Re: qemu 6.1.0 - i386 <= 2GB?

[Frans de Boer]

On 23/11/2021 09:27, Narcis Garcia wrote:
> Some 32-bit system can't handle more than 512 MiB of RAM, and some 
> 32-bit systems can handle up to 64 GiB.
>
> This is not related to memory assigned by Qemu to VE.
>
>
> Narcis Garcia
>
> El 22/11/21 a les 18:38, Frans de Boer ha escrit:
> > LS,
> >
> > OK, 32-bit systems can't handle more than 4GB memory. So, I specify 
> > '-m 4096' and still get only 2GB. Is this (very) old bug still not 
> > resolved or is it a feature now?
> >
> > Regards, Frans.
In theory an 32-bit processor can handle up-to 4GB of physical memory. 
However, due to limitations of some chip sets, the maximum amount of 
memory was often 512 MB or 1 GB. At that time the chip sets where 
lagging behind the processor capabilities.
With newer chip sets it became practically possible to address 4 GB and 
when using PAE, even beyond that. Although in case of the latter, the 
address space for a single process was always limited to 4 GB.

So, whatever way you see it, the 2 GB limit imposed by QEMU seems rather 
arbitrary.

--- Frans.