Can Ubuntu 32-bit access 8GB RAM?

Question

I need to use a large software package (Xojo) that requires the 32-bit architecture to run. Try as I might, I can't seem to install the 32-bit libraries on my 64-bit installation of 15.04.

I don't have a problem running a 32-bit version of Ubuntu (I'm only using this computer for Xojo) but the computer has 8GB of RAM and I'd like to be able to use it all. Is there a way to utilise all 8GB of RAM with a 32-bit Ubuntu install? Does Ubuntu do this out of the box?

Solution

Does Ubuntu do this out of the box?

Ubuntu will automatically turn on Physical Address Extension (PAE) if it is available; otherwise it will not even install.

Wikipedia, important parts (see the link for more):

In computing, Physical Address Extension (PAE) is a memory management feature for the IA-32 architecture, first introduced in the Pentium Pro. It defines a page table hierarchy of three levels, with table entries of 64 bits each instead of 32, allowing these CPUs to access a physical address space larger than 4 gigabytes (232 bytes).

Linux

The Linux kernel includes full PAE mode support starting with version 2.3.23,enabling access of up to 64 GB of memory on 32-bit machines. A PAE-enabled Linux kernel requires that the CPU also support PAE. The Linux kernel supports PAE as a build option and major distributions provide a PAE kernel either as the default or as an option.

Linux distributions now commonly use a PAE-enabled kernel as the default, a trend that began in 2009. As of 2012 many, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux / CentOS, Ubuntu have stopped distributing non-PAE kernels, thus making PAE hardware mandatory.

Comments

[Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy]

Refer here: askubuntu.com/a/358937/295286

[Chriki]

Have you already tried the 64-bit installation instructions for Ubuntu on the Xojo website? docs.xojo.com/index.php/…

[Wilf]

See also: What are the differences between 32-bit and 64-bit, and which should I choose?