Hi folks. Need some advice regarding 32 versus 64 bit on my new machine. It is 64 bit and have just recently written it with 64 bit Ubuntu Mate. Prior to the new machine, i was using a 32 bit pentium D. I also have a printer called Canon LBP2900i. It was a right bugger to finally work out how to get it going on my old 32 bit Linux (mostly Ubuntu with gnome fall-back or with mint/mate).
Since installing the new 64 bit Ubuntu Mate, I hadn’t tried installing my printer. However, I have tried to do so tonight and it looks like it’s going to be the same pain as before. I have been on all the forums and followed all the suggestions. None work.
The thing is, I know how to install Ubuntu Mate 32 bit driver with this printer cos I had it going on my Pentium D just before I finally retired it. So, my question is this:
Does Ubuntu Mate come with PAE? As I understand it, this means it will be able to see all of my 8GB of ram. If the answer to the above question is yes, then the secondary question is what other disadvantage might there be to running my machine with Ubuntu Mate 32 bit. If the answer is little or none, then I will be re-writing it with the 32 bit version in order to save myself the hassle of trying to get the printer working with 64 bit.
No worries, I have answered it myself. I have taken a Clonezilla copy of the 64 bit installation and rewritten a 32 bit one. It can see all of the ram and does not appear to have suffered any performance issue, at least so far as I can see.
So, it’s all good.
All of which does rather beg the question, what’s the point of a 64 bit Linux?
Address more RAM (4GB+), I'm not sure if just because you can see it the system will actually use it. Also take advantage of 64bit CPU instruction sets.
As an aside, to get my printer working I just used CUPS and the manufacturer's Linux PPD. It's a Kyocera and I take my hat off to them because they support linux and it works perfectly.
Although Physical Address Extension (PAE) increases the RAM limit to 64GB on 32bit computers, the size of the virtual address is not changed. As a result, application software will still use instructions with 32bit addresses and are limited to 4GB of address space, which is mapped onto the physical memory by using page tables. Therefore, a single application cannot simultaneously access the extra memory and is limited to 4GB, although a different application will be able to access another 4GB and so on. This also reduces the memory performance slightly.