On Thursday 18 August 2005 07:11, Nick wrote:
Hi,
Just wanted to check which branch was the correct one for a Xeon EMT64?
IA64 is itanium - that's out... x86_64 or i386 depends on the intended use of your system. If it is a server and has lots of memory then the 64bit variant is the right for you. If you need something that is easier to use and do not have >2Gb ram, you're better off with i386 in my opinion.
The reason for that is that several applications (i.e. firefox plugins) will have to run 32bit even if you installed the 64bit x86_64 OS since no 64bit versions are available. To achive that, x86_64 contains a complete 32bit runtime environment. This means you need more disk space (i.e. for the 64bit and the 32bit versions of libraries) and you have a better chance of getting something wrong (i.e. the 64bit library of something you need is installed but you would need the 32bit version. A simple rpm -qa will show the package is installed but when running your 32bit app, it will still fail). Yum will take care of most of this, but if you're new to linux and/or do not want to have to deal with these things, a i386 install is just simpler.
Peter.