64 Or 32

Hello, I have just got a compaq laptop for christmas and I cant decide on which version of opensuse to install. Here are my system specs: AMD Turrion 64 X2 256KB+256KB L2 Cache (1.6 Ghz)
100 GB (5400RPM) Hard Drive
512MB DDR2 SDRAM
nVidia GeForce Go 6150

I have heard that 64-bit operating systems use 2x more ram than 32-bit operating systems. Is it worth installing 64-bit suse over 32-bit. Thanks

I have heard that 64-bit operating systems use 2x more ram than 32-bit operating systems.
[/b]

Nope.

the only advantage a 64bit os has over a 32 bit is it can access more memory so unless u have more than 2gb of mem there is no advantage going to 64bit os,not to mention almost all apps are 32bit.

i am running 64bit myself and it can be a pain to get 32 bit apps to compile under 64bit.i still haven't been able to compile wine with the 64bit 10.2.

You don't need to compile Wine. There are plenty of SuSE RPMs available, even daily snapshots.

Eric

Edit: OK, I was a bit hasty. The RPMs are 32-bit, but they work fine in a 64-bit OS.

the only advantage a 64bit os has over a 32 bit is it can access more memory so unless u have more than 2gb of mem there is no advantage going to 64bit os,not to mention almost all apps are 32bit.
[/b]

I disagree with all that statement!

x86-64 is 20% faster
accessing more memory is a function of the kernel you run
I can find most every 32-bit app in a x86-64 rpm.
-- the only reason say for running Firefox in 32-bit mode is that some of the proprietary 64-bit multimedia code has not been released yet. Yes, there is a 64-bit Firefox.

If you want to compile wine in x86-64, go into the make file and change all the 32-bit lib calls/paths to lib64 using the correct path for the SuSE file system.

The only reason to run wine is to run windows apps in Linux. Being there are so few windows 64-bit apps, why bother?

I recommend 64-bit, you will get to it later anyway. You might as well start now...

It is true that when you run 64-bit it will be faster because the processor can push more data through its threads.

xboxrulz

thanks for the help guys, I am going to get the 64-bit edition

Ok, quick question that's kind of related to this topic:

I had issues with SuSE 10.0 x86-64 multimedia support. Certain packages were only available in 32-bit and wouldn't work properly on my 64-bit box. With 10.1 I went with the 32-bit edition in order to avoid unnecessary headaches.
With the release of 10.2 is multimedia support enhanced? Should I install 10.2 64 or 32 bit? I need full multimedia support to be pleased with a distro... I'm downloading both as we speak and I'm still up in the air about which to actually install...

Thanks!

Since I only dabble in Multimedia (For the Learning value mostly) my comments may not apply. Running the 64bit OS under 10.0 I was able to run practically everything. It does take a bit more effort and you have to be careful about mixing 32bit and 64bit. Oldcpu's advice has been invaluable when it comes to much of this.

But if you are frustrated easily then stick with the 32bit OS. One other thing, make sure if running 64bit to only use the 32bit rpm for Firefox. Other than Multimedia the 64bit SUSE works great.

Hello, I have just got a compaq laptop for christmas and I cant decide on which version of opensuse to install. Here are my system specs: AMD Turrion 64 X2 256KB+256KB L2 Cache (1.6 Ghz)
100 GB (5400RPM) Hard Drive
512MB DDR2 SDRAM
nVidia GeForce Go 6150

I have heard that 64-bit operating systems use 2x more ram than 32-bit operating systems. Is it worth installing 64-bit suse over 32-bit. Thanks
[/b]

First off, a 64 bit OS/program doesn't take up twice the memory but there is an increase in memory usage. Let me explain.

A program compiled under a 32 bit OS will use 32 (4 byte) integers and 32 bit pointers. The same program compiled for a 64 bit OS will use 64 bit (usually) integers and 64 bit pointers. These are the two main reasons 64 bit programs have higher memory requirements. There is also an increase in the size of some instruction operands (like arguments to instructions) in 64 bit mode.

But this does not add up to anywhere near a 100% (2x) increase in memory usage. More like 5-30% depending on the application I'd say.

There *is* an advantage to using x86-64 vs. i386 though. x86-64 programs will run faster (like a previous poster stated up to 20% faster) because of architectural improvements over x86 like:

-16 general purpose registers vs. 8 for i386
-default to use SSE2 floating point math vs. default to i387 fp on i386 (big big difference on heavy fp code)
-16 SSE2 registers vs. 0 or 8 on i386
-fast system calls vs. slower legacy system call interface on i386

Unless you have a good reason to, use x86-64 on an Athlon64 CPU. You can even run 32 bit programs on it if you have to (i.e. there is no 64 bit port of an application.)