2. the response above indicates that yes, 4G (and maybe more) RAM can be
used with 32 bit CPU's and 32 bit OS, with (what I understand to be,
basically) a software patch to allow access to the memory that lies outside
the limits of a 32 bit OS, but using that patch has its own problems, and so
Atually, it's been part of the stock Linux kernel for years (probably
already in 2.4). In Debian, you just need to install the
linux-image-<vers>-686-bigmem rather than linux-image-<vers>-686
package. That's it. No known compatibility issue. The only "problems"
with it is that if you look under the hook, you may feel like it's a bit
of a hack, and also that in some micro benchmarks you may find such
kernels to be marginally slower. No big deal, really.