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Old 02-22-2007, 11:12 AM   #1
tdos20
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Question Slackware vs Slamd64


I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on these two, I'm considering doing an install of Slamd64 as I have been very happy with slackware but recently upgraded my processor.
Is 64 bit linux noticably different? If you decided to change to Slamd64 from Slackware what motivated you and have you been happy with it?
Thanks in advance for your input.
 
Old 02-22-2007, 02:08 PM   #2
piete
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A little leg work on your part would have revealed a fair few posts that would help make up your mind:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=505337
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=416849
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=450532

And those are only the 3 most pertinant that *I've* posted in.

However, to answer your questions:

Q: Is 64 bit linux noticably different?
A: Depends. For Firefox? You loose out on flash and java. For ModelSIM and Matlab? You gain a lot of speed. As far as "user experience" goes, slamd64 is Slackware but recompiled.

Q: If you decided to change to Slamd64 from Slackware what motivated you
A: I felt I wanted to use my 64-bit hardware and i had some free time. If i was making the choice now without knowing what i do now, i'd hesitate; but if you're prepared to learn some extra tricks (see above posts) it will reward you. I use it at work (11) and at home (10.0-custom fixed thing).

Q: and have you been happy with it?
A: Most of the time. In the past there have been some annoyances that have needed some pretty dodgy fixes, but that's more to do with some old binary packages I run than Slamd64 itself. On occasion i do get narked at having to install from source, but that's only due to time constraints, once set up, it's set up. And fwiw to date I cannot think of anything, off the top of my head, that I haven't been able to get working, 32 or 64 bit.

qparted your drive or use qemu and test it on that because in the end all you'll get is opinions from users who likely won't use it for the same things / in the same way as you do =)

The real big question is going to be "What do you want to use it for?", so having a little checklist of "things that must work" is probably not a bad idea when testing.

Hope that helps, visit the slamd64 forum if you want to see what sort of issues they have there (mostly the same as they do here).

- Piete.

[Edit]
The first line sounds a bit confrontational, but i dislike depublishing so i'll add an apology here if you did look but failed to find anything of value. Much of the internet is drowning in data but starving for information, and it's easy when you've been there before (ie: posted in the thread) to remember what to look for.

Last edited by piete; 02-22-2007 at 02:12 PM.
 
Old 02-22-2007, 03:33 PM   #3
H_TeXMeX_H
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Quote:
Originally Posted by piete
You loose out on flash and java.
I'm pretty sure there are numerous ways around that issue.
 
Old 02-22-2007, 03:46 PM   #4
piete
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For clarification: 64-bit Firefox has no Sun Java plugin or 64-bit Flash. Running a 32 bit binary in a 64 bit userspace gains you *nothing*, so yes, there are ways around it. The OP asks "Is 64 bit linux noticably different?" which i took to mean to mean "wholly 64 bit binaries", so you loose out on sun java and flash.

[Edit]

I'm posting from Firefox, with Flash, with Java, but it's 32 bit, so I am aware of the ways around the issue, including Blackdown java and chroot environments.

Last edited by piete; 02-22-2007 at 03:48 PM.
 
Old 02-22-2007, 04:24 PM   #5
H_TeXMeX_H
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Well, ok, I just don't want people to think that it means you can't use java and flash.

Remember that java is now under GPL ... maybe it is possible to compile it for 64-bit.

As for flash ... you mean Adobe(R) Flash 9 ...

Last edited by H_TeXMeX_H; 02-22-2007 at 04:26 PM.
 
Old 02-22-2007, 07:12 PM   #6
tdos20
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Talking compilation

the things that worry me the most are the compilation of 32 bit binarys under chroot and the stabilty given that I'm used to a slackware install, I think its good advice to give it a try, I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks for replying
 
Old 02-23-2007, 01:33 AM   #7
rkrishna
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piete thanks for nice explanation
 
  


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