I'm installing slackware on a machine that has a amd 64 bit processor. Should I install the 64 bit OS version or 32 bit? It works with 32 bit and after reading some info on amd's website I'm a bit puzzled. If I'm not mistaken, the processor can work in 8, 16, 32 or 64 bit modes.

If you have more than 4 GB of ram you would benefit from a 64bit system. Alternatively you could enable PAE on the 32 bit version to somehow use all 4 GB+ of RAM.

32-bit CAN be a little easier to work with, however it's limited to <4GB of RAM. With the PAE kernel this limit jumps to 64GB for the system, but individual processes are still stuck at <4GB. 64-bit doesn't have either of these RAM limits (well, it does, but it's so high that it won't be an issue for a very, very long time).

I'm of the opinion that if the hardware supports 64-bit, you might as well just go for it. Even if the system has <4GB of RAM now, there's no telling what you might do with it in the future.

A 64 bit system uses slightly more RAM than a 32 bit system. I would want at least 2 GB of RAM to run 64 bit Slackware. How much RAM does your system have installed?

put 64 bit in and enable multilib with AlienBob's build

http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/...kware:multilib

The only difficulty you may experience with 64-bit Slackware is that certain popular software packages; e.g., Adobe Reader and GoogleEarth, are 32-bit only (for which you can install AlienBob's MultiLib packages, end of problem). There may be a couple of other, similar, packages but, other than those, you will not have a problem finding and installing 64-bit software (such as from SlackBuilds.org); e.g., LibreOffice, OpenOffice, and many, many others. If you're interested in VirtualBox, than is provided in 64-bit (and 32-bit).

I've been using 64-bit Slackware for some time now. No problems, no worries. Highly recommend it.

Hope this helps some.

It all depends on what you want to do. I run slackware64 + multilib just because I can; It would be easier if I went just 32-bit but where's the fun in that? I have seen some small performance increases in some memory hungry apps (database, games), or where I had >4GB RAM, but that may have just been due to also upgradng the kernel.

If you 'google' about, you will find answers ranging yes, no, maybe/depends, in the performance improvement space.

http://www.wadespires.com/projects/papers/
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...u_32_pae&num=1

Basically my take is this: I have an AMD64 X2. Why not run Slackware64?

I agree, Slackware 13.37 64 with Alien Bobs multilibs does the trick.

You can then run Wine, Skype etc should you ever feel the need to do so.

I have found upgrading to current to usually be a challenge, but I always get back to a functioning desktop in the end with goodies such as Xfce 4.10 and Gimp 2.8 as a reward.

If you have a 64bit capable processor why not?

My rule of thumb is to go 64-bit if there's 4G or more RAM present (or planned to be added later,) or if there are 64-bit applications to be used (e.g. third-party stuff,) otherwise just stick with 32-bit.

I agree with Zakame, if <=4GB of ram I tend to lean to 32 bit to get easier maximum software availability. Eventually all software will be ported up to 64-bit and it will be a no-brainer for 64-bit.

I agree also with the 4G rule. As good a rule as any.
It is also your ability. Most folks can get by with 64bit and some tweaks but 32 bit is tends to be more fully supported for apps and device. That may all change in a few years. I'd say maybe too if you have a need for every bit of speed then choose 64bit. It is only very slightly faster. People claim they can see it but usually it would take a large processing task to show improvement. Also a very new computer may benefit from x64.

In a way a common x86 type can run 8 to 64 bit but there are some catches to that too. I doubt you'd see too many 8 bit programs anymore.