[ubuntu-uk] New omputer.......Ubuntu install help

[Lee Williams]

On 07/04/2011 13:46, scoundrel50a wrote:
> Hi Avi and Dave,
>
> now I'm unsure. If I increased the RAM would that be a problem with 
> installing 32 on here? I'm glad I asked now.
>
> I think if its better to install 32 bit, I would rather that.
>
>
>
> On 07/04/2011 13:35, Avi Greenbury wrote:
>> scoundrel50a wrote:
>>> I want to install Ubuntu, but i'm a bit concerned about the fact its
>>> 64bit, and having read a few peoples problems when trying to install.
>>> Just wondered would there be any problems with the installation with
>>> this computer?
>>
>> Back in the day, Adobe Flash on amd64 was iffy, but latterly it 
>> appears to be fine. Certainly I've not had cause to wish I'd 
>> installed 386 in the past few years. I don't remember the last time I 
>> installed 386 on a non-server.
>>
>> Even so, if you do decide for some reason that you'd prefer the 
>> 32-bit x86 install of Ubuntu, you can just install it on an amd64 
>> processor.
>>
>> Avi
>>
>
>

It's not a problem installing 32bit on a machine with > ~3.5GB ram... 
rather the memory after the ~3.5GB or so is not "dedicated to system 
resources"; rather, system resources have used up the remaining memory 
*addresses*, so the memory cannot be seen nor used by anything, as it 
has no address. When 2GB RAM is installed, system components taking up 
1GB or so of addresses has no effect, as there are 4GB of addresses in 
total, meaning 3GB of addresses are left available for the 2GB of RAM.

At least that's my understanding...as for beta / stable... personal 
choice I guess it depends what you want to do?