I was wondering ! - what if I install a 32 bit version of OpenSuse or any other distro on a 64 bit computer ???
What kind of problem should I expect if any ??? … what could be the consequences ? … are there any ??
for example : will compilation and installation from source be an issue ??? … for a 32 bit software package in/with a 64 bit processor ???
I know the reverse scenario will not work ! ( a 64 bit soft in a 32 bit PC )
please advise !
None 32 bit software runs fine on 64bit hardware.
To elaborate a bit, 64-bit CPUs have the 32-bit instructions as a subset. So you are simply not using the full features of the CPU.
On 06/19/2011 03:36 PM, Ls Don X wrote:
>
> What kind of problem should I expect if any ???
none
>… what could be the consequences ? … are there any ??
the consequences may be all good: your machine may run faster with 32
than with 64 bit software that you do not need!
if you do not have a giant database or render multi-gigabit raw images
into jpgs, or do complex video rendering, or or or other similar
non-home user stuff…then the 64 is just extra stuff you do not need…
in that case the negative consequences are with using 64…
> for example : will compilation and installation from source be an issue
> ??? … for a 32 bit software package in/with a 64 bit processor ???
no
> > I know the reverse scenario will not work ! ( a 64 bit soft in a 32 bit
> PC )
correct
>
> please advise !
in about 2005 i loaded SuSE 9.1 64 on a new AMD (mostly so i could poke
my MS friends in the eye that they were stuck with only 32 available)…
but, i had problems because the software base for consumer software
(like firefox, thunderbird and flash) was so kaka you had to use 32 or
take chances on problems…
so when i loaded 9.2 i went back to 32…much smoother for the years in
between…
i’m running 32 now, i don’t even know if this machine will run 64, and
do not care…because i don’t need it…do you?
–
dd
http://is.gd/bpoMD
On 2011-06-19 15:36, Ls Don X wrote:
> What kind of problem should I expect if any ??? … what could be the
> consequences ? … are there any ??
The only consequence is that you can not have more than 3 GiB per process.
If you have more than 4 GiB ram, the kernel has to do mappings to make use
of it all (with the 3 GiB limit per process).
But this is not normally of consequence.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
For reference, I installed 64 bit on my laptop.
But then, a few weeks later, I installed the 32 bit gnome 3 demo in a separate partition. It works fine.
There was one problem that I noticed, and it probably comes from using the live CD to install. The 32 bit system was using the default kernel, which could not use all of the memory I have on that laptop. So I installed the desktop kernel, and made sure that was the boot default. All is fine. I am not noticing any problems (except to the extent that gnome 3 is a problem).
Thank you all guys ! … I kind of knew this … but wanted to confirm this by hearing and reading it from others … !
thx …