[Mageia-discuss] Installer: Server v. desktop kernel: No choice?

[Ahmad Samir]

On 17 July 2011 14:57, TJ <andrewsfarm at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 07/17/2011 07:58 AM, Doug Laidlaw wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, 16 Jul 2011 08:00:03 PM mageia-discuss-request at mageia.org wrote:
>>>
>>> Message: 2
>>> Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:45:43 +0100
>>> From: Maurice Batey<maurice at bcs.org.uk>
>>> To: mageia-discuss at mageia.org
>>> Subject: [Mageia-discuss] Installer: Server v. desktop kernel: No
>>>         choice?
>>> Message-ID:<pan.2011.07.15.17.45.42.391789 at bcs.org.uk>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-2022-jp
>>>
>>> Having installed Mageia-1 (from DVD), I find it has installed the
>>> server kernels, rather than the desktop kernels.
>>>
>>> Presumably that's because my PC has 4GB RAM, but - on this 1-user system
>>> - I would have preferred the desktop kernels to be installed.
>>>
>>> Did I miss an installation option, to choose server v. desktop?
>>>
>>> If not, could the installer be given such an option - perhaps in
>>> some 'Advanced' tab?
>>>
>>> That would avoid having to swap kernels with:
>>>
>>>       urpmi kernel-desktop-latest
>>>       urpmi kernel-desktop-devel-latest
>>>       urpmi nvidia-current-kernel-desktop-latest
>>>
>>> (assuming that will do the trick here).
>>>
>>> --
>>> /\/\aurice
>>>         (Retired in Surrey, UK)     Registered Linux User #487649
>>>
>> I raised this one on the Mandriva list.  I was told that it was because I
>> had
>> a 32-bit version installed on a 64-bit capable machine.  Sure enough, when
>> I
>> installed the 64-bit version, I got the desktop kernel by default.
>>
>> Doug.
>>
> Well, that explains it. Mandriva has been insisting on installing the server
> kernel since I bought this Sempron 3100+ cpu/motherboard combo from a
> recycler on Ebay a couple of years ago, even though the motherboard supports
> a maximum of 2GB of DDR RAM. (I chose it because I needed a new mobo, was,
> as always, strapped for cash, and wanted to use my existing RAM modules.)
> With Mandriva, I switched to the desktop kernel manually, but with Mageia I
> decided to stick with the server kernel just to see how it worked out.
> Frankly, I see little if any difference in speed or operation from a user's
> perspective between the two 32-bit kernels on my machine, so when I finally
> get the time to switch to Mageia as my production install I'll continue with
> the server kernel.
>
> I looked into installing the 64-bit version of Mandriva when I discovered my
> cpu was 64-bit capable, but concluded at the time that there was no real
> advantage on this machine since the maximum RAM is less than 4 GB. So far,
> I've been happy with that, but in light of recent development, is there any
> reason why I should reconsider?
>
> TJ
>
>

Actually there're two criteria that must be met for the installer to
opt for the kernel-server a) You have a 64-bit capable CPU and b) you
have, at least, more than 3GB+ of RAM; if you only have 2GB of RAM
then that's a bug in the installer, it should have opted for
kernel-desktop, IIUC.

-- 
Ahmad Samir