On Thu, Nov 03, 2005 at 07:05:37AM -0800, Matt Stamm wrote:

So what is best, purchase the dvd and install the 64-bit but not have access to the entire suite of Suse packages, or save the money, and stick with the 32-bit version, and have acces to everything on the v10 release.

AIUI... 64-bit support gives you the ability to run processes which take large amounts of memory (probably >4 GB, but I'm not sure where the exact limit is), and also makes processing a bit faster on applications which need to do lots of manipulation on numbers >64 bits. However, the side-effects are that all the 64-bit processes (even the smaller ones) actually require more memory to run. IMHO, unless you need the specific benefits provided by 64-bit, you're better off running 32-bit.

A note, I do not have a need for cutting edge speed. [snip] I'm already in heaven with the 32-bit version on this AMD Sempron.

Comments, opinions, suggestion???

It ain't broke. Don't fix it. -- David Smith Work Email: Dave.Smith@st.com STMicroelectronics Home Email: David.Smith@ds-electronics.co.uk Bristol, England GPG Key: 0xF13192F2

The difference from 64bit and 32bit are in case you want use all the new features of New AMD Architecture like 64bit ALU, 64 FPU, could have more than 4Gbyte of Ram (in the 64bit world you can use and address 8Gbyte of physical Ram). In my opinion the 32 bit version is more suitable for Home / Desktop / Workstation / SOHO use. The 64bit version IS ONLY FOR Server use (like DataCenter, Simulation, and other strange use), if you use linux for "normal" operation like Apache, PHP, MySql, play a video with Mplayer, play a game like Doom3 with Linux Patch, and so on, use the 32bit (NO optimization with the 64 bit version, or in some case is very poor). I use the both version and the load/execution time is very similar. Bye, Davide L. Matt Stamm wrote:

I have a question concerning the 32-bit version of Suse 10 vs the 64-bit version. I just purchased a new PC with an AMD Sempron 64-bit cpu. It has a cd-rom, but no dvd drive. I also purchased the retail version of Suse 10 and noticed the 64-bit version is included, but only on the dvd. I'm wondering if it would be worth the money to buy a dvd drive in order to install the 64 bit version? Would the performance increase be that noticable? I also understand that the 64-bit version does not include everything the 32-bit version contains, based on a recent eWeek article.

The eWeek article stated, and I quote...

"Although the 64-bit version of Suse 10 lacks some of the software packages that are available for the x86, such as those for User Mode Linux, Suse Linux delivers the best AMD64 experience of any OS we've tested so far".

(Way to go Suse! They received the eWeek Labs Analyst's Choice!)

So what is best, purchase the dvd and install the 64-bit but not have access to the entire suite of Suse packages, or save the money, and stick with the 32-bit version, and have acces to everything on the v10 release.

A note, I do not have a need for cutting edge speed. I am upgrading from a Suse 8.1 AMD K6 300mhz system. I'm already in heaven with the 32-bit version on this AMD Sempron.

Comments, opinions, suggestion???

Matt

Matt Stamm wrote:

I have a question concerning the 32-bit version of Suse 10 vs the 64-bit version. I just purchased a new PC with an AMD Sempron 64-bit cpu. It has a cd-rom, but no dvd drive. I also purchased the retail version of Suse 10 and noticed the 64-bit version is included, but only on the dvd. I'm wondering if it would be worth the money to buy a dvd drive in order to install the 64 bit version? Would the performance increase be that noticable? I also understand that the 64-bit version does not include everything the 32-bit version contains, based on a recent eWeek article.

Matt, To see how I did the same thing you're looking at doing (installing on a machine without a DVD drive) see the following article I wrote up on my blog: http://blog.mecworks.com/articles/2005/10/15/upgrade-to-suse-10-installing-f... Good luck! It worked for me... -- Marc Christensen http://blog.mecworks.com