I’m typing this on an HP Mini-200-4200 running windows 7 starter. Irritating experience. It use a 1.6ghz Atom.
I want to try running Linux and a simple desktop on it just for web use really. One issue I have is what architecture the Atoms have so am not sure which one to use. I see mention of running linux on these but no indication of 32 64 bit etc.
I also wonder if there is a suitable OpenSuse issue available even if it’s not the latest. Boot from cd /usb would be best to make sure it works.
Atoms are just x86 (and sometimes x86_64?) cpus. I would use the 32-bit version of openSUSE because a computer running an atom cpu is likely to have less memory, and 32-bit uses less memory than 64-bit (if it is even 64-bit at all).
If it could be shown that “32-bit uses less memory than 64-bit” – or at least significantly to offset the benefits of 64-bit, I’d like to know an authoritative source. True, PAE and similar will use a small amount of “real” addresses to extend mapping to addresses beyond the physical map but unless you’re extraordinarily expanding far, far beyond actual hardware resources my understanding is that loss is minimal.
By running 64-bit on the other hand, heap and resource availability is supposed to be greatly enhanced.
In the past, probably the biggest problem with 64-bit was device drivers, and its consequence… support for the many devices and device systems but that is no longer an issue at all. A case can even be made that currently 64-bit driver support exceeds 32-bit.
So, unless there is a very specific reason to prefer 32-bit(eg hardware is 32-bit or only 32-bit apps will be running), 64-bit should always be preferred.
IMO and AFAIK,
TSU
Thanks. I’ve managed to find some info at last. It seems this particular Atom is 64bit if selected. I think that was what caused confusion. No signs of being able to select that in the bios.
Correct on memory. Only 1gb and this on doesn’t seem to be so easy to open as others. LXDE and maybe Xfce are reckoned to be usable with that little ram. Windows 7 manages. Loading is slow but that is probably down to power consumption and the disc drive it uses. I’m manly using Opera as well which is a fairly hefty piece of kit. Plenty of room on the disc. I can’t imagine why some one would want 320gb so could dual boot.
I hoped that there was a light weight OpenSuse build available. Tried with SuseStudio but trying to graft the desktop into Just Enough brings up masses of dependencies. I’ve suggested they offer a desktop option and then select which one rather than the usual 2. Ubuntu have something available but really don’t want to use that.
Seems HP did offer some of these running Linux in some parts of the world or a variant of the same netbook. 
Have tried to change the title to netbook. My brain was elsewhere when I typed it.
64bit - 32bit. The main difference going from a time when I had a brief insane inclination to run Mandriva is when large amounts of memory are used. 64 bit doesn’t have to page memory so can be quicker. x86 types have a paging register so if the code uses that sensibly there may be little difference between the 2. If code is specifically written for 32bit it might only use that address space if that is feasible. In some ways it’s swings and roundabout.
I have never looked to see if there are any differences in the instruction size at the machine level. There must be when >32bit address spaces are being worked. The addresses are longer and the numbers take up more room so the “uses more memory aspect stands up” but it would be really difficult to put a number on that. Over all I would be inclined to take that as fact but wouldn’t want to put a number on it. It’s also probable that software people worry less about memory usage these days. That will have an effect.
On 07/14/2013 05:16 PM, John 82 wrote:
>
> 64bit - 32bit. The main difference going from a time when I had a brief
> insane inclination to run Mandriva is when large amounts of memory are
> used. 64 bit doesn’t have to page memory so can be quicker. x86 types
> have a paging register so if the code uses that sensibly there may be
> little difference between the 2. If code is specifically written for
> 32bit it might only use that address space if that is feasible. In some
> ways it’s swings and roundabout.
>
> I have never looked to see if there are any differences in the
> instruction size at the machine level. There must be when >32bit address
> spaces are being worked. The addresses are longer and the numbers take
> up more room so the “uses more memory aspect stands up” but it would be
> really difficult to put a number on that. Over all I would be inclined
> to take that as fact but wouldn’t want to put a number on it. It’s also
> probable that software people worry less about memory usage these days.
> That will have an effect.
I use openSUSE on an HP Mini 110, which has an Atom CPU running at 1.6 GHz. This
particular one is 32-bit only. It is quite sluggish with a KDE desktop, but is
very usable with LXDE.
A program compiled for a 32-bit machine is always smaller than one compiled for
64-bit mode, as all pointers go from 4 to 8 bytes. It will likely run slower as
the base CPU cannot transfer data as efficiently. Once you go above 4 GB RAM,
then the choice is definitely in favor of 64 bits.
On 2013-07-14, John 82 <John_82@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
> Thanks. I’ve managed to find some info at last. It seems this particular
> Atom is 64bit if selected. I think that was what caused confusion. No
> signs of being able to select that in the bios.
>
> Correct on memory. Only 1gb and this on doesn’t seem to be so easy to
> open as others. LXDE and maybe Xfce are reckoned to be usable with that
> little ram. Windows 7 manages. Loading is slow but that is probably down
> to power consumption and the disc drive it uses. I’m manly using Opera
> as well which is a fairly hefty piece of kit. Plenty of room on the
> disc. I can’t imagine why some one would want 320gb so could dual boot.
>
> I hoped that there was a light weight OpenSuse build available. Tried
> with SuseStudio but trying to graft the desktop into Just Enough brings
> up masses of dependencies. I’ve suggested they offer a desktop option
> and then select which one rather than the usual 2. Ubuntu have something
> available but really don’t want to use that.
After using Suse since version 6.4, I left it when KDE went to release 4.xx
and openSUSE went from software to bloatware. (sorry, but true)
I’ve settled for a nice light and complete distro: Mint Linux.
Currently running Mint 13 with MATE as interface on a 32 bit ASUS with 2 GB
of RAM, Memory consumtion: usually between 200 MB and 300 MB. There are
regular releases, and they’re at relese 15 now. But 13 is a long term
supported one, with updates until april 2017.
Not trying to sell anything here, and it saddend me to leave openSUSE, but
when I last tried to import my 12000 email in the latest KDE, it took
several hours after import to have them indexed, and they were not available
in that time. And the CPU’s run at 30% constantly, OUTSIDE this mail import
operation.
–
When in doubt, use brute force.
– Ken Thompson
Rikishi42 wrote:
> Currently running Mint 13 with MATE
I can confirm this is a brilliant option. Also used on my eeepc
openSUSE xfce or lxde run fine, but the look and feel just don’t come
close to Mint.
I am not really interested in debating or proving that 64-bit uses more memory than 32-bit in general. More often than not it does, and with less than 1gb of ram it can make a difference.
Though to the op, you can install openSUSE with lxde, xfce, or whatever you want. Just use the net install or the dvd installer. Lxde is very lightweight and works great on old machines and netbooks.
Hopefully to end the 32bit 64bit I did look at one library. It went from an installed size of 2 odd mb to 25mb. BUT that has nothing to do with how much memory is used when it’s actually in use. Unless some one does a direct comparison running it’s not possible to base anything on that aspect which is where the bloatware comes from. Actually if the desktop is set up less it’s effects etc KDE can be run on what would be considered a very modest machine these days. There are problems but it’s nothing to do with bloat. Or of course OpenSuse 12.3 KDE3 could be used.
Mint - no chance. Toy boys compared with opensuse. Look and feel are a matter of which desktop and how it’s set up.
Looks like I have to hope that the live CD offers the full desktop choice to make sure it can work before loading it. Knoppix is another option for trying it but tends to run on anything. From memory though it does use LXDE. lol! Last time I used it to recover a machine the only problem was that the desktop theme was awful but no doubt suits some.
I also live in hope that Studio improves and allows people to build their own install more easily with their own choice of desktops.
You can use kiwi directly but it can be advanced to do so. https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:KIWI_Cookbook_LiveSystem
Also try asking on irc or create a thread here on how to use your designated desktop in SUSE Studio. It already ‘can’ do so even though there isn’t an instant option for each desktop. From what I remember, just start with the base X window desktop or jeos, and add the packages and patterns you want. Then you can go in to the test drive, set the default display manager and session in the /etc/sysconfig editor, and then save them when the test drive is over. This could be a bit of a bad description as I have not done this in a while.
Make sure to set the default run level as 5 also.
I’m going to have another go at using Studio. Must admit I expected it to pull in dependencies with something like a desktop. So 2 goes went very haywire. I am also interested in a server plus lightweight desktop to run on a 2.2ghz turion. I also posted a suggestion about allowing users to delete failed attempts. I received an email invite to it the other day and didn’t know it existed till then.
My impression is that it’s not much used. Many of other peoples builds aren’t available any more as the base system isn’t supported. Very interesting idea though but I suspect sorting dependencies is a real task if a desktop is wanted that isn’t available right from the start.
On the face of it using the normal install DVD would be an easier option but I have never tried one of the smaller faster desktops so have no idea if the installs are ok. Would also have to hope that the netbook’s built in restore still worked if things didn’t work out.