32bits or 64bits 11.2?

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi!
I want to install OS11.2
I’ve been running OS11.1 32bits w/KDE4.3 and Compiz fine. After upgrading to 11.2 something get messed up and now i am planing to reinstall from scratch.

Computer is Dell Latitude D830 Core2Duo and Nvidia NVS140 for mobile. I have 4GB memory.

Earlier the 64bits version caused some problems. Java and flash had problems and several application got problems. So even if i run 64bits version i was advised to use only 32bits applications.
What problem would i hit if i try 64bits version of OS11.2? How about Nvidia-driver? Java? Flash?

Or do you all still recommended 32bits version?

#2

Have only just switched to 64bits with 11.2, both on a Toshiba laptop and my main Core2Duo desktop. Have experienced no problems at all, not with the NVIDIA driver, Flash or anything else. Running 64bit apps wherever available. It is said that there’s not much speed difference unless you’re doing a lot of number-crunching or encoding but my observation is that it’s noticeably smoother allround. Go for it.

#3

x86_64 works fine nowadays, with Flash, Java et al.

#4

Same here. Go with the 64bit.

#5

I’ve been using 64 for 6 months, with both 11.1 and 11.2 openSUSE, both Gnome & KDE4. I haven’t had a single problem that I can remember.

#6

My big regret with OS 10.3 was installing the 32bit version on AMD64 machine, to have just the i686 architecture around.

64 bit with 4GiB offers more efficient memory handling (no 3rd layer PAE page tables), more registers, an arch “reset” meaning compilers can optimise to modern CPU not ancient pentium, higher resolution timers; you can expect something like Audio encoding speed to be double, with most CPU intensive attictivities receiving a 10% performance boost (according to a Ubuntu 9.04 32 v 64 benchmark report).

Only consider 32 bit if you have < 2GiB RAM, unless you rely on 32bit only binary 3rd party driver or there’s a huge problem with update bandwidth or you can’t manage to keep track of 2 DVD disks. With say 1.5GiB RAM the slight increase in executable size, becomes more significant, so there’s more to be said for 32 bit.

The 32 bit compatability is good, and issues like Flash & Java were solved long ago. Try a 64 bit Live CD, before you do full install to reassure yourself.

#7

This question has been answered many many times, so please do a search on the forum. It’s getting tiring to always answer the same question at least twice a month

#8

That’ll never change I’m afraid. Best just post a link to spots where FAQs are already answered.

It was interesting seeing discussion by Ubuntu users, why they mostly stuck with 32 bit, and it was really FUD, sometimes presuming because Windows 64bit drivers were a problem the same would be true of Linux!