I guess you need to make a list of apps that are important to you and check if there are 64-bit versions ( http://en.opensuse.org/Package_Repositories , e.g. http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/10.2/repo/oss/suse/x86_64/ and perhaps http://en.opensuse.org/Additional_YaST_Package_Repositories ) . I'd guess if there are 32-bit versions, with a few exceptions such as OpenOffice.org and Macromedia flash (fixes are under development for both of these, AIUI), there are 64-bit versions. And on a 64-bit processor you will get better performace running 64-bit OS, but slightly degraded performance for 32-bit apps as I understand it. But you shouldn't have to run many of those. Have a look at this thread: http://lists4.opensuse.org/opensuse/2006-05/msg03890.html That's for 10.1. I a lot of stuff has changed in 10.2, so I'm not sure how many of the problems still apply.
More notes on desktop-type usage (for 64-bit in general) here: http://enterprise.linux.com/comments.pl?sid=37280&op=&threshold=0&commentsort=0&mode=thread&tid=23&tid=7&cid=91053

Russell Jones

oswin dcunah wrote:

New to Suse Linux,
Should I install 32 bit or 64 bit version.
PLEASE ADVICE

I have AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+ Socket 754
         Asrock K8NF4G-SATA2
         Nvidia 6600LE 256MB PCI-E
          512X2(1GB) Ram
          80GB sata hdd

are all apps supported under 64 bit like beryl project etc.
Also what is the maximum space required to install linux
Is 20 GB enough for full installation(programming ,server) and add on apps.

-oswin

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