Suse 64-bit Support For Quad Core 8gb System

I'm considering buying a new machine, possibly with an Intel Q6600 quad core processor and 8GB of memory. In terms of desktops, I guess that's still not a common setup, so I'd just like to know how I'm likely to get on with SUSE 10.2. I'm mainly interested in running homebrew Java apps (hence the machine spec), plus the usual web browsing, email, multimedia, etc., and a bit of file serving. I may also want to host a Windows OS (probably XP) from SUSE via VMWare.

I assume I'll need the 64-bit SUSE (there's no way of using 8GB memory with the 32 bit version is there?). Is the quad core support solid?

I hear there are issues with plugins in 64-bit Firefox, but I think I can deal with that. I'm a bit less clear about Java. Is there a stable 64-bit version (JDK and JRE) for SUSE and does anyone know how it handles multiple processors? Ditto VMWare Player? (Yep, I know I can look on the relevant sites to see what's available, but given that 64-bit is fairly new that doesn't tell me if what I download is actually going to work.)

Also, what about 64-bit drivers for (e.g.) graphics cards - which have the best support? Any particular cards, mobos, or other common devices that I need to avoid on a 64-bit SUSE system?

Basically, are there any obvious problems I'm going to hit with this setup?

I'm considering buying a new machine, possibly with an Intel Q6600 quad core processor and 8GB of memory. In terms of desktops, I guess that's still not a common setup, so I'd just like to know how I'm likely to get on with SUSE 10.2. I'm mainly interested in running homebrew Java apps (hence the machine spec), plus the usual web browsing, email, multimedia, etc., and a bit of file serving. I may also want to host a Windows OS (probably XP) from SUSE via VMWare.

I assume I'll need the 64-bit SUSE (there's no way of using 8GB memory with the 32 bit version is there?). Is the quad core support solid?

I hear there are issues with plugins in 64-bit Firefox, but I think I can deal with that. I'm a bit less clear about Java. Is there a stable 64-bit version (JDK and JRE) for SUSE and does anyone know how it handles multiple processors? Ditto VMWare Player? (Yep, I know I can look on the relevant sites to see what's available, but given that 64-bit is fairly new that doesn't tell me if what I download is actually going to work.)

Also, what about 64-bit drivers for (e.g.) graphics cards - which have the best support? Any particular cards, mobos, or other common devices that I need to avoid on a 64-bit SUSE system?

Basically, are there any obvious problems I'm going to hit with this setup?
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64-bit computing is not as new as you may think. That said, you can run a 32-bit system with 8gb memory,but less than 4gb will be recognized. Though I do not have a quad core setup, from all understanding, it is well supported. There is 64-bit java sdk/jdk, and whether or not your application takes advantage of your cores depend on the coding. I run VMware on 64-bit linux. Do a linux compatibility search on the devices before purchases, (very important), and don't invest in ATI graphic cards because they haven't quite figured out what direction they want to head. All in all, driver support is good.

In addition to the previous post note that 10.3 is the latest version

/Geoff

64-bit computing is not as new as you may think. That said, you can run a 32-bit system with 8gb memory,but less than 4gb will be recognized. Though I do not have a quad core setup, from all understanding, it is well supported. There is 64-bit java sdk/jdk, and whether or not your application takes advantage of your cores depend on the coding. I run VMware on 64-bit linux. Do a linux compatibility search on the devices before purchases, (very important), and don't invest in ATI graphic cards because they haven't quite figured out what direction they want to head. All in all, driver support is good.
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Thanks for that lxuser it's re-assured me a bit. I need all the 8GB so it has to be 64-bit (and I'll avoid ATI).

Anyone happen to know if the guest OS on VMWare gets to see multiple cores if VMWare runs on a multi core system?

In addition to the previous post note that 10.3 is the latest version

/Geoff
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That was exactly why I'm considering 10.2. Got bitten that way with 10.1 when it came out!

Anyone happen to know if the guest OS on VMWare gets to see multiple cores if VMWare runs on a multi core system?
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Yes you can choose the number of cores in vmware

/Geoff

as said, you can chose your cores in vmware and. 10.3 has had really really good reviews compared to 10.1, it would be best if you go 10.3 instead of 10.2, I am going 10.3 in a couple weeks.

as said, you can chose your cores in vmware and. 10.3 has had really really good reviews compared to 10.1, it would be best if you go 10.3 instead of 10.2, I am going 10.3 in a couple weeks.
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Thanks, I'll read up on 10.3 then.

Actually, 32 Bit SuSE will use up to 16 GB. It has PAE extensions and will use the bigsmp kernel. So, either 32 Bit or 64 Bit will work OK.

I'm considering buying a new machine, possibly with an Intel Q6600 quad core processor and 8GB of memory. In terms of desktops, I guess that's still not a common setup, so I'd just like to know how I'm likely to get on with SUSE 10.2. I'm mainly interested in running homebrew Java apps (hence the machine spec), plus the usual web browsing, email, multimedia, etc., and a bit of file serving. I may also want to host a Windows OS (probably XP) from SUSE via VMWare.

I assume I'll need the 64-bit SUSE (there's no way of using 8GB memory with the 32 bit version is there?). Is the quad core support solid?

I hear there are issues with plugins in 64-bit Firefox, but I think I can deal with that. I'm a bit less clear about Java. Is there a stable 64-bit version (JDK and JRE) for SUSE and does anyone know how it handles multiple processors? Ditto VMWare Player? (Yep, I know I can look on the relevant sites to see what's available, but given that 64-bit is fairly new that doesn't tell me if what I download is actually going to work.)

Also, what about 64-bit drivers for (e.g.) graphics cards - which have the best support? Any particular cards, mobos, or other common devices that I need to avoid on a 64-bit SUSE system?

Basically, are there any obvious problems I'm going to hit with this setup?
[/b]

I am running a similar setup:
Gigabyte X38-DQ6 MoBo
8G DDR2-800 in 4x2G DIMMs
4x1TB SATA disks
G7600 video card
SuSe 10.3 64bit

So far, OK

Had problems installing (it died several times formating my big file systems...)
But you also have to remember that I setup complex file systems where all
except for the /boot are (some flavor of) RAID, and one is 2.5TB. As a matter
of fact, I had to delete that one, and let the installer run -- and only after it was
done create the FS -- luckily it worked.

This setup is relatively fresh (only a week old) so this is not the final word --
I had FC8 installed for a few weeks and ditched it since I had hanging problems.
I will run VMWare soon, as well as some other apps, so I will add comments as things develop.

At this point, my problem is integrating Java (JRE) and a, any??) browser. I have to look
for instructions, since the Sun site instructions (for say, FireFox) don't really work -- the
lib file they refer to does not exist???? Anyway, this is a different topic... )

...Please keep this thread alive, with success/failure reports about similar setups, i.e. a quad core processor (either Core2Quad or Phenom) on a modern mobo with 8Gb of RAM. This is more-or-less the higher-end set-up option for desktops, using mainstream components at the moment (not server components...). The natural choice is 10.3, 64-bit.
I read some reports of bugs in Phenom...
Any feedback?