Darren?

Just wondering if PAE was what is described at that Wiklink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_Windowing_Extensions ?

Nope. PAE is a hardware level extension to the ia32 archetecture. AWE is some win32 api to let a 32bit app exceed the normal windows limits (4G or less per app).

[Thorin]

I just assume XP has the same limitation [in memory usage as Linux].

Uhh...  I really don't know what to say to that post.  Really?  You would assume that something that happens in one or more flavours of Linux also happens in a particular flavour of Windows?

Nope. PAE is a hardware level extension to the ia32 archetecture. AWE is some win32 api to let a 32bit app exceed the normal windows limits (4G or less per app).

The term "PAE" refers to both the hardware level extension and the operating system support for that extension.  As I stated in an earlier post:

the term "PAE" is used for both the physical capability of a processor to address physical memory above 4GB and support for that physical capability within the operating system.

What are you attempting to answer or ask with that link, Darren?

Just wondering if PAE was what is described at that Wiklink.

PAE allows your CPU to address (see) more than 4GB of physical memory (RAM), and allows 32-bit Windows XP (and Vista) to use that addressable physical memory.  Each running process within Windows is still limited to 4GB of virtual address space (2GB for the process, 2GB for the kernel).  But with, say, 8GB of RAM in your machine 3 separate processes and the kernel would each get 2GB of actual physical memory for their virtual address space, meaning that none of their virtual address space needs to be placed in the swap file on the hard drive.  I assume you know enough about computers to understand why not using the swap file helps...

The Physical Address Extension (PAE) allows 32-bit Windows systems to use more than 4 GB of physical memory.
[..]
With PAE enabled, the operating system moves from two-level linear address translation to three-level address translation. The extra layer of translation provides access to physical memory beyond 4 GB. Instead of a linear address being split into three separate fields for indexing into memory tables, it is split into four separate fields: a 2-bit field, two 9-bit fields, and a 12-bit field that corresponds to the page size implemented by Intel Architecture (4 KB).

PAE, 4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), and Address Windowing Extensions (AWE) serve different purposes and can be used independently of each other:

• PAE allows the operating system to access and use more than 4 GB of physical memory.
• 4GT extends the 32-bit user virtual address space from 2 GB to up to 3 GB.
• AWE is a set of APIs that allows a process to allocate nonpaged physical memory and then dynamically map portions of this memory into the virtual address space of the process.

AWE allows a non-kernel process to directly access that physical memory above the 4GB level.  This is a big deal because it allows your application to have more than the 2GB of virtual address space it normally gets.  Imagine not getting an OutOfMemoryException when you try to ask for another spot in memory for a UINT when you've used up all 2GB of your virtual address space...

So no, AWE and PAE aren't the same thing.  Yes, they both have to do with memory, but that's the only connection.  We have a whole thread on this, too:

http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php/topic,6086.0.html

[Thorin]

How are the new computers working out for the fam?

Everything's going good so far.  Lots of time spent setting 'em up just right   I think I'm too picky.  Another one of my kids now has an email address...  I figure they need email and Windows Live Messenger and GoogleTalk as soon as they start reading in school

I've been copying files off the old machine's drive, 100+GB of pictures, music, movies, D&D files, etc.  Eventually all the setup will be done.  Today I altered Windows Live Messenger with MessPatch to hide all the extra junk and installed AdBlock Plus.  MessPatch applies to all users on the machine (no choice to do it per user) and AdBlock Plus gets installed per user (no choice to do it for all users).  Of course I wanted to apply MessPatch differently for the different users, and ABP across the board <sigh>.  Man, having to do it six times per computer times two computers sucks...

Got the screensaver for all users on both computers (again, set per user so I had to log in twelve separate times) to the My Pictures Slideshow.  The kids love seeing random pics go by.  We might have to edit the list a bit

P.S. I think my server died, so I'm going to need the parts anyway hahaha.

That sucks   You got everything you need to get it back to running condition?

[Mr. Analog]

P.S. I think my server died, so I'm going to need the parts anyway hahaha.

That sucks   You got everything you need to get it back to running condition?

I should, though I never backed up my PDC to a secondary so I'm going to have to rebuild my domain somehow...