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Hey y'all... I haven't been keeping up with hardware in quite some time. I was looking to build a new desktop. I don't have a ton of time for research, but, what I've come up with is a system based on the ASUS M2N32-SLI and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+.
Are there any gotcha's I should be aware of before trying to run a 64bit version of Linux on this CPU?
I just put together a 64-bit system about six months ago. I'm using a single core processor and a Gigabyte mobo. The specs for the ASUS board are almost identical. The only issue I have come across thus far is that the k8temp module won't be available until kernel 2.6.19. Can't get temperature info until that module is available.
Otherwise, I wouldn't expect any problems. Just remember to use a SMP kernel. Make sure the distro (I suggest Gentoo, of course) provides multilib support since some applications aren't available in 64-bit versions yet. There's fewer and fewer of these every day though.
The only real possible gotcha is that some apps (eg, Firefox) may not have a 64 bit Linux version. Not a problem, the 32 bit version works just fine, but don't be too surprised if your finished system is 64 bit with some 32 bit apps.
J.W. not sure what you mean by "firefox does not have a 64-bit version", but Firefox does have a 64-bit version. However, and this may be your point, Flash does not work with 64-bit firefox, so most distros don't ship with 64-bit firefox.
I have a X2 3800+ 939 with an ASUS A8N-E motherboard and it works great.
I do not recommend that motherboard because most components that it uses is not compatible with Linux. ASUS provides inconsistent manuals with their motherboards, so they are useless when you have problems or want to know where the power pin is located. I suggest ABIT AN9-32X because it is $30 cheaper if you want SLI. For Linux friendly motherboard, I suggest Gigabyte GA-M55plus-S3G because it comes with plentiful of PCI slots and includes PCIe. Though, keep in mind that quad-core processors will be coming out next year, so it maybe better to stick with your present system and then upgrade to the quad-core processor.
AMD's AM2 processors are tricky with desire memory speed. You need to do some homework because not all processors runs at the predictable DDR2-800 speed.
As with all multi-processor systems, I recommend spend the money on ECC memory.
Using a 64-bit version of Linux has a lot of disadvantages. Your favorite software will not work or has not yet been tested. Two, you will need to use a mixture of 32-bit and 64-bit libraries which can be a nightmare. I suggest setting up dual booting between 32-bit version of Linux for day to day tasks and a 64-bit version of Linux for multimedia tasks. 64-bit computing only works well in multimedia and database tasks.
J.W., from what I read on gentoo-portage.com it seems the binary version of Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.8 should work fine on an AMD64 system. This means it should work in other 64-bit Linux distributions.
I run Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.5 and I have x86_64. This is verified by going to the "Help>>About Mozilla Firefox" window in firefox.
I get two outputs from "emerge -s firefox":
Code:
thomas@rock ~ $ emerge -s firefox
Searching...
[ Results for search key : firefox ]
[ Applications found : 2 ]
* www-client/mozilla-firefox
Latest version available: 1.5.0.7
Latest version installed: 1.5.0.5
Size of files: 39,987 kB
Homepage: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Description: Firefox Web Browser
License: MPL-1.1 NPL-1.1
* www-client/mozilla-firefox-bin
Latest version available: 1.5.0.7
Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
Size of files: 12,762 kB
Homepage: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox
Description: Firefox Web Browser
License: MPL-1.1 NPL-1.1
thomas@rock ~ $
Maybe the mozilla-firefox-bin package is 32-bit but I don't use it so I wouldn't know.
I do know that if I type emerge firefox, millions of gcc lines will fly by, meaning it is compiling
@tktim, my brother just set up a Acer Aspire 5050(Atheros,X2,ATI) with Ubuntu Edgy. He had to use ndiswrapper for atheros, but otherwise everything works great, including hotkeys.
For Linux?? Can you give me the link? As far as I can tell Firefox is only 32 bit for Linux. If I'm wrong I'd be happy
Firefox builds fine as a 64-bit application. You just need to add the appropriate compiler options to .mozconfig. I'm writing this in Firefox-2.0 compiled as a 64-bit binary. Firefox-1.5.0.7 also built fine as a 64-bit application. The real issue is the plugins not having 64-bit versions. What your particular distribution chooses to distribute is another matter.
Most of my plugins have a 64-bit version,(mostly bookmarks synchronizer). I have found my big problem is getting the right version of the plugin.
@Arow, I don't worry about build options in .mozconfig because I run Gentoo, much easier.
@tktim, glad to have helped. The linuxonlaptops project http://www.linux-laptop.net/ has a very nice database of laptops, so that you get a feel for a good linux-compatible laptop.
I know systems vary, but in general does WIFI work well on AMD Athlon 64 X2 laptops?
Neither sound nor wireless work out of the box on this machine using Linux.
I've tried with no success to update the BIOS using freedos. (stalls) Of course the first thing I did with this laptop is format the hard drive. The BIOS may have been easier to flash under XP, bit I'll never know.
I'm running Ubuntu 64 & PClinuxOS 64 & Fedora5 64 all dual booting with XP on a Asrock Dual939Sata2 with AMD 64x2 4200+ & I have not had any major problems with any of them. Sure there is a need to install 32 bit firefox for some plugins but everything else runs from install.
Go for it. Dual core for desktops, quad core for servers? Most distro's will load on a lot less that dual core & 2gb of ddr400. But it don't complain about more. SMP kernel can be installed afterwards.
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