diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7267f07..a08b299 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ The resulting report will appear in result/\<package\>-res.yml
 
 * Log files are captured to the _var_ directory
 * You can run the utilities in libexec by running `PATH="libexec:$PATH"`
-* To start the target VM run `start-target`
+* To start the target VM run `start-target 32 lucid-i386` or `start-target 64 lucid-amd64`
 * To ssh into the target run `on-target` or `on-target -u root`
 * On the target, the _build_ directory contains the code as it is compiled and _install_ contains intermediate libraries
 * By convention, the script in \<package\>-desc.yml starts with any environment setup you would need to manually compile things on the target
diff --git a/bin/gbuild b/bin/gbuild
index b3ef463..b587953 100755
--- a/bin/gbuild
+++ b/bin/gbuild
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ def build_one_configuration(suite, arch, build_desc, reference_datetime)
     system! "cd inputs && copy-to-target #{filename} build/"
   end
 
+  info "Updating apt-get repository (log in var/install.log)"
+  system! "on-target -u root apt-get update > var/install.log 2>&1"
+
   info "Installing additional packages (log in var/install.log)"
   system! "on-target -u root apt-get -y install #{build_desc["packages"].join(" ")} > var/install.log 2>&1"
 
diff --git a/libexec/start-target b/libexec/start-target
index 06e5c63..c91963c 100755
--- a/libexec/start-target
+++ b/libexec/start-target
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 ARCH=qemu$1
 SUFFIX=$2
 
-kvm -cpu $ARCH -m 256 -smp 2 -drive file=target-$SUFFIX.qcow2 -net nic,model=virtio -net user,hostfwd=tcp::$VM_SSH_PORT-:22 -vnc :16 > var/target.log 2>&1 &
+kvm -cpu $ARCH -m 2000 -smp 2 -drive file=target-$SUFFIX.qcow2 -net nic,model=virtio -net user,hostfwd=tcp::$VM_SSH_PORT-:22 -vnc :16 > var/target.log 2>&1 &
 
 echo $! > var/target.pid
 wait