On 05 2, 07, at 8:50 PM, List Mail wrote:
My goal is simply to future-proof my setup. So it's okay if I don't
see any immediate "benefit" from going 64-bit. My main worry is if I
will suffer a performance penalty under my current setup. Are the
hardware requirements of 64-bit Linux similar to Vista?
no. to run vista will full bells and whistles, you'd need a
reasonably good gpu, a fast processor, at least 1gb of ram.
on one hand i have beryl running (using sabayonlinux) on my 2 year
old amd64 w/a 128mb 9250 ati radeon.
i don't play games though but i've been playing with the idea of
running wine on some windows games but haven't really gotten knights
of the old republic off the ground, just past the bioware intro.
that's about it. i know it works, winehq screenshots show it and
cedega has screenshots so the thing works... just haven't gotten it
to work on my particular setup.
so if your goal is to "future-proof" your PCs... remember upgrade
cycles (as in new machines) are normally 3 to 4 years. with linux, we
could probably stretch it to 5, maybe 6--- where the wear and tear of
the machine becomes the issue already. some people still use machines
dating from way back when... so really as long as the machine has
some function to you... and works... it should be good to go. isn't
that the beauty of linux? as long as the machine can keep on working
you can at least use it for some function like a kiosk internet
browser or something like that or a glorified typewriter. so really
no worries until you break hardware which shouldn't be for awhile to
come.
however, if you want to keep up with the arms race... a
virtualization ready multicore cpu is the thing to go into right now:
the kernel is packing with virtualization features that are dying to
be used (or should i say played with) even on a regular-desktop basis
and prices are dropping faster than we can post on plug. i usually
don't get the fastest cpu but trade it off with more ram. imho, more
ram is always a good investment.
anyway chances are if you just bought yours today (or relatively
recently), it'll be good to go for at least the next 3 years. heck,
my amd64 will still be in service for at least 2 years more before i
foresee i'd junk it, though it is showing signs of age.
As for 32-bit proprietary applications, I don't think I'm using any at
the moment. I'm using the Xorg ATI drivers, don't have any particular
need for Macromedia/Adobe Crash (until Gnash matures), and use MPlayer
(with the open-source FFMpeg decoders rather than the hacked MS DLLs)
for all my exotic multimedia needs (DVD playing, streaming media).
the point is, you won't be suffering performance penalty. your
machine i think is in the middle tier and will be for at least
another year. the multicores have been here for a year and though the
current crop will be refreshed in a year's time, you'll still be good
to go when that happens. and with linux, even after that your box
will still be enjoying software that'll work for you for sometime to
come and when it has physically reached the limits by then you
probably have a replacement all good to go.
you know, you should be all set given your spec.
------------
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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