[plug] What version of CPU and Linux do people use?

[Daniel Foote]

Hello.

> Hi I am wondering what versions of Linux and the CPU architectures people are
> using?
>
> Eg Fedora Core 6 i586 on a core 2 duo.
>
> Do many people use the AMD64 version?

I have two AMD64 machines - one is a single core, the other is a Dual
core. I run 64 Bit Debian on both. (Etch on the dual core as my
fileserver, Sid on the single core as my desktop machine).

> The reason I am asking is that most Linux distributions have now brought out a
> AMD64 (used to be x86_64) version. At first I thought this was only for AMD
> processors but now since Core 2 Duo and a few others it is basically the same.
> People using my on line shop (http://shop.linuxit.com.au) often ask which
> version to get and I am generally telling them to get x86 since it is safer from
> my perpective.

Well... it's getting better. 18 months ago when I got my first AMD64
box things were not quite so nice for 64bit. Nowadays things like the
native 64Bit OpenOffice works nicely (only a recent thing - before
then the 64Bit one crashed very often, almost to being unusable). Most
other software just "works" once it has been compiled for 64bit (which
your distro has done for you, so there really isn't much work in it).

The major issue at the moment seems to be Flash player and 64Bit.
There is no 64bit native flash plugin - only a 32bit one. This means
that to use it, you have to run a 32bit Firefox. In my case, I have a
32bit chroot set up and run Firefox from inside there. I've only set
this up on my single-core desktop machine, and "live without it" on my
dual core server machine.

(See https://alioth.debian.org/docman/view.php/30192/21/debian-amd64-howto.html
for information on how to set up your own 32bit chroot in Debian - the
instructions there are pretty good because it describes how to make it
"mostly painless" to use 32bit programs.)

I've heard reports of other (proprietary) 32bit precompiled software
requiring to be run inside a chroot to get it to run properly. Other
software runs fine directly on the 64bit side, as most 64bit distros
include "32bit compatibility libraries" (ia32-libs for Debian),
allowing many precompiled 32bit binaries to be executed directly. (Eg,
Google earth works very nicely in the pure 64bit environment).

As to wether to recommend it or not... well, you still have to get
your hands a bit dirty with the chroot setup and things. So I suppose
it depends on the tech skill of the user or the person setting it up
for the user.

I hope this helps...

Daniel Foote.