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Q5sys

Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 1126
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Posted: Sat 24 Jan 2009, 13:20 Post subject:
How much RAM can Puppy use? |
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I've looked around but haven't found anything on this topic, if it has been asked or addressed before, please just refer me to the topic, no need to type it out again.
On my system I have 4GB Ram. However booting into Puppy, It doesn't recognize more than 1.5GB. Is this a limitation of Puppy itself, or do I need to do some configuring somewhere?
It doesn't REALLY bother me, as I'm sure 1.5GB is PLENTY when dealing with puppy, but since i Have 4GB, I'd like to set it up so I have 2 GB as a separate RAM Drive. to use.
Just wondering.
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bambuko

Joined: 14 Nov 2007 Posts: 578 Location: North Devon
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Posted: Sat 24 Jan 2009, 16:07 Post subject:
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I also have 4GB of RAM and it is recognised fine by Puppy (I run it without swap)
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Flash
Official Dog Handler

Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 13653 Location: Arizona USA
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Posted: Sun 25 Jan 2009, 00:12 Post subject:
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32-bit operating systems can theoretically address a maximum of 2^32 or 4,294,967,296 memory locations. In actual practice, neither 32-bit Windows nor 32-bit Linux can see much more than 3 GB of RAM in my machine, no matter how much more I put in.
_________________ Puppy Help 101 - an interactive tutorial for Lupu 5.25
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bambuko

Joined: 14 Nov 2007 Posts: 578 Location: North Devon
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Posted: Sun 25 Jan 2009, 07:25 Post subject:
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I should have been more precise
My Puppy (4.0) actually recognises 3370384 out of 4GB installed
G-Pup (4.1.2 with SMP support) recognises 3369820 on the same machine
and XP (dual boot on the same machine) claims to see 3328000
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davesurrey
Joined: 05 Aug 2008 Posts: 1201 Location: UK
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Posted: Mon 26 Jan 2009, 07:33 Post subject:
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FWIW, I believe the reason some people aren't seeing the full amount of ram fitted is that, whilst Lobster is correct in 32 bit systems being able to address up to about 4GB, the address space is used not just for the conventional ram memory but also for other memory such as that on graphics boards. That sounds to me the reason some of you are not seeing some of the 4GB but I doubt it to be the case with Q5sys.
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Q5sys

Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 1126
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Posted: Mon 26 Jan 2009, 13:10 Post subject:
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davesurrey wrote: | FWIW, I believe the reason some people aren't seeing the full amount of ram fitted is that, whilst Lobster is correct in 32 bit systems being able to address up to about 4GB, the address space is used not just for the conventional ram memory but also for other memory such as that on graphics boards. That sounds to me the reason some of you are not seeing some of the 4GB but I doubt it to be the case with Q5sys. |
I'm well aware of the memory addressing limitations of 32 bit OSes, but only being able to see 1.5gb doenst seem to be anything tied to that.
I'm going to try another build and see if that doesnt clear up the issue. Thanks for everyones input.
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davesurrey
Joined: 05 Aug 2008 Posts: 1201 Location: UK
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Posted: Mon 26 Jan 2009, 21:15 Post subject:
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It wasn't clear from your OP how much you understood about memory addressing.
I think I made my point clearly that your situation doesn't seem to be normal ie "missing " ram due a video board etc.
Neither does it seem to be any issue with Puppy.
You might wish to check with another distro for comparison and see what results you get.
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Lobster
Official Crustacean

Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 15588 Location: Paradox Realm
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Posted: Tue 27 Jan 2009, 03:17 Post subject:
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Quote: | whilst Lobster is correct in 32 bit systems being able to address up to about 4GB |
I said nothing - was this a telepathic communication?
I recently upgraded to 1GB (plenty for even the biggest Pups
- you need two GB to actually run Vista program (1 GB just for OS)
However I was reading a comparison of Vista and Puppy and it seems we can address far more ram in Linux - However I can no longer find the link (it is not the link that comes up in the search - I think darreljohn did it)
http://www.puppylinux.org/
In the early days of Puppy it made very little difference if you had 128MB or 256MB of ram
I always try and keep a little bit ahead (to run Puppy very comfortably)
MU has just released a 630MB Puppy - yes you do not have to load all into ram. yes you can run it from swap file
BUT ram (if you will pardon the expression) will run faster - good luck
_________________ Puppy Raspup 8.2 Final
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html 
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davesurrey
Joined: 05 Aug 2008 Posts: 1201 Location: UK
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Posted: Tue 27 Jan 2009, 06:41 Post subject:
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Whoooops.
Sorry Lobster, I meant to refer to Flash's message in this thread.
I must have been thinking about some other message of yours I had just been reading and sub-consciously used your name instead.
Apologies again Sir.
Dave
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Q5sys

Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 1126
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Posted: Wed 28 Jan 2009, 16:34 Post subject:
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Well, a friend of mine has the same system I have (same exact specs); when I tried to run puppy on his system, it read 3. something or other. So I went back to mine... and sure enough... still around 1.5ish.
So I guess its some quirk in my hardware.
I havent the faintest clue that it could be, but at least I know its not puppy. heh
Gee... now I've got an excuse to go buy a new laptop!
Thanks for everyones input!
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davesurrey
Joined: 05 Aug 2008 Posts: 1201 Location: UK
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Posted: Wed 28 Jan 2009, 20:08 Post subject:
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Not wanting to quote the obvious, but....
Are you sure you don't have some faulty RAM??
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Q5sys

Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 1126
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Posted: Wed 28 Jan 2009, 20:20 Post subject:
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davesurrey wrote: | Not wanting to quote the obvious, but....
Are you sure you don't have some faulty RAM?? |
A perfectly natural question. Vista reads 3GB (32bit). OpenSuse 11.1, Fedora 10, and Xubuntu 8.10 all read 4GB.
So... Im assuming the RAM isnt faulty. But I guess I could swap my DIMMs with my buddies and see if it changes. Faulty Ram is the most logical assumption here, but it doesnt seem to fit. I cant imagine one OS having a prob with the mobo that the others havent had an issue with. If swapping the DIMMs does nothing, I guess its time to call Lenovo and tell them I want a new mainboard. Cuase its clearly not an issue with Puppy.
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MU

Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 13647 Location: Karlsruhe, Germany
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Posted: Wed 28 Jan 2009, 21:43 Post subject:
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Q5sys,
here in newyearspup (Kernel 2.6.27.5), conky shows 1.98 GB. I have 2 GB.
The command "free" shows:
Code: | # free
total used free shared buffers
Mem: 2074912 641332 1433580 0 65288
Swap: 265032 0 265032
Total: 2339944 641332 169861 |
The "Hardware information" in Menu -> System -> Hardinfo -> Devices -> Memory shows 2074 MB.
How do you look at your amount of Ram?
Which version of Puppy do you use?
Mark
_________________ my recommended links
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Pizzasgood

Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 6266 Location: Knoxville, TN, USA
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Posted: Wed 28 Jan 2009, 23:40 Post subject:
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You haven't mentioned where that number came from. Just in case you're not already aware, the freememapplet on the taskbar has nothing to do with RAM. That one refers to the amount of free space that Puppy can use for files. In most cases that means it shows the free space inside the pup_save.2fs file. In some cases it can refer to RAM, but in general that isn't the case.
The free command is a better option.
You probably already knew that, but this way we can know for sure and rule it out.
_________________ Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib

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Bruce B
Joined: 18 May 2005 Posts: 11488 Location: The Peoples Republic of California
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Posted: Thu 29 Jan 2009, 13:07 Post subject:
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There is no 4GB RAM Linux limit, (I believe).
RedHat, that's Linux right? For how long have they supported 64 GB RAM on the 32 bit x86 architecture? Quite a while actually.
Now that 64 bit processors are quite main stream, RedHat Linux supports up to 1TB on the 64 bit and dropped the 64 GB on x86 on the 32bit x86 to 16 GB.
RedHat Enterprise Linux Comparison Cart
_________________ New! Puppy Linux Links Page
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