Thanks for all the replies. We'll wait for SL 5.4, and probably for the i386 version as Troy suggested. This best suits the requirements of minimal updates and hassles.
William. --- On Mon, 10/19/09, Troy Dawson <[email protected]> wrote: From: Troy Dawson <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Which of SL5.3 x86 and x86_64 is better on a Core 2 Duo T6500, 4GB HP laptop? To: "William Shu" <[email protected]> Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, October 19, 2009, 4:22 PM Hello, Either x86 (often called i386) or x86_64 would work equally well on that machine. As long as Windows is installed first, Scientific Linux should see windows and set things up so that during bootup it will be easy to bootup whichever OS they want. Which would I recommend. I would recommend the x86 (i386) version. The only reason is because it works best with browser plugins. For speed both x86 and x86_64 are going to be the same for your day to day stuff. One warning. I am not impressed with Scientific Linux startup time, especially after playing with Fedora 11. SL startup time might be good enough for your user, and after some tweeking can get much faster. But I'm just warning you up front. --- As for when SL 5.4 comes out, here is the plan. This is just a plan, and things could slip. SL 5.4 Release Candidate 2 should come out at the end of this week (Oct. 22 or 23). This is should be the last real Release Candidate. Everything should say 5.4 and point to 5.4, except the release notes. Release Candidate 2 is going to sit for the next week to let everything give it lots of good tests. We will then roll up the last of the security updates, the last of the bugs and make SL 5.4 Release Candidate 2.5. This should be November 2 or 3rd. SL 5.4 Release Candidate 2.5 is essentially the release. Even the release notes should say released. As long as there aren't any show stoppers, The next day or two we release it for real. So currently, if nothing happens, we expect to release it November 4 or 5. --- Troy William Shu wrote: > Hi, > This may be a naive or repeated question but could someone please suggest > which of SL 5.3 (x86 or x86_64) would be better to dual-boot (with Windows > Vista Home and eventually Windows 7) for the Core 2 Duo T6500, 4 GB > customised HP laptop whose purchase details are further given below. The > machine is for a novice wants minimum update hassles, can flip between Vista > and SL easily, and prefers speed, especially at start-up. > > The owner is not familiar with Windows Vista (me neither), and I was not > impressed by the time it took to boot. Would there be any speed penalty > and/or "tweaking penalty" in using x86 instead of x86-64 or vice-versa on > this processor? > > Given the newness of the machine (and so perhaps some of its components may > not yet have drivers etc), would waiting for SL 5.4 be worthwhile. If yes, > can Troy hasard an informed guess on possible release date/period for SL 5.4? > > I would be grateful for suggestions > > William. > > ------------------[ Specification of HP dvt6 laptop ]--------------------- > HP Pavilion Entertainment dv6t customizable Notebook PC > • Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit) > • Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T6500 (2.1GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB) > • 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) > • 320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection > • Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD > • 16.0" diagonal High Definition HP Brightview Display (1366x768) > • LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support > • Webcam Only > • Wireless-G Card with Bluetooth > • 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery > • No Modem > > -- __________________________________________________ Troy Dawson [email protected] (630)840-6468 Fermilab ComputingDivision/LCSI/CSI LMSS Group __________________________________________________
