On 16/12/09 19:53, Scot P. Floess wrote:
I have a really silly question... but just want to ask...
I have one box on my home network that is x86_64 capable... My other boxes are all i386. As this x86_64 machine can, at most, house 4 GB of RAM (currently only has 1 GB) - is there any advantage to my running x86_64 on that machine instead of i386... Long story as to why I am asking - but before I go off and moveit down to i386 - just wanted some opinions :)
Scot P. Floess 27 Lake Royale Louisburg, NC 27549
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Personally, if you had asked this 3 years ago, I'd have said "Go i686" due to compatibility. But now-a-days with up-to-date distributions there isn't many packages that aren't for x86_64. Heck even flash finally got a x86_64 Linux version now :-D (Took them long enough though!)
Any machine I have that can run in x86_64, I normally install a x86_64 OS, and recently, I haven't found anything I need that is only i686.
And usually, when you *do* need a i686 package it's usually possible to install the i686 versions of the packages (depending on the repo of course) where a command such as:
yum install httpd.i686 (or .i386 again depending on repo)
would come in handy :-) and then you have the i686 version, though there not always stable like that :-|
x86_64 has matured over the years and it's done it well :-)
But then, personally, I'd say, keep the current OS, unless there is actually something that makes you actually need x86_64. As they say "If it ain't broke, Don't fix it".
Though if you build/acquire a new x86_64 box, throw a x86_64 OS on it :-) But still, check make sure they are x86_64 binarys available. or sources that will compile on x86_64. In most cases, it will.
Oh, and there's no such thing as a silly question ;-)