I just discovered that my machine is 64bit capable and apparently there would be some benefits to move to a 64bit OS.... I am searching for people who migrated from a 32bit Slack install to a 64bit install.

What kind of problems can I expect?
What kind of incompatibility can I expect?
Any limitations?
Any stability problems?
Will I be able to run all my current appz (they are all native 32 bit)
most importantly, will I need to reinstall EVERYTHING??
etc...

please let me know what you think!

Thanks fellas!

Yes, if you enable multilib.

I personally have none, but I cannot speak for multilib, as I never installed one.

Just what you would expect: some people never got around making sure that their programs run/build against x64 libraries. This includes device drivers and applications like gnash, googleearth, wine. I found that a lot of stuff works, though, when you build it from source, and alien bob has a ton of stuff pre-packaged.

I did a complete reformat and started fresh with slackware 64bit 13.1. I installed alien Bob's multilib32, too. I then installed GSB:

http://gnomeslackbuild.org/

because I like gnome with fancy graphics by compiz.

I use crossover linux

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxlinux/

so can I run Microsoft Access XP (otherwise, I'm using Openoffice).

To answer your question directly:

The only program I was able to run under 32-bit Slackware that won't run under 64-bit Slackware is my Doom/Doom2/Heretic/Hexen engine.

http://dengine.net/

I can't load saved games! Very few people play such old games anyhow these days, so I say GO FOR IT -- load Slack 64-bit! It's by far the most stable and best OS I have ever used!

Almost every application that ships with source code can be compiled for a 64-bit OS. The two important words are almost, and source. There aren't too many applications that will not build under Slackware64...GRUB may be a possible exception, along with the open source version of VirtualBox (you can build it on a multilib system and it will work on a pure64 system [I believe], and the PUEL version works fine on pure64, but you cannot build the OSE version on a pure 64-bit system...). Aside from that I haven't run into any applications that won't compile. Binary-only applications that are only available for 32-bit systems will not run unless you go multilib (which is always an option). Applications of note that will not work on a pure 64-bit OS and would require a multilib system include (but are not limited to) Skype, Google Earth, Adobe Reader (the official Adobe PDF application -- but note that other PDF applications available for Linux will work just fine), WINE (technically you can compile WINE for 64-bit, but the applications you can run are limited because most Windows applications are 32-bit only), etc.

You would have to do a complete reinstall (unless you leave most applications 32-bit and use a multilib system, but that kind of negates the point of moving to a 64-bit system...). Upgrading from 32-bit to 64-bit Slackware is certainly not supported and is essentially a complete reinstall anyway, so if you do plan to move to Slackware64, I would recommend backing up your important data and installing Slackware64 fresh. There are no stability problems -- Slackware64 is just as stable as Slackware in my experience. There is a bug in ash that can cause a segfault in Slackware64 but not in Slackware (not sure if this has been fixed or not...I'm still running Slackware64-13.0, but this was an issue with the application itself and it would have to be patched...see here), but aside from that I don't know of any stability issues that Slackware64 has over 32-bit Slackware.

You know that you can use compiz with KDE too.

Gnash? I must be doing something wrong then, I'm running gnash in a 64bit system.

@lpallard
Is there any specific reason for switching to 64bits? If you have to run 32bit applications as you do, why not stick with a 32bit system?

Hey guys! I did not expect such interest for my question! The main reason why I am considering to move to slack64 is for my video cards... I have been through a lot of problems in the last few weeks with my dual Geforce 8700gt and apparently moving to a 64bit kernel would solve the problem.... true or not, I can tell, i never tried...

the problem is that I did not know I had a 64bit capable cpu until somebody told me last week! (i must be stupid or something... and I tried to get the SLI working but have never been capable to do so... I tried like 6 ot 7 drivers from nvidia, even the slackbuild but no success... it seems that my machine is experiencing ram exhaustion (vmalloc) and the second geforce cant be initialized by the driver so the SLI fails...

I am posting on nvnews at the same time and the guys over there are convinced this is my problem. I believe it but I repeat, I did not know my laptop was 64bit capable so i never installed a 64bit distro. before my current slack13.1, I had slack12.2 and I swear it used to work (the SLI)... before that I used opensuse 10.2 for a few months and it also worked. IMO thats a kernel issue.

I want to stick with Slackware (100%) and thats why I consider to move to 64bit.

I understand I will have to reinstall EVERYTHING... that makes me want to vomit! but I also fear that I have problems with my network... I have a server running and have all kind of appz on it that I access thru firefox (like mediawiki, knowledgetree) should it matter ?

This is great news. I'd like to know how, if you managed to make it work with ffmpeg.

You can find the package, along with its dependencies in the salix repository: http://download.salixos.org/x86_64/13.1/salix/xap/

Look in the SLKBUILD file in the source repository to see how it's built: http://download.salixos.org/x86_64/1...rce/xap/gnash/

It doesn't use ffmpeg, it uses gstreamer.

Ah, may be the bug is in ffmpeg. I remember now, I was able to build it without ffmpeg. I'll give gstreamer a go.

After installing Alien Bob's multilib files I've been able to run WINE and GoogleEarth. For those very few applications for which
I haven't been able to find a 64bit package, I've been able to build them using a SlackBuild script with the ARCH=x86_64
option and they have all worked except, 'Clive.'

You're absolutely right, and many people prefer KDE. However, I have several slower systems and the new KDE just chokes on them, and I want to have consistency, so I use Gnome.

I'm using two GeForce 8800 GTS cards with SLI enabled with the stock 2.6.33.4 kernel (Slackware64 v13.1) and I believe NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-256.35.run driver, so SLI is doable.

My video cards run a bit warm (60°C) even when I'm not gaming. Perhaps it is a heat issue on yours, too?


What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

I must admit that i'm thinking of going from 64-bit to 32-bit. I want wine, virtual box, supported flash (64-bit no longer supported i think?), adobe reader ( i like it) and grub.

I don't want the hassle of multi-lib.

I assume a re-install is required for going from 64 to 32 as well. Presumably most of my config files can be restore though so its not so bad.

When is 64-bit faster??? I've noticed no improvements, is video encoding any quicker? The main job of my desktop is to turn mpeg2 recordings in to mpg4/divx's.

I personally think the 64bit thing right now (until it proves otherwise) is a commercial scam to get consumers buying something "new"... yes in theory it should be faster but as far as I know benchmarks generally showed it is not...

like i said, if I decide to take the plunge, it will be only to have a working sli setup...