Upgrading motherboard, will I need to do a clean install of PCLinuxOS?

[mtonkinson]

Forgive me if this question has already been asked but I haven't found any threads on it. I am considering installing a new motherboard on my system which will mean a new processor and chip set among other things. Will I have to re-install PCLinuxOS 2010 or is there a way to have PCLinuxOS 2010 automatically update it's settings for a new motherboard. Also, is PCLinuxOS 2010 like windows in that it cannot access any RAM above 4 MB (for windows you need to buy the 64-bit editions if you want to access over 4 MB or RAM). I've also heard from another website that you are currently working on a 64-bit version of PCLinuxOS that will come out later this year. Is this true? Would I need a 64-bit version of Linux in order to access over 4 MB of memory? If I do need a 64-bit edition of PCLinuxOS to access more than 4 MB can I still run the 32-bit edition with the understanding that I can only use the 4 MB of memory on my motherboard (4 MB is much more than what I will be using with Linux, it isn't as bloated of an operating system as Windoze)?

Thanks,

Marc

[T6]

it's not 4 mbs, it is 4GBS

you need to install and use pae kernel, easily done form synaptic, will support up to 64 gbs with it but the system will remain as 32 bits

Texstar is beginning to work with 64 bit packages but this is early stages of the proces

if your biggest concern is ram usage my netbook has only 1 gb of ram shared with video card and kde4 works very well, currently i have opened around 15 apps including some windows apps and system performs without problems with compiz running all the time and this is a atom 1.67 ghz cpu, to be honest if you don't have anything heavy to load on all that ram, system will never use it, no reason to do it 

about the board, supposedly you only need to change video card driver to vesa and also enable a service on boot but can't remember the name right now(haldaemon on pcc/system/manage system services) to detect changes on hardware

i tried to do this last year with kde3 but system refused to load right modules for sata hard disk and without sata it couldn't load the rest of the os so i had to reinstall

since pclinux is installed in less than 15 minutes(or less on this slow machines) i didn't found this as a problem

make sure that before you decide to reinstall, you don't loose important files so do backups of your important files and if you can save configs of your preferred apps this will help you to be up and running in less than 1 hour with the new hardware

[mtonkinson]

"it's not 4 mbs, it is 4GBS"

I've been using computers for so long that I am still use to using MB instead of GB, yes I meant 4 GB.   

Thanks for your help. I just wanted to make sure I can run the 32-bit edition of PCLinuxOS. I've never had to add memory in order to run Linux and enjoy not having to upgrade memory every time a new release comes out. I think I can wait until they have a 64-bit edition of PCLinuxOS, heck, I wouldn't be surprised with all the overhead that Windoze has, the 32-bit edition of PCLinuxOS could run circles around the 64-bit edition of Windoze. I haven't looked at the specs for Windoze 7 but will need to upgrade to it in order to keep ahead at work on the latest from Micro$oft and I think them minimum recommended memory is something like 2 or 3 GB which usually means you will need twice the minimum memory specs in order to run Windoze. I enjoy the faster boot times, better stability, not relying on a registry that can become corrupted almost requiring a reinstall, and the many other advantages that PCLinuxOS and other distros offer.

[T6]

for windows 7 at 32 bit 2 gbs are enough, maybe 1 to 1.5 could be usable

on 64 bits 4 gbs is recommended, no idea why, should be the same as on 32 bit but isn't the case

on pclinux is 1 gb for 32bit version to work without problems in kde4(the heaviest desktop on this and other distros)

64bit will probably be the same because 64 bit allows more ram to be used by apps, not necessarily you have to install more, it is just the fact that it can handle more and give more to apps, between other details that can be not important to most users, this is why 64 bit hasn't advanced as fast as 32 bit did 15 years ago on most platforms, including windows and apple mac

[AndrzejL]

I took my HDD from one computer to another and it would not boot due to a different HDD connector

First computer was a typical ide second was using come sort of ide / sata adapter and the motherboard was not recognized. I had to do a clean reinstall to get it to work. I asked Old-Polack for help via the IM but he was to busy / absent for 3 days, hootiegibbon tried to help, we tried different boot codes and manually entering the values to the grub. No can do.

The other day I took out hdd from one computer to other - both using IDE interface - there was no problems.

It all depends on how different the motherboard will be from the one You are currently using.

When You will get the motherboard - You will know. You can always use livecd to ask for help, backup Your data from HDD, do other stuff.

Cross the bridge once You will get to it .

Hope I helped a bit. Regards.

Andy