Lesson plan
PSE-36
In computing, PSE-36 (36-bit Page Size Extension) refers to a feature of x86 processors that extends the physical memory addressing capabilities from 32 bits to 36 bits, allowing addressing to up to 64 GB of memory. Compared to the Physical Address Extension (PAE) method, PSE-36 is a simpler alternative to addressing more than 4 GB of memory. It uses the Page Size Extension (PSE) mode and a modified page directory table to map 4 MB pages into a 64 GB physical address space. PSE-36's downside is that, unlike PAE, it doesn't have 4-KB page granularity above the 4 GB mark. PSE-36 was introduced into the x86 architecture with the Pentium II Xeon and was initially advertised as part of the "Intel Extended Server Memory Architecture" (sometimes abbreviated ESMA ), a branding which also included the slightly older PAE (and thus the Pentium Pro, which only supported PAE, was advertised as having only "subset support" for ESMA). The heyday of PSE-36 was relatively brief. PSE-36's main advantage was that, unlike PAE, it required little rework of the operating system's internals, and thus PSE-36 proved a suitable stopgap measure around the Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition timeframe. Newer Microsoft operating systems, including Windows 2000, support only PAE. Some operating systems like Linux skipped PSE-36 entirely.…
Article summary
In computing, PSE-36 (36-bit Page Size Extension) refers to a feature of x86 processors that extends the physical memory addressing capabilities from 32 bits to 36 bits, allowing addressing to up to 64 GB of memory. Compared to the Physical Address Extension (PAE) method, PSE-36 is a simpler alternative to addressing more than 4 GB of memory. It uses the Page Size Extension (PSE) mode and a modified page directory table to map 4 MB pages into a 64 GB physical address space. PSE-36's downside is that, unlike PAE, it doesn't have 4-KB page granularity above the 4 GB mark. PSE-36 was introduced into the x86 architecture with the Pentium II Xeon and was initially advertised as part of the "Intel Extended Server Memory Architecture" (sometimes abbreviated ESMA ), a branding which also included the slightly older PAE (and thus the Pentium Pro, which only supported PAE, was advertised as having only "subset support" for ESMA). The heyday of PSE-36 was relatively brief. PSE-36's main advantage was that, unlike PAE, it required little rework of the operating system's internals, and thus PSE-36 proved a suitable stopgap measure around the Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition timeframe. Newer Microsoft operating systems, including Windows 2000, support only PAE. Some operating systems like Linux skipped PSE-36 entirely.…
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.