linuxaudio.org

On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 10:30:12PM +0200, Fritz Meissner wrote:

quoted text
> On 27 September 2010 22:26, Josh Lawrence  wrote:

> > Hi everyone,

> >

> > I'm late to the party when it comes to 64-bit machines, so apologies

> > in advance if I am asking something that should be obvious...

> >

> > I recently purchased a 64 bit machine and like it a lot, but I've

> > noticed that some software that is usually available on a 32 bit

> > machine isn't available in the 64 bit repos that I am using.  Can I

> > install the 32 bit version of my distro (Debian) on my 64 bit machine?

> >  I'm assuming that would give me access to all 32 bit software.  It

> > would also be a performance hit, correct?

> >

> Yes, you can install the 32 bit version. From what I have heard, the

> performance difference is not significant, but the major benefit of 64

> bit is being able to address more than 4 GB of memory, which is the

> limit of what a 32 bit OS can use.

One advantage to 64-bit machines is that there are more

CPU registers available in 64-bit mode, so some processing

goes faster, and more addressable memory.
That may be reason enough to run a 64-bit kernel while

keeping a 32-bit userland (libraries, applications, etc.)

Which some (including myself) do.
The advantage of 32-bit software is a smaller

memory footprint (e.g. 32 bits to represent an

integer instead of 64). There is a much wider software

availability, and fewer compatibility issues.
Although many say "64-bit is well established, no need

to worry about compatibility", I've had a few run ins.

At one point, I was maintaining two parallel Debian systems,

one 32-bit and one 64-bit, to track down such issues.
Some disadvantages to mixed systems, from the amd64 faq

at http://alioth.debian.org/docman/view.php/30192/21/debian-amd64-howto.htm...
    Q: I want to run i386 userland with a 64bit Linux kernel
    A: Running 32bit userland with a 64bit kernel is recommended

    only for servers needing the absolute stability of 10 years

    of 32bit debian, but without the memory limitations the IA32

    architecture bears, for example a 64bit mysql server on a

    system with 8GB or 16GB memory.
    Running the mixed setup on a workstation is not recommended,

    because iptables, the XFS filesystem, non-free NVidia and

    ATI binary drivers do currently not support it. 
Iptables *does* appear to work for me in mixed environment,

at least the user interface part.
Cheers,
Joel
> Fritz
--

Joel Roth

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