Just installed Slamd64 over the weekend and it is extremely fast with an AMD3000+.

KDE is up and running in less than 2 seconds, even before the sound starts up.

A login to fluxbox is literally instant from kdm.

Firefox loads in less than a 1 second.

Phewww - there is no going back to SuSE or Slackware for me.

I'll second that. I'm running Slamd64 on my laptop. I'm actually not using my desktop much anymore because my laptop is so much quicker.

If you have an AMD64 system or a EM64T (Intel), there is no reason to not be running Slamd64. RC2 is very polished and very close to Slackware 10.1 in structure and functionality.

i've an AMD64 3400+, and tried two or three 64 distro.

they do run fast (do not know about slamd64 though), problem remains the same: what do you do with them.

loads of packages are still 32 bit. running a 32 bit emulation on 64 machines kinda takes away the point of having a 64 system.

and, no java nor flash for 64 archs. yet.

In Slamd64, every single package included with it has been recompiled to take advantage of 64 bit processing. Xine, xmms, x.org, KDE, Gimp, all KDE apps, even the java SDK looks like it's 64 bit (I don't use it). The only 32 bit applications I run on it is OpenOffice and Firefox. In theory, even 32 bit apps will be quicker on a 64 bit system because they can take advantage of the increased number of registers. (The reasons are a bunch of technical garbage I don't claim to understand)

Even mundane things like scp compiled for 64 bit works much better than its 32 bit cousin.

But very far from Slackware in stability.

Not knocking Slamd64 at all. Certainly my pick of the few 64 bit optimized linux flavors out there. Just don't count on getting 100+ day uptimes with it.

You're right, definitely not for mission critical applications. It's on my laptop, so I think the longest I've had it running is about 8 hours straight. No crashes or real problems, but I would never put this on a server that I depended on in any way. For my laptop which sees some web browsing, movie watching and word processing, it's perfect.

Just to clear up this rumor the Athlon 64 does not emulate a 32bit processor it executes all 32bit code native if a program is recompiled to use the 64 bit extensions then it has access to more registers along with the additional features of the processor. If your not running any 64bit programs then the A64 is still a fast 32 bit processor due to improved design.

Yeah amd won that battle. Intel xeon with it's totally new 64 bit instrution set may have done better if intel didn't charge so much $$$$ for them. Now intel is scrambling to catch up with emt64. Their startegy failed and is going to hurt them a little now and they know it.

mmm...

ok a question then: i use slack for home usage such as video, internet, mail etc and some C programming. very basic stuff. therefore i do not need a 100+ up time.

i also use dropline, it kinda feels familiar and i am a gnome lover. however, dropline is a 32 project. anything to suggest?

also, what about install? same procedure?

thanks,

aj.

As you know, Gnome is not included in future releases of slack (and hence not in slamd64) so I guess you have a problem during future upgrades anyway. You could always run Gnome as 32bit on Slamd64.

The install is exactly the same between Slamd64 and Slackware ... in fact it even says 'slackware' in many screens. I tried multiple install of Slack 10.1 and Slamd64 and everything was pretty much identical except that I could install Slamd64 in about 10 mins with the full 3Gb software collection. Slackware took a few extra minutes.

I downloaded a firefox 64bit rpm that works perfectly. Next plan is to download OpenOffice 32bit.

I have had zero stability issues thus far. Just had to set-up gphoto2, firefox. Apart from that perfect.

acidjuice:
You could have a look at the Gnome SlackBuild Project and try to build your own Gnome for Slamd64?