Re: Upgrading PC, should I use a 32-bit or 64-bit kernel?

Bit Twister staggered into the Black Sun and said:
On Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:57:33 -0500, TK wrote:
4G of RAM. I plan on using the PC for web browsing, music, and some
gaming. (Mostly HL2 and other Source-based games through Wine).
Should I stick with my 32-bit one right now, or upgrade to 64-bit?
You will need to research if there is a 64 bit pluging/module for all
your apps or if it is possible to make your system ambidexterous
enough to run 32 bit in a 64 bit os.

If an amd64 distro doesn't make it as transparent and easy as possible
to run x86-32 apps, that amd64 distro is broken. Mostly because there
are a number of things (OOO, evil binary Flash plugin, wmctrl) that have
no 64-bit builds or don't run properly if compiled under 64-bit. There
is AFAICT no advantage to using amd64 for the things that most ordinary
users want to do. There are disadvantages, like having a few things
like epsxe barf miserably even under 32-bit emulation. x86-32 kernels
should be able to use at least 3.5G of your 4G if compiled
appropriately.

(If I have to upgrade, I'm probably switching distros. Recompiling my
whole Gentoo system isn't exactly a fun thing to do.)

It might take 8 hours (maybe 5 with an X2 6000 and 4G), but you
shouldn't have to interact with it while it's happening. So get the
list of all the packages you have from /var/lib/portage/world, then
emerge `cat list.txt` on the new box before hitting the sack, and it'll
be ready next morning. Make sure you add the lines

VIDEO_CARDS="vesa fbdev nvidia" # modify for your graphics card
INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse wacom evdev joystick" # ditto

....to /etc/make.conf before you start building stuff! Otherwise you'll
have to re-emerge xorg-xserver and that's annoying.

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Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see
.