On 06/02/10 09:28, Phil Thompson wrote: > I'm assembling various spare parts into a working machine or two and > contemplating what version of what OS to install. Leaving distro wars to > one side, what do people think are the merits of using 64 bit rather > than 32 bit versions ? >
I would definitely say to you (Phil) go 64-bit. I've been running 64-bit for a few years now on my home PC (since Ubuntu 7.10 I think?) and there were little odd issues initially but they rarely crop up now, particularly now that there are native 64-bit flash binaries. I really can't recall having any 64-bit issue since installing the flash binaries, and even before that installing the 32-bit binaries on the 64-bit install wasn't a big problem. That said, Mozilla do not release 64-bit binaries so you need to use either the distro binaries or third party builds of Firefox (neither of which I would imagine are a problem for anyone unless you want to bleeding-edge but at the same time only want to use "official" builds, which would be an odd state to be in!) There are probably other situations that might need a workaround but I think you'd be the kind of person to work around them (or at least report the bugs), and that will help to move 64-bit on. There are *far* fewer issues in 64-bit Linux than there are in 64-bit Windows. There are several reasons for this: most applications are based on open source which anyone can rebuild for 64-bit (in windows you're stuck with 32-bit binaries unless the software developer rebuilds); drivers tend to be ported with the kernel rather than waiting for hardware manufacturers to do it; 64-bit Linux has been widespread for longer (particularly in server builds where 4GB memory is a limitation) so issues have already been dealt with. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG _______________________________________________ Peterboro mailing list Peterboro@mailman.lug.org.uk https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/peterboro
