I've got an AMD X2 processor, using lenny 32bit, with 4Gb ram. I'm currently running kernel; linux-image-2.6.26-2-686. But its description says it is meant for PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 chips. There is a 'bigmem' variant of the same kernel which lets me see all of the 4Gb, but I also see 'linux-image-2.6.26-2-amd64' listed. I'm not sure if they are kernels meant for the 64-bit version of the distro or what? the filename for the amd64 kernel ends with '_i386.deb' which would suggest its meant for the 32-bit distro, i think!



Thanks if anyone can clear this up for me!

Continue using the "-686" kernel. Stay away from anything you think is 64 bit, anything like "amd64" unless you reinstall and specify 64 bit during your re-install. I think the bigmem kernel is not needed in your case... I may be wrong.

If you're running Lenny, I would guess it is linux-image-2.6-2-amd64. If you want to run a 32bit kernel then linux-image-2.6-2-686(-bigmem) should be fine.
cheers,
jdk

If you want to be running 32-bit lenny, then you've got the right kernel. The description is just a reference to that class of processors, including AMD equivalents (there is no longer an AMD-k7 optimized kernel). Or you can use the bigmem. I don't think it matters if you have exactly 4GB RAM as both should support that scenario.

If you want to run 64-bit debian, then I believe you need to reinstall with the amd64 installer media. AFAIK you can't "upgrade" a system from 32-bit to 64-bit.

Thanks for the replies, hmm. If i had wanted the 64-bit system, yeah i would've installed from that CD. but its then strange to have amd64 listed if its not possible to do. i wouldnt have expected a 64-bit package to end with_i386.deb. i might just give the amd64 one a bash eventually and see what happens, i mean what could possbily go wrong...!

In fact you could install both and be able to chroot from one system to another. There are some howto's about this that you can use. This was a common solution in the "old days" when things like openoffice, firefox, flash, etc. didn't come in 64bit versions.
cheers,
jdk

Use the -686 kernel; there used to be a -k7 for AMD procs but it was merged with -686.

-bigmem should not be necessary if I'm understanding this correctly. I think you should only need CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G set. Run:
and see what the three results are.

You'll need the bigmem to utilise all 4 GB (well, 3.6), the 686 will show just under 3 GB running free -m.