x86 32-bit Operating Systems Aren’t Dead Yet: New Linux Patches Improve 32-bit PAE.
The Linux x86 32-bit PAE kernel support for Physical Address Extensions allows addressing more than 4GB of memory for those still running 32-bit processors or otherwise opting to still run a 32-bit OS. While the Linux x86 32-bit specific code rarely sees new improvements in the past number of years, a set of patches were posted today in looking to enhance the x86 32-bit PAE mode.
Longtime Linux developer Dave Hansen with Intel has posted a set of patches to simplify the PAE page table handling code. For anyone running serious Linux 32-bit systems, outside of any legacy embedded devices chances are you are making relying on the 32-bit PAE kernel for addressing more than 4GB of physical memory. To much surprise this is a nice PAE improvement for the Linux kernel in 2025 for those making use of Page Table Isolation (PTI), which chances are you would be for the default CPU security mitigiations.
