Why does Lubuntu show less RAM than installed?
I am using Lubuntu 14.04
I have two sticks of 4 GB RAM, they work fine under Windows. But when I open the LXTask it says I have 7868 MB when it should show 8192 MB.
Using no integrated graphics (Radeon R9 270X). The Athlon X4 760K does not feature them at all.
free -m
output:
david@lubuntu:~$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 7868 7118 750 11 36 2008
-/+ buffers/cache: 5073 2795
Swap: 8135 0 8135
UPDATE
The -h
output still reports less than 8GB:
david@lubuntu:~$ free -h
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 7.7G 7.1G 632M 11M 38M 2.0G
-/+ buffers/cache: 5.1G 2.6G
Swap: 7.9G 0B 7.9G
lubuntu ram
add a comment |
I am using Lubuntu 14.04
I have two sticks of 4 GB RAM, they work fine under Windows. But when I open the LXTask it says I have 7868 MB when it should show 8192 MB.
Using no integrated graphics (Radeon R9 270X). The Athlon X4 760K does not feature them at all.
free -m
output:
david@lubuntu:~$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 7868 7118 750 11 36 2008
-/+ buffers/cache: 5073 2795
Swap: 8135 0 8135
UPDATE
The -h
output still reports less than 8GB:
david@lubuntu:~$ free -h
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 7.7G 7.1G 632M 11M 38M 2.0G
-/+ buffers/cache: 5.1G 2.6G
Swap: 7.9G 0B 7.9G
lubuntu ram
No, it sports a HD 7870 and the cpu is Athlon X4 760K
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:26
1
Please edit your question to add the new information from your comment and please also add the output oflsb_release -a
– Elder Geek
Apr 6 '15 at 14:34
Check/proc/meminfo
file withcat /proc/meminfo
. You should have lineMemTotal
which reports physical ram Source. Also, as ElderGeek has noted, there's always some ram reserved by the system for peripherals (keyboard, display) and such
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
Apr 18 '15 at 17:30
add a comment |
I am using Lubuntu 14.04
I have two sticks of 4 GB RAM, they work fine under Windows. But when I open the LXTask it says I have 7868 MB when it should show 8192 MB.
Using no integrated graphics (Radeon R9 270X). The Athlon X4 760K does not feature them at all.
free -m
output:
david@lubuntu:~$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 7868 7118 750 11 36 2008
-/+ buffers/cache: 5073 2795
Swap: 8135 0 8135
UPDATE
The -h
output still reports less than 8GB:
david@lubuntu:~$ free -h
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 7.7G 7.1G 632M 11M 38M 2.0G
-/+ buffers/cache: 5.1G 2.6G
Swap: 7.9G 0B 7.9G
lubuntu ram
I am using Lubuntu 14.04
I have two sticks of 4 GB RAM, they work fine under Windows. But when I open the LXTask it says I have 7868 MB when it should show 8192 MB.
Using no integrated graphics (Radeon R9 270X). The Athlon X4 760K does not feature them at all.
free -m
output:
david@lubuntu:~$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 7868 7118 750 11 36 2008
-/+ buffers/cache: 5073 2795
Swap: 8135 0 8135
UPDATE
The -h
output still reports less than 8GB:
david@lubuntu:~$ free -h
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 7.7G 7.1G 632M 11M 38M 2.0G
-/+ buffers/cache: 5.1G 2.6G
Swap: 7.9G 0B 7.9G
lubuntu ram
lubuntu ram
edited Feb 22 at 8:35
Zanna
51.1k13138242
51.1k13138242
asked Apr 6 '15 at 14:22
David Vela GordilloDavid Vela Gordillo
1114
1114
No, it sports a HD 7870 and the cpu is Athlon X4 760K
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:26
1
Please edit your question to add the new information from your comment and please also add the output oflsb_release -a
– Elder Geek
Apr 6 '15 at 14:34
Check/proc/meminfo
file withcat /proc/meminfo
. You should have lineMemTotal
which reports physical ram Source. Also, as ElderGeek has noted, there's always some ram reserved by the system for peripherals (keyboard, display) and such
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
Apr 18 '15 at 17:30
add a comment |
No, it sports a HD 7870 and the cpu is Athlon X4 760K
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:26
1
Please edit your question to add the new information from your comment and please also add the output oflsb_release -a
– Elder Geek
Apr 6 '15 at 14:34
Check/proc/meminfo
file withcat /proc/meminfo
. You should have lineMemTotal
which reports physical ram Source. Also, as ElderGeek has noted, there's always some ram reserved by the system for peripherals (keyboard, display) and such
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
Apr 18 '15 at 17:30
No, it sports a HD 7870 and the cpu is Athlon X4 760K
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:26
No, it sports a HD 7870 and the cpu is Athlon X4 760K
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:26
1
1
Please edit your question to add the new information from your comment and please also add the output of
lsb_release -a
– Elder Geek
Apr 6 '15 at 14:34
Please edit your question to add the new information from your comment and please also add the output of
lsb_release -a
– Elder Geek
Apr 6 '15 at 14:34
Check
/proc/meminfo
file with cat /proc/meminfo
. You should have line MemTotal
which reports physical ram Source. Also, as ElderGeek has noted, there's always some ram reserved by the system for peripherals (keyboard, display) and such– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
Apr 18 '15 at 17:30
Check
/proc/meminfo
file with cat /proc/meminfo
. You should have line MemTotal
which reports physical ram Source. Also, as ElderGeek has noted, there's always some ram reserved by the system for peripherals (keyboard, display) and such– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
Apr 18 '15 at 17:30
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
This is because Windows and Linux have different understandings of how many bytes there are in one kilobyte, as this article explains.
For example
In Windows
Windows assumes that there are 1024 Bytes in a Kilobyte unit, and 1024 Kilobytes in a Megabyte unit etc.
In Ubuntu (GNU/Linux) …
Ubuntu assumes, a 1000 bytes constitute a Kilobyte (KB) unit, 1000 Kilobytes for a Megabyte (MB) and so on.
This ‘confusion’ came into existence in the old days, due to various computer storage hardware devices, such as ‘RAM’ and ‘ROM’ using 1024 as the ‘unit prefix’ (for technical reasons) when converting between units (except for ‘bytes’).
But most other storage devices such as HDDs and Flash drives, using 1000 as the base ‘unit prefix’, while calculating the sizes. So there arose a bit of a confusion among the experts, which to use while displaying file sizes in different units.
For a better explanation, read the Wikipedia entry on binary prefix
The computer industry currently uses terms such as kilobyte, megabyte, and gigabyte, and corresponding symbols KB, MB, and GB, in two different ways. In citations of main memory or RAM capacity, gigabyte customarily means 1073741824 bytes. This is a power of 1024
(specifically 10243), and 1024 is a power of 2 (specifically 210), therefore this usage is referred to as a binary prefix.
In most other contexts, the industry uses kilo, mega, giga, etc., in a manner consistent with their meaning in the International System of Units (SI): as powers of 1000. For example, a 500 gigabyte hard drive holds 500000000000 bytes, and a 100 megabit per second Ethernet connection transfers data at 100000000 bit/s. In contrast with “binary prefix”, this usage is referred to as a “decimal prefix“, as 1000 is a power of 10. So later, to avoid confusions, the IEC and NIST standardized them, and changed the symbols...
In usage, products and concepts typically described using powers of 1024 would continue to be, but with the new IEC prefixes.
For example, a memory module of 536870912 bytes (512×1048576) would be referred to as 512 MiB or 512 mebibytes instead of 512 MB or 512 megabytes. Conversely, since hard drives have historically been marketed using the SI convention that “giga” means 1000000000, a “500 GB” hard drive would still be labelled as such.
According to these recommendations, operating systems and other software would also use binary and SI prefixes in the same way, so the purchaser of a “500 GB” hard drive would find the operating system reporting either “500 GB” or “466 GiB“, while 536870912 bytes of RAM would be displayed as “512 MiB”.
In simple terms, if an operating system uses the term ‘megabyte’ (MB), then it should use the 1000 bytes per kilobyte (KB), 1000 kilobytes to a megabyte (‘MB‘) etc perceptual value (‘decimal prefix), while converting between the units.
If it uses the value 1024 (‘binary prefix’), then it should address them as ‘kibibytes’ (KiB), ‘mebibytes (MiB) etc.
So in that sense, it does not matter whether the OS uses the ‘binary prefix’ or the ‘decimal prefix’, what’s important is that it uses the correct symbols to display them.
It is apparent that Windows is using the ‘binary prefix’, as if you take the first image, then you will see that it lists the size as ‘710,934,528 bytes’. Now take a calculator and divide it by ‘1024’, which should give you its size in ‘kibibytes’. Then re-divide it again and it will give you the value 678, which is in ‘mebibytes (MiB).
Now do the same, using the second image that was taken in Ubuntu. But this time, use the value 1000 instead of 1024, and you will get the output in megabytes (MB), 710.9.
I honestly do not know about ‘IEC’ and ‘NIST’ laws and how they are applied, but Windows, since it uses the ‘binary prefix’, should be using symbols KiB, MiB, GiB etc rather than using KB, MB, GB etc, and therefore seems like in a direct violation as well (the paper only says ‘would’ though).
Now it makes more sense. Thanks for the info.
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:43
No problems, mate. If you find this answer useful you can accept it.
– shaddy
Apr 6 '15 at 14:52
this explanation no longer works when 32Gb RAM installed are reported as only 11.8Gb askubuntu.com/q/1112955/524458
– el-teedee
Jan 27 at 14:04
add a comment |
While the description about KiB/KB and so on in shaddy's answer is correct, it's not correct that the difference is between Linux and Windows, it's only about presentation in particular programs. In particular, free
shows results in KiB, which is easy to check on the man
page:
Show all output fields automatically scaled to shortest three digits and
display the units of print out. The following units are used:
B = bytes
K = kibibyte
M = mebibyte
G = gibibyte
T = tebibyte
P = pebibyte
The general rule of thumb is usually rather: HDDs: multiplier is 1000, RAM: multiplier is 1024. But best check in docs of the tools you are using.
And to the actual question: As you clarified that you have integrated graphics the correct answer is most likely that some memory is simply reserved for it.
add a comment |
To see RAM in terms that your used to open a terminal and issue the command free -h
- I have 2GB of ram in this system and my output is as follows for free -m (which returns results in "megabytes":
$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2005 1816 189 259 161 935
-/+ buffers/cache: 719 1285
Swap: 973 34 939
free -h
returns (in human readable form):
$ free -h
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2.0G 1.8G 151M 253M 166M 931M
-/+ buffers/cache: 756M 1.2G
Swap: 973M 34M 939M
You may find this formatting more to your liking!
Another reason why your system may report less RAM than installed is RAM reserved by the system for specific purposes, Sometimes there's a reserved video aperture on one of the BIOS setup pages. You may be able to free some up by reducing that size. There are many variables when you get down to system hardware. Your motherboard manufacturer may be able to shed more light on this for you.
You can get output on the RAM reserved by the system by issuing the command dmesg | grep BIOS | grep reserved
and you may be able to decrease this by modifying settings in the BIOS, but getting it down to zero on a modern system is highly unlikely. You may also find this informative.
Still says less than 8GB: david@lubuntu:~$ free -h total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 7.7G 7.1G 632M 11M 38M 2.0G -/+ buffers/cache: 5.1G 2.6G Swap: 7.9G 0B 7.9G
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:44
add a comment |
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3 Answers
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3 Answers
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This is because Windows and Linux have different understandings of how many bytes there are in one kilobyte, as this article explains.
For example
In Windows
Windows assumes that there are 1024 Bytes in a Kilobyte unit, and 1024 Kilobytes in a Megabyte unit etc.
In Ubuntu (GNU/Linux) …
Ubuntu assumes, a 1000 bytes constitute a Kilobyte (KB) unit, 1000 Kilobytes for a Megabyte (MB) and so on.
This ‘confusion’ came into existence in the old days, due to various computer storage hardware devices, such as ‘RAM’ and ‘ROM’ using 1024 as the ‘unit prefix’ (for technical reasons) when converting between units (except for ‘bytes’).
But most other storage devices such as HDDs and Flash drives, using 1000 as the base ‘unit prefix’, while calculating the sizes. So there arose a bit of a confusion among the experts, which to use while displaying file sizes in different units.
For a better explanation, read the Wikipedia entry on binary prefix
The computer industry currently uses terms such as kilobyte, megabyte, and gigabyte, and corresponding symbols KB, MB, and GB, in two different ways. In citations of main memory or RAM capacity, gigabyte customarily means 1073741824 bytes. This is a power of 1024
(specifically 10243), and 1024 is a power of 2 (specifically 210), therefore this usage is referred to as a binary prefix.
In most other contexts, the industry uses kilo, mega, giga, etc., in a manner consistent with their meaning in the International System of Units (SI): as powers of 1000. For example, a 500 gigabyte hard drive holds 500000000000 bytes, and a 100 megabit per second Ethernet connection transfers data at 100000000 bit/s. In contrast with “binary prefix”, this usage is referred to as a “decimal prefix“, as 1000 is a power of 10. So later, to avoid confusions, the IEC and NIST standardized them, and changed the symbols...
In usage, products and concepts typically described using powers of 1024 would continue to be, but with the new IEC prefixes.
For example, a memory module of 536870912 bytes (512×1048576) would be referred to as 512 MiB or 512 mebibytes instead of 512 MB or 512 megabytes. Conversely, since hard drives have historically been marketed using the SI convention that “giga” means 1000000000, a “500 GB” hard drive would still be labelled as such.
According to these recommendations, operating systems and other software would also use binary and SI prefixes in the same way, so the purchaser of a “500 GB” hard drive would find the operating system reporting either “500 GB” or “466 GiB“, while 536870912 bytes of RAM would be displayed as “512 MiB”.
In simple terms, if an operating system uses the term ‘megabyte’ (MB), then it should use the 1000 bytes per kilobyte (KB), 1000 kilobytes to a megabyte (‘MB‘) etc perceptual value (‘decimal prefix), while converting between the units.
If it uses the value 1024 (‘binary prefix’), then it should address them as ‘kibibytes’ (KiB), ‘mebibytes (MiB) etc.
So in that sense, it does not matter whether the OS uses the ‘binary prefix’ or the ‘decimal prefix’, what’s important is that it uses the correct symbols to display them.
It is apparent that Windows is using the ‘binary prefix’, as if you take the first image, then you will see that it lists the size as ‘710,934,528 bytes’. Now take a calculator and divide it by ‘1024’, which should give you its size in ‘kibibytes’. Then re-divide it again and it will give you the value 678, which is in ‘mebibytes (MiB).
Now do the same, using the second image that was taken in Ubuntu. But this time, use the value 1000 instead of 1024, and you will get the output in megabytes (MB), 710.9.
I honestly do not know about ‘IEC’ and ‘NIST’ laws and how they are applied, but Windows, since it uses the ‘binary prefix’, should be using symbols KiB, MiB, GiB etc rather than using KB, MB, GB etc, and therefore seems like in a direct violation as well (the paper only says ‘would’ though).
Now it makes more sense. Thanks for the info.
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:43
No problems, mate. If you find this answer useful you can accept it.
– shaddy
Apr 6 '15 at 14:52
this explanation no longer works when 32Gb RAM installed are reported as only 11.8Gb askubuntu.com/q/1112955/524458
– el-teedee
Jan 27 at 14:04
add a comment |
This is because Windows and Linux have different understandings of how many bytes there are in one kilobyte, as this article explains.
For example
In Windows
Windows assumes that there are 1024 Bytes in a Kilobyte unit, and 1024 Kilobytes in a Megabyte unit etc.
In Ubuntu (GNU/Linux) …
Ubuntu assumes, a 1000 bytes constitute a Kilobyte (KB) unit, 1000 Kilobytes for a Megabyte (MB) and so on.
This ‘confusion’ came into existence in the old days, due to various computer storage hardware devices, such as ‘RAM’ and ‘ROM’ using 1024 as the ‘unit prefix’ (for technical reasons) when converting between units (except for ‘bytes’).
But most other storage devices such as HDDs and Flash drives, using 1000 as the base ‘unit prefix’, while calculating the sizes. So there arose a bit of a confusion among the experts, which to use while displaying file sizes in different units.
For a better explanation, read the Wikipedia entry on binary prefix
The computer industry currently uses terms such as kilobyte, megabyte, and gigabyte, and corresponding symbols KB, MB, and GB, in two different ways. In citations of main memory or RAM capacity, gigabyte customarily means 1073741824 bytes. This is a power of 1024
(specifically 10243), and 1024 is a power of 2 (specifically 210), therefore this usage is referred to as a binary prefix.
In most other contexts, the industry uses kilo, mega, giga, etc., in a manner consistent with their meaning in the International System of Units (SI): as powers of 1000. For example, a 500 gigabyte hard drive holds 500000000000 bytes, and a 100 megabit per second Ethernet connection transfers data at 100000000 bit/s. In contrast with “binary prefix”, this usage is referred to as a “decimal prefix“, as 1000 is a power of 10. So later, to avoid confusions, the IEC and NIST standardized them, and changed the symbols...
In usage, products and concepts typically described using powers of 1024 would continue to be, but with the new IEC prefixes.
For example, a memory module of 536870912 bytes (512×1048576) would be referred to as 512 MiB or 512 mebibytes instead of 512 MB or 512 megabytes. Conversely, since hard drives have historically been marketed using the SI convention that “giga” means 1000000000, a “500 GB” hard drive would still be labelled as such.
According to these recommendations, operating systems and other software would also use binary and SI prefixes in the same way, so the purchaser of a “500 GB” hard drive would find the operating system reporting either “500 GB” or “466 GiB“, while 536870912 bytes of RAM would be displayed as “512 MiB”.
In simple terms, if an operating system uses the term ‘megabyte’ (MB), then it should use the 1000 bytes per kilobyte (KB), 1000 kilobytes to a megabyte (‘MB‘) etc perceptual value (‘decimal prefix), while converting between the units.
If it uses the value 1024 (‘binary prefix’), then it should address them as ‘kibibytes’ (KiB), ‘mebibytes (MiB) etc.
So in that sense, it does not matter whether the OS uses the ‘binary prefix’ or the ‘decimal prefix’, what’s important is that it uses the correct symbols to display them.
It is apparent that Windows is using the ‘binary prefix’, as if you take the first image, then you will see that it lists the size as ‘710,934,528 bytes’. Now take a calculator and divide it by ‘1024’, which should give you its size in ‘kibibytes’. Then re-divide it again and it will give you the value 678, which is in ‘mebibytes (MiB).
Now do the same, using the second image that was taken in Ubuntu. But this time, use the value 1000 instead of 1024, and you will get the output in megabytes (MB), 710.9.
I honestly do not know about ‘IEC’ and ‘NIST’ laws and how they are applied, but Windows, since it uses the ‘binary prefix’, should be using symbols KiB, MiB, GiB etc rather than using KB, MB, GB etc, and therefore seems like in a direct violation as well (the paper only says ‘would’ though).
Now it makes more sense. Thanks for the info.
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:43
No problems, mate. If you find this answer useful you can accept it.
– shaddy
Apr 6 '15 at 14:52
this explanation no longer works when 32Gb RAM installed are reported as only 11.8Gb askubuntu.com/q/1112955/524458
– el-teedee
Jan 27 at 14:04
add a comment |
This is because Windows and Linux have different understandings of how many bytes there are in one kilobyte, as this article explains.
For example
In Windows
Windows assumes that there are 1024 Bytes in a Kilobyte unit, and 1024 Kilobytes in a Megabyte unit etc.
In Ubuntu (GNU/Linux) …
Ubuntu assumes, a 1000 bytes constitute a Kilobyte (KB) unit, 1000 Kilobytes for a Megabyte (MB) and so on.
This ‘confusion’ came into existence in the old days, due to various computer storage hardware devices, such as ‘RAM’ and ‘ROM’ using 1024 as the ‘unit prefix’ (for technical reasons) when converting between units (except for ‘bytes’).
But most other storage devices such as HDDs and Flash drives, using 1000 as the base ‘unit prefix’, while calculating the sizes. So there arose a bit of a confusion among the experts, which to use while displaying file sizes in different units.
For a better explanation, read the Wikipedia entry on binary prefix
The computer industry currently uses terms such as kilobyte, megabyte, and gigabyte, and corresponding symbols KB, MB, and GB, in two different ways. In citations of main memory or RAM capacity, gigabyte customarily means 1073741824 bytes. This is a power of 1024
(specifically 10243), and 1024 is a power of 2 (specifically 210), therefore this usage is referred to as a binary prefix.
In most other contexts, the industry uses kilo, mega, giga, etc., in a manner consistent with their meaning in the International System of Units (SI): as powers of 1000. For example, a 500 gigabyte hard drive holds 500000000000 bytes, and a 100 megabit per second Ethernet connection transfers data at 100000000 bit/s. In contrast with “binary prefix”, this usage is referred to as a “decimal prefix“, as 1000 is a power of 10. So later, to avoid confusions, the IEC and NIST standardized them, and changed the symbols...
In usage, products and concepts typically described using powers of 1024 would continue to be, but with the new IEC prefixes.
For example, a memory module of 536870912 bytes (512×1048576) would be referred to as 512 MiB or 512 mebibytes instead of 512 MB or 512 megabytes. Conversely, since hard drives have historically been marketed using the SI convention that “giga” means 1000000000, a “500 GB” hard drive would still be labelled as such.
According to these recommendations, operating systems and other software would also use binary and SI prefixes in the same way, so the purchaser of a “500 GB” hard drive would find the operating system reporting either “500 GB” or “466 GiB“, while 536870912 bytes of RAM would be displayed as “512 MiB”.
In simple terms, if an operating system uses the term ‘megabyte’ (MB), then it should use the 1000 bytes per kilobyte (KB), 1000 kilobytes to a megabyte (‘MB‘) etc perceptual value (‘decimal prefix), while converting between the units.
If it uses the value 1024 (‘binary prefix’), then it should address them as ‘kibibytes’ (KiB), ‘mebibytes (MiB) etc.
So in that sense, it does not matter whether the OS uses the ‘binary prefix’ or the ‘decimal prefix’, what’s important is that it uses the correct symbols to display them.
It is apparent that Windows is using the ‘binary prefix’, as if you take the first image, then you will see that it lists the size as ‘710,934,528 bytes’. Now take a calculator and divide it by ‘1024’, which should give you its size in ‘kibibytes’. Then re-divide it again and it will give you the value 678, which is in ‘mebibytes (MiB).
Now do the same, using the second image that was taken in Ubuntu. But this time, use the value 1000 instead of 1024, and you will get the output in megabytes (MB), 710.9.
I honestly do not know about ‘IEC’ and ‘NIST’ laws and how they are applied, but Windows, since it uses the ‘binary prefix’, should be using symbols KiB, MiB, GiB etc rather than using KB, MB, GB etc, and therefore seems like in a direct violation as well (the paper only says ‘would’ though).
This is because Windows and Linux have different understandings of how many bytes there are in one kilobyte, as this article explains.
For example
In Windows
Windows assumes that there are 1024 Bytes in a Kilobyte unit, and 1024 Kilobytes in a Megabyte unit etc.
In Ubuntu (GNU/Linux) …
Ubuntu assumes, a 1000 bytes constitute a Kilobyte (KB) unit, 1000 Kilobytes for a Megabyte (MB) and so on.
This ‘confusion’ came into existence in the old days, due to various computer storage hardware devices, such as ‘RAM’ and ‘ROM’ using 1024 as the ‘unit prefix’ (for technical reasons) when converting between units (except for ‘bytes’).
But most other storage devices such as HDDs and Flash drives, using 1000 as the base ‘unit prefix’, while calculating the sizes. So there arose a bit of a confusion among the experts, which to use while displaying file sizes in different units.
For a better explanation, read the Wikipedia entry on binary prefix
The computer industry currently uses terms such as kilobyte, megabyte, and gigabyte, and corresponding symbols KB, MB, and GB, in two different ways. In citations of main memory or RAM capacity, gigabyte customarily means 1073741824 bytes. This is a power of 1024
(specifically 10243), and 1024 is a power of 2 (specifically 210), therefore this usage is referred to as a binary prefix.
In most other contexts, the industry uses kilo, mega, giga, etc., in a manner consistent with their meaning in the International System of Units (SI): as powers of 1000. For example, a 500 gigabyte hard drive holds 500000000000 bytes, and a 100 megabit per second Ethernet connection transfers data at 100000000 bit/s. In contrast with “binary prefix”, this usage is referred to as a “decimal prefix“, as 1000 is a power of 10. So later, to avoid confusions, the IEC and NIST standardized them, and changed the symbols...
In usage, products and concepts typically described using powers of 1024 would continue to be, but with the new IEC prefixes.
For example, a memory module of 536870912 bytes (512×1048576) would be referred to as 512 MiB or 512 mebibytes instead of 512 MB or 512 megabytes. Conversely, since hard drives have historically been marketed using the SI convention that “giga” means 1000000000, a “500 GB” hard drive would still be labelled as such.
According to these recommendations, operating systems and other software would also use binary and SI prefixes in the same way, so the purchaser of a “500 GB” hard drive would find the operating system reporting either “500 GB” or “466 GiB“, while 536870912 bytes of RAM would be displayed as “512 MiB”.
In simple terms, if an operating system uses the term ‘megabyte’ (MB), then it should use the 1000 bytes per kilobyte (KB), 1000 kilobytes to a megabyte (‘MB‘) etc perceptual value (‘decimal prefix), while converting between the units.
If it uses the value 1024 (‘binary prefix’), then it should address them as ‘kibibytes’ (KiB), ‘mebibytes (MiB) etc.
So in that sense, it does not matter whether the OS uses the ‘binary prefix’ or the ‘decimal prefix’, what’s important is that it uses the correct symbols to display them.
It is apparent that Windows is using the ‘binary prefix’, as if you take the first image, then you will see that it lists the size as ‘710,934,528 bytes’. Now take a calculator and divide it by ‘1024’, which should give you its size in ‘kibibytes’. Then re-divide it again and it will give you the value 678, which is in ‘mebibytes (MiB).
Now do the same, using the second image that was taken in Ubuntu. But this time, use the value 1000 instead of 1024, and you will get the output in megabytes (MB), 710.9.
I honestly do not know about ‘IEC’ and ‘NIST’ laws and how they are applied, but Windows, since it uses the ‘binary prefix’, should be using symbols KiB, MiB, GiB etc rather than using KB, MB, GB etc, and therefore seems like in a direct violation as well (the paper only says ‘would’ though).
edited Feb 22 at 8:33
Zanna
51.1k13138242
51.1k13138242
answered Apr 6 '15 at 14:33
shaddyshaddy
1,162715
1,162715
Now it makes more sense. Thanks for the info.
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:43
No problems, mate. If you find this answer useful you can accept it.
– shaddy
Apr 6 '15 at 14:52
this explanation no longer works when 32Gb RAM installed are reported as only 11.8Gb askubuntu.com/q/1112955/524458
– el-teedee
Jan 27 at 14:04
add a comment |
Now it makes more sense. Thanks for the info.
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:43
No problems, mate. If you find this answer useful you can accept it.
– shaddy
Apr 6 '15 at 14:52
this explanation no longer works when 32Gb RAM installed are reported as only 11.8Gb askubuntu.com/q/1112955/524458
– el-teedee
Jan 27 at 14:04
Now it makes more sense. Thanks for the info.
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:43
Now it makes more sense. Thanks for the info.
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:43
No problems, mate. If you find this answer useful you can accept it.
– shaddy
Apr 6 '15 at 14:52
No problems, mate. If you find this answer useful you can accept it.
– shaddy
Apr 6 '15 at 14:52
this explanation no longer works when 32Gb RAM installed are reported as only 11.8Gb askubuntu.com/q/1112955/524458
– el-teedee
Jan 27 at 14:04
this explanation no longer works when 32Gb RAM installed are reported as only 11.8Gb askubuntu.com/q/1112955/524458
– el-teedee
Jan 27 at 14:04
add a comment |
While the description about KiB/KB and so on in shaddy's answer is correct, it's not correct that the difference is between Linux and Windows, it's only about presentation in particular programs. In particular, free
shows results in KiB, which is easy to check on the man
page:
Show all output fields automatically scaled to shortest three digits and
display the units of print out. The following units are used:
B = bytes
K = kibibyte
M = mebibyte
G = gibibyte
T = tebibyte
P = pebibyte
The general rule of thumb is usually rather: HDDs: multiplier is 1000, RAM: multiplier is 1024. But best check in docs of the tools you are using.
And to the actual question: As you clarified that you have integrated graphics the correct answer is most likely that some memory is simply reserved for it.
add a comment |
While the description about KiB/KB and so on in shaddy's answer is correct, it's not correct that the difference is between Linux and Windows, it's only about presentation in particular programs. In particular, free
shows results in KiB, which is easy to check on the man
page:
Show all output fields automatically scaled to shortest three digits and
display the units of print out. The following units are used:
B = bytes
K = kibibyte
M = mebibyte
G = gibibyte
T = tebibyte
P = pebibyte
The general rule of thumb is usually rather: HDDs: multiplier is 1000, RAM: multiplier is 1024. But best check in docs of the tools you are using.
And to the actual question: As you clarified that you have integrated graphics the correct answer is most likely that some memory is simply reserved for it.
add a comment |
While the description about KiB/KB and so on in shaddy's answer is correct, it's not correct that the difference is between Linux and Windows, it's only about presentation in particular programs. In particular, free
shows results in KiB, which is easy to check on the man
page:
Show all output fields automatically scaled to shortest three digits and
display the units of print out. The following units are used:
B = bytes
K = kibibyte
M = mebibyte
G = gibibyte
T = tebibyte
P = pebibyte
The general rule of thumb is usually rather: HDDs: multiplier is 1000, RAM: multiplier is 1024. But best check in docs of the tools you are using.
And to the actual question: As you clarified that you have integrated graphics the correct answer is most likely that some memory is simply reserved for it.
While the description about KiB/KB and so on in shaddy's answer is correct, it's not correct that the difference is between Linux and Windows, it's only about presentation in particular programs. In particular, free
shows results in KiB, which is easy to check on the man
page:
Show all output fields automatically scaled to shortest three digits and
display the units of print out. The following units are used:
B = bytes
K = kibibyte
M = mebibyte
G = gibibyte
T = tebibyte
P = pebibyte
The general rule of thumb is usually rather: HDDs: multiplier is 1000, RAM: multiplier is 1024. But best check in docs of the tools you are using.
And to the actual question: As you clarified that you have integrated graphics the correct answer is most likely that some memory is simply reserved for it.
edited Feb 22 at 8:25
Zanna
51.1k13138242
51.1k13138242
answered Feb 22 at 8:14
Michal SylwesterMichal Sylwester
112
112
add a comment |
add a comment |
To see RAM in terms that your used to open a terminal and issue the command free -h
- I have 2GB of ram in this system and my output is as follows for free -m (which returns results in "megabytes":
$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2005 1816 189 259 161 935
-/+ buffers/cache: 719 1285
Swap: 973 34 939
free -h
returns (in human readable form):
$ free -h
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2.0G 1.8G 151M 253M 166M 931M
-/+ buffers/cache: 756M 1.2G
Swap: 973M 34M 939M
You may find this formatting more to your liking!
Another reason why your system may report less RAM than installed is RAM reserved by the system for specific purposes, Sometimes there's a reserved video aperture on one of the BIOS setup pages. You may be able to free some up by reducing that size. There are many variables when you get down to system hardware. Your motherboard manufacturer may be able to shed more light on this for you.
You can get output on the RAM reserved by the system by issuing the command dmesg | grep BIOS | grep reserved
and you may be able to decrease this by modifying settings in the BIOS, but getting it down to zero on a modern system is highly unlikely. You may also find this informative.
Still says less than 8GB: david@lubuntu:~$ free -h total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 7.7G 7.1G 632M 11M 38M 2.0G -/+ buffers/cache: 5.1G 2.6G Swap: 7.9G 0B 7.9G
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:44
add a comment |
To see RAM in terms that your used to open a terminal and issue the command free -h
- I have 2GB of ram in this system and my output is as follows for free -m (which returns results in "megabytes":
$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2005 1816 189 259 161 935
-/+ buffers/cache: 719 1285
Swap: 973 34 939
free -h
returns (in human readable form):
$ free -h
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2.0G 1.8G 151M 253M 166M 931M
-/+ buffers/cache: 756M 1.2G
Swap: 973M 34M 939M
You may find this formatting more to your liking!
Another reason why your system may report less RAM than installed is RAM reserved by the system for specific purposes, Sometimes there's a reserved video aperture on one of the BIOS setup pages. You may be able to free some up by reducing that size. There are many variables when you get down to system hardware. Your motherboard manufacturer may be able to shed more light on this for you.
You can get output on the RAM reserved by the system by issuing the command dmesg | grep BIOS | grep reserved
and you may be able to decrease this by modifying settings in the BIOS, but getting it down to zero on a modern system is highly unlikely. You may also find this informative.
Still says less than 8GB: david@lubuntu:~$ free -h total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 7.7G 7.1G 632M 11M 38M 2.0G -/+ buffers/cache: 5.1G 2.6G Swap: 7.9G 0B 7.9G
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:44
add a comment |
To see RAM in terms that your used to open a terminal and issue the command free -h
- I have 2GB of ram in this system and my output is as follows for free -m (which returns results in "megabytes":
$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2005 1816 189 259 161 935
-/+ buffers/cache: 719 1285
Swap: 973 34 939
free -h
returns (in human readable form):
$ free -h
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2.0G 1.8G 151M 253M 166M 931M
-/+ buffers/cache: 756M 1.2G
Swap: 973M 34M 939M
You may find this formatting more to your liking!
Another reason why your system may report less RAM than installed is RAM reserved by the system for specific purposes, Sometimes there's a reserved video aperture on one of the BIOS setup pages. You may be able to free some up by reducing that size. There are many variables when you get down to system hardware. Your motherboard manufacturer may be able to shed more light on this for you.
You can get output on the RAM reserved by the system by issuing the command dmesg | grep BIOS | grep reserved
and you may be able to decrease this by modifying settings in the BIOS, but getting it down to zero on a modern system is highly unlikely. You may also find this informative.
To see RAM in terms that your used to open a terminal and issue the command free -h
- I have 2GB of ram in this system and my output is as follows for free -m (which returns results in "megabytes":
$ free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2005 1816 189 259 161 935
-/+ buffers/cache: 719 1285
Swap: 973 34 939
free -h
returns (in human readable form):
$ free -h
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2.0G 1.8G 151M 253M 166M 931M
-/+ buffers/cache: 756M 1.2G
Swap: 973M 34M 939M
You may find this formatting more to your liking!
Another reason why your system may report less RAM than installed is RAM reserved by the system for specific purposes, Sometimes there's a reserved video aperture on one of the BIOS setup pages. You may be able to free some up by reducing that size. There are many variables when you get down to system hardware. Your motherboard manufacturer may be able to shed more light on this for you.
You can get output on the RAM reserved by the system by issuing the command dmesg | grep BIOS | grep reserved
and you may be able to decrease this by modifying settings in the BIOS, but getting it down to zero on a modern system is highly unlikely. You may also find this informative.
edited Feb 22 at 8:34
Zanna
51.1k13138242
51.1k13138242
answered Apr 6 '15 at 14:42
Elder GeekElder Geek
27.4k955128
27.4k955128
Still says less than 8GB: david@lubuntu:~$ free -h total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 7.7G 7.1G 632M 11M 38M 2.0G -/+ buffers/cache: 5.1G 2.6G Swap: 7.9G 0B 7.9G
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:44
add a comment |
Still says less than 8GB: david@lubuntu:~$ free -h total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 7.7G 7.1G 632M 11M 38M 2.0G -/+ buffers/cache: 5.1G 2.6G Swap: 7.9G 0B 7.9G
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:44
Still says less than 8GB: david@lubuntu:~$ free -h total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 7.7G 7.1G 632M 11M 38M 2.0G -/+ buffers/cache: 5.1G 2.6G Swap: 7.9G 0B 7.9G
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:44
Still says less than 8GB: david@lubuntu:~$ free -h total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 7.7G 7.1G 632M 11M 38M 2.0G -/+ buffers/cache: 5.1G 2.6G Swap: 7.9G 0B 7.9G
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:44
add a comment |
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No, it sports a HD 7870 and the cpu is Athlon X4 760K
– David Vela Gordillo
Apr 6 '15 at 14:26
1
Please edit your question to add the new information from your comment and please also add the output of
lsb_release -a
– Elder Geek
Apr 6 '15 at 14:34
Check
/proc/meminfo
file withcat /proc/meminfo
. You should have lineMemTotal
which reports physical ram Source. Also, as ElderGeek has noted, there's always some ram reserved by the system for peripherals (keyboard, display) and such– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
Apr 18 '15 at 17:30