On 05 1, 07, at 5:12 AM, List Mail wrote:
I've done some reading on the Net over the advantages of using a
64-bit Linux distribution. The main conclusion I've reached is that
using an AMD64-flavor of LInux makes absolute sense only with high-end
machines with, for example, fast processors and lots of RAM (4GB
DDR2).
the short answer is think of it as having the same amount of water
passing through your pipes, but your pipe is wider.
in machine speak: having a 64-bit machine means you can access more
memory.
for the long answer: http://arstechnica.com/cpu/03q1/x86-64/
x86-64-1.html
My question is, do I suffer from a performance penalty if I use AMD64
Linux on a low-spec computer? I'm thinking of installing Ubuntu AMD64
7.04 on a computer with a Sempron 3000+ (socket 754, true 1800 MHz),
750 MB DDR1 RAM, and 120 GB PATA hard disk. Major processor-intensive
applications I'm using include OpenOffice.org, Firefox (without
flash), MEncoder (recording TV shows), bzip2 and p7zip (backup). I
also play OpenGL games like CrackAttack and Armagetron.
no you won't because ubuntu amd64 was compiled to address your 64-bit
machine. so you wont. you'll suffer if you've installed say a 32-bit
distro on a 64-bit machine, which would really be a complete waste of
the performance of the whole processor. your ubuntu64 will have 32-
bit libraries (usually found in /usr/lib32 or something similar) for
those apps that need them, so it isn't really a big deal.
that said--- you'll probably benefit from the 64bit linux. given your
spec. heck mine's a 2 year old amd64 1.8ghz, 1gb ram, not much
difference from yours (except for the socket and that's about it and
ram size, which isn't really that huge a difference). it works pretty
darn good compared to 32-bit windows running on the same box.
of course, if you're really into it--- i don't know how ubuntu does
it (im a gentoo person) but i find getting a scheduler in the kernel
improves performance.
your mencoder would benefit--- but i've got no benchmarks to prove it
to you.
that said there ARE drawbacks to having a pure 64-bit machine. like
the pain of having to install macromedia flash... and some issues i
think with cedega (which is 32-bit).
everything is moving to 64-bit. mac osx has been 64-bit unix since
version 10.4, and it will be fully 64-bit (aqua, etc.) in 10.5.
and every linux distro has 64-bit compiled and ready and shipping and
is backward compatible with 32-bit apps.
I'm not looking for a performance boost. All I want is performance
comparable to what I'm getting using my current 32-bit distro.
_________________________________________________
the long answer is: you've probably been dissuade by the whole win64
sucks v. win32.
the short answer is: yes, you'll not regret it using a 64-bit distro.
------------
Cocoy Dayao
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
big mango - http://arkangel1a.blogspot.com
"People who are really serious about software should make their own
hardware." --Alan Kay
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