[GRLUG] 64 bit Linux and CPUs

[Erik Southworth]

On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 10:08 PM, Adam Tauno Williams <
adamtaunowilliams at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yes, you can dual-boot 64bit and 32bit OSs.  No problem.
>
>
> > If the hardware is x86_64 then I would stick with a matching OS.
> > x86 has jumped the shark.
>
> What does this statement even mean?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Hein


>  x86 is the computing platform for
> the vast majority of users on the planet.  Every package is available in
> x86 (and may nor may not be available for others, very frequently no).
> x86_64 is not a guaranteed performance improvement and can even be
> slower for many applications; while it provides a larger address space,
> more registers and some improved op-codes it also increased memory
> requirements and basically doubles the required throughput to perform a
> given operation.


If someone wants to run 32bit on a 64bit platform, that's fine. Blessed.

It is a complete waste of time on the desktop unless
> you are using some specialize application that works with a huge data
> set (certainly not spreadsheets, e-mail, browsing, or word processing).


If someone wants to buy a multicore machine and turn off the extra cores,
that's fine. Halo.

>
> > Most distros are releasing x86 versions to keep the
> > older hardware viable.
>
> And will for a very long time into the future.


The software follows the hardware. The desktop product manufacturers have
clearly
gone 64bit and as a commodity it's cheaper to get the stuff that's plentiful
and 64bit
platforms are cheaper as a whole. Even the online liquidators have little
32bit stuff
and have been selling overstock/outdated 64bit platforms for a couple years
now.
Right now the move is to multicore  systems everywhere and in everything.

>
>
> > Right now every software package has to be built for both arch.
>
> Or they just build for x86 since that serves 98% of the user base.


If you still use a Pentium platform then you have to embrace something like
Puppy Linux
or Damn Small because i386 have been abandoned by the big distros. Most
require
an i586 or better an most cell phones have more proc anyway.

>
>
> > You can build x86 and x86_64 packages with a 64bit system, but using
> > just x86 would limit that ability.
> > I use http://www.foresightlinux.org/
>
>
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It's really just a matter of timing, production, economies of scale,
pricing, availability and whatnot.
We might as well be talking about the move from 16bit to 32bit.
It's not a religion. Some people have moved on to x86_64 others have not.

If someone wants to buy a C128 for sale it's got 8bits at it's finest. It
comes with
a 128k version of GEOS and even if you run in 64k mode you still get to go
to heaven. Wings.
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