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Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

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f0dder:
Sorry but 32 bits can only address 4Gb - you can fudge it by adding offsets (mirrors) but it is a fudge. PAE is a fudge. You aren't physically addressing more than 4Gb at any one time it is like having a book - you can view any double page but you can't see 4 page at once - unless you use mirrors!
-Carol Haynes (November 09, 2009, 07:18 PM)
--- End quote ---
And, technically, x86 doesn't have mirrors - only a single 32bit address space, where multiple parts can be mapped to a larger physical pool... but no mirrors.

Deozaan:
I've switched from XP to Win7 on both my Desktop PC (built in 2005) and my netbook.

I probably shouldn't have put it on my netbook as it can be choppy at times, but it runs well enough, and on my desktop PC it runs great.

I did somehow end up with a BSOD on both my desktop PC and netbook on the same day, but I have no idea what those were about. I actually wasn't using either computer at the time. They were just idling.

40hz:
I did somehow end up with a BSOD on both my desktop PC and netbook on the same day, but I have no idea what those were about. I actually wasn't using either computer at the time. They were just idling.
-Deozaan (November 10, 2009, 02:14 AM)
--- End quote ---

Now that is truly bizarre! And pretty cool too. (Or will be so long as it doesn't keep happening. ;D)

tslim:
Sorry but 32 bits can only address 4Gb - you can fudge it by adding offsets (mirrors) but it is a fudge. PAE is a fudge. You aren't physically addressing more than 4Gb at any one time it is like having a book - you can view any double page but you can't see 4 page at once - unless you use mirrors!
-Carol Haynes (November 09, 2009, 07:18 PM)
--- End quote ---

I agree 32 bits can only address 4Gb at any one time. But this has nothing to do with how many portions that made up the 4Gb and where each portion is laid. I could have N portions that add up to 4Gb but they all are just part of a 400Gb physical memory.

i.e. the fact that "32 bits can only address 4Gb at any one time" should not restrict a 32 bits O/S from handling more than 4Gb physical memory.

It is like if I can only eat one chicken at any one meal, that does not mean I must cook only one chicken for every meal. I could for example cook 3 chickens and eat 1/3 of each of them... :D

f0dder:
i.e. the fact that "32 bits can only address 4Gb at any one time" should not restrict a 32 bits O/S from handling more than 4Gb physical memory.-tslim (November 10, 2009, 07:18 AM)
--- End quote ---
Except buggy drivers that assume that PHYSICALADDRESS.HighPart is always zero - and those did exist, and Microsoft used that as reason for changing XP SP1 from supporting 4GB of physical memory (located wherever) to only supporting the low 4GB of physical memory.

Only supporting 4GB physical memory is an arbitrary limitation, but is obviously done to differentiate server and workstation 32bit Windows editions.

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