-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:59:30 -0600 Richard Owlett wrote: > > In the "real world", is there a difference for an average/typical > user[?]
Yes, 32-bit is easier, as not all software is built for 64-bit systems. > I'm contemplating the move from Windows to Linux. Coward that I am, > I'm considering separate hardware as testbed. You can run dual-boot on one system without too much trouble. That has been solved for about 10 years. The better Linux distributions can see the Windows system on the hard disk and install around it, providing a boot menu entry for it. However, if you have time you can confirm this. > I spend most of my time in text editing and web surfing - doubt any > advantage there. No, I have a 64-bit capable AMD processor based desktop on which I run a 32-bit version of Mandriva Linux. It does everything I need it to do. You might install both 32-bit and 64-bit Linux systems if you have the disk space (a decent desktop Linux system fits into 10GB or less while hard disks are much larger now). You can use both systems to find out. > My other interest include Scilab, Scioslab, and gnuplot. I would > run and display display results of *LARGE* fft's of _stored_ data. > "Real time" minor importance. Those interests might lead you to install a 64-bit Linux system. Sure. > Are there subtle advantages to wider data path and/or multiple > cores? The wider data path imposes power and heat dissipation costs, but that isn't a big deal, I would think, costing maybe 25W, between those two, but I'm open to correction if anyone has better numbers to quote here. A dual-core chip is helpful on a desktop system - or a smartphone, for that matter - but more cores than two is really server territory, lest you can find a game or something - like scientific processing - that's able to use a multi-core chip. My desktop is a dual-core chip but YMMV. > Are there advantages to 64 bit implementations of Linux? As far as I can tell, only the larger memory and database access that it offers. I haven't needed it, but I understand that some people do. HTH, Robert -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAk7QgloACgkQ+qYMIUkNJCznqQCeJO+Bm3skYXWTlxnRDRObPAQC EP8AoIX3JDCjySKKrkIy6MZD6ZyZS7le =/xy6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
