Not much of an expert with computers and completely new with Linux…
I am considering installation of openSUSE 11.3 and I know for a fact that my PC can handle the 64-bit version.
Questions:
Do the 32- and 64-bit versions install with the same kind of software packages?
Does the 64-bit version have more/less/equal available software in the repositories for download?
If I wanted to set up a workgroup with another PC that has Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and Windows XP Pro (both 32-bit) installed, would it matter which bit version of openSUSE I use? (In terms of ease in creating the workgroup, access of files, etc.)
If I install the 32-bit version now, can I switch to the 64-bit version later? What are the caveats?
As I said at the beginning, I am not much literate on these things so I hope I am not asking nonsense questions…
Do the 32- and 64-bit versions install with the same kind of software packages?]
Yes
Does the 64-bit version have more/less/equal available software in the repositories for download?
Yes
If I wanted to set up a workgroup with another PC that has Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and Windows XP Pro (both 32-bit) installed, would it matter which bit version of openSUSE I use? (In terms of ease in creating the workgroup, access of files, etc.)
No
If I install the 32-bit version now, can I switch to the 64-bit version later? What are the caveats?
You will have to overwrite all partitions except for the /home partition which contains your settings.
In my case, I originally created for openSUSE 11.3 /boot /swap / (root) /usr and /home partitions. I would overwrite my /boot / (root) and /usr partitions only and NOT overwriting the /home partition.
Thanks for the reply. With regards to question No. 2, would you mind expanding on your “Yes” answer? Does the 64-bit version have more, less or an equal amount of downloadable programs from the software repositories?
Thanks.
Yes, the same software should be available for all from SUSE, and most
software these days either doesn’t care or is written to work in both
architectures.
Yes, the same. You may find more software for 32-bit if you look over
a long period of time but mostly because that would include old software
that is not maintained anymore.
Doesn’t matter when going over the network.
Not really without a reinstall. If you install 64-bit (meaning x86_64
which is what you have) you can run 32-bit (meaning x86_32, which is the
other common 32-bit architecture) natively so your 32-bit software should
still run as if you had a 32-bit box even though you have a 64-bit box as
long as you have the 32-bit libraries available (installed by default as I
recall).
Good luck.
On 09/29/2010 10:36 AM, tb75252 wrote:
>
> Not much of an expert with computers and completely new with Linux…
>
> I am considering installation of openSUSE 11.3 and I know for a fact
> that my PC can handle the 64-bit version.
>
> Questions:
> 1) Do the 32- and 64-bit versions install with the same kind of
> software packages?
> 2) Does the 64-bit version have more/less/equal available software in
> the repositories for download?
> 3) If I wanted to set up a workgroup with another PC that has Ubuntu
> 10.04 LTS and Windows XP Pro (both 32-bit) installed, would it matter
> which bit version of openSUSE I use? (In terms of ease in creating the
> workgroup, access of files, etc.)
> 4) If I install the 32-bit version now, can I switch to the 64-bit
> version later? What are the caveats?
>
> As I said at the beginning, I am not much literate on these things so I
> hope I am not asking nonsense questions…
>
>
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On 2010-09-29 18:36, tb75252 wrote:
>
> Not much of an expert with computers and completely new with Linux…
>
> I am considering installation of openSUSE 11.3 and I know for a fact
> that my PC can handle the 64-bit version.
>
> Questions:
> 1) Do the 32- and 64-bit versions install with the same kind of
> software packages?
Yes.
> 2) Does the 64-bit version have more/less/equal available software in
> the repositories for download?
The same.
In the case when a program is not available for 64 bit, there is a 32 bit version you can install.
The only problem can be proprietary packages, that are not supplied for 64bits (acroread, or flash,
for example). So we install the others.
> 3) If I wanted to set up a workgroup with another PC that has Ubuntu
> 10.04 LTS and Windows XP Pro (both 32-bit) installed, would it matter
> which bit version of openSUSE I use? (In terms of ease in creating the
> workgroup, access of files, etc.)
Not that I know.
> 4) If I install the 32-bit version now, can I switch to the 64-bit
> version later? What are the caveats?
It is possible (I just did it) but it is not supported.
> As I said at the beginning, I am not much literate on these things so I
> hope I am not asking nonsense questions…
Install both - I did
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)
