Confused about what different kernels do on linux

Hello my Geek friends,

My brother brought me several old computers.
As I tested them, I found out several were dual core x32 machines
[didn't know there was such a thing]
and one was a dual core x64 machine.

I want to run 4 megs of memory on my computers.

What I don't understand is::confused

Linux kernel-3.2.13-pae/

Will this kernel work on the dual core x32 machines with 4 gig, and/or will it work on the dual core x64 machine with 4 gig?

Have I given enough information for someone to answer my question? If not, please let me know.

Pete

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension

 

Hello Pete22,

It is not the kernel that gobbles memory. It is the GUI. Running old equipment on low memory suggests the need of alternative Window Managers. One Crunchbang user documented using 30 Windows Managers in 30 days.

Openbox or Fluxbox would be low memory intensive. Using Iceweasel instead of Firefox also slims some memory requirements.

 

I will assume that when you say 4 megs above you mean 4 GB of RAM. Four GB of RAM with a dual core machine should run any desktop environment or window manager you want. If you want to conserve RAM I suggest that you use XFce which has pleasing functionality and uses less RAM than the big environments: Gnome and KDE. If you want to use use even less RAM then go with Fluxbox (Flux is a bit more difficult to use)

 

XFCE is good advice. Fluxbox is also good advice, but probably not for newbies. IMO, a good choice would be LXDE, which is even lighter than XFCE, but still user-friendly. Just my 0.02...