I just wanted to share my experience with 64-bit.

I just built a machine, and put 32-bit Ubuntu Desktop on it.
My 4gb ram showed up as 3.2gb.
So I re-installed, this time the 64-bit version.
Finally all 4gb showed up.

So far, I've been able to install all my favorite apps without a hitch, both using the package manager, and from source.

My specs:

- Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10000 RPM SATA
- 4GB Kingston HyperX 240-Pin DDR2 800 SDRAM
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor Dual-Core - ADX6000CZBOX
- Epox EP-MF570SLI AM2 Motherboard
- SPARKLE SF-PX84GS512U2-HP GeForce 8400 GS 512MB Video Card

This beast is like a rocket. 19-second boot-up time, without any tweaks. GIMP launches in 3 secs.

Total cost: $398.

On the RAM, well, yes, as expected.

32-bit can address up to 4GB of memory, but most people don't realize is that the motherboard and video card take some of the address space as well, so you won't get all 4GB RAM.


How are your Java applets and Flash videos doing in your browser?

Java applets work well. I installed ..

- icedtea-java7-jre
- icedtea-java7-plugin

instead of the full package from sun...

- sun-java6-jre
- sun-java6-plugin

Youtube runs smooth: flashplugin-nonfree

No problems with virtualbox 2.1

This is generally fixed by using a PAE enabled kernel for 32-bit Linux.

So is there any reason to not go 64-bit on the desktop? When Debian Lenny becomes stable, I am going to reinstall on my laptop.

The packages work well because Ubuntu offers very good support for both X86_64 and AMD64 processors.
However, you should try compiling software that isn't designed to be portable (my first post here on LQ was because a discrepancy between the addresses of 2 processor registers, specifically ORIG_EAX and ORIG_RAX), or, for example, Wine.
There are also the issues of 32-bit flashplayer, although technically it shouldn't be taken into account since it's proprietary, and also library compatibility.
I've even encountered a problem with my LVM partitions that were made on Ubuntu 64bit: they were not read by a 32bit kernel
Truth is that 64-bit support has come a long way since AMD64's first appearance in 2003-2004 and it will probably continue to improve until it fully replaces X86.

Note that in this post I refer mainly to AMD64. Intel x64 processors seem to support 32bit applications better.

Final note: If 128bit processors appeared on the market in the near future, no matter what performance gains they'd offer and no matter how low the cost, I wouldn't buy one simply because the change of architecture is simply too much of a headache for me. Of course this is just my personal opinion ^_^

Actually, for me, the question is: "is there any compelling reason to go to 64-bit?" So far, the answer is no.

The real question is, what is a compelling reason not to move to 64-bit?

When 2gb of ram costs $21, why use less than 4gb on your computer? As more people switch to 64-bit, the development would become more rapid.

True. But why "fix" when you don't have to?

If you're looking to build a new machine, and 128-bit works well. The whole discussion about switching or not switching is pointless. If all your apps run well on 64-bit, there's no reason not to make the switch.


Afterall, 64-bit will eventually replace x86 architecture. I so far haven't seen any of the problems you've listed. My Wine runs like a champ. So AMD must be burning the midnight oil to work out the kinks. Posts like mine are meant to help update what you knew to be a problem in the past.

Monitor your actual memory usage and then revisit this sometime in the future. I have 4GB, and with PAE have access to 3.9. However, I rarely see memory usage above 500MB, if that, unless I'm running VirtualBox for a Windows app. It's a lot easier to replace the kernel than it is to reinstall, so like I said, I have no compelling reason to make the switch.

You have a point there.

My understanding is that Linux would eventually use up all available memory if left running long enough. As long as swapping is not occuring, I'm good.

Actually no, it doesn't. Google swappiness.

By default it would.

it doesn't actually use it all up it caches a lot of things and uses buffers so it may appear to use it all up but it releases it quite well when needed and 64 bit works excellent for me also with mepis 8 rc1