I finally just got broadband and finally have a chance to get all my pcs loaded with linux and on the net.
Previously had slow dialup 28.8. I had to ask friends to burn me distros.

I have two amd64 pcs.
1. one is a 3400+(754) sff shuttlepc 1gig ram 250 sata nvidia evga 6800 my monitor is a 19" widescreen viewsonic.
2. two is a 3000+ (939) server case 1 gig ram two 250 sata in raid one with escalade card nvidia 6600gt. CRT is a mitsubishi 22" diamond pro.
I have spent alot of time aquiring the pieces for both of these machines.

1 is going in my bedroom. I just want use it for basic web stuff(rss,http,email,weather..etc.). I would also like to play dvds,and mp3's.

2 is going to be my workhorse. I want it to run my x-10 gear via misterhouse. I would like to connect my security cameras to it.


Here is my question.
Is there any real adavantages to using a 64 distro over a 32 bit distro?
I have tried a handful of 64 bit distros, but there seems to be issues with all of them. Flash, Java, and w32 codecs to name the ones I encountered. I haven't been able to get a dvd to play in any of the 64 distos I have tried on one.

I would rather have a stable 32 bit distro that works versus a faster 64 bit that is unstable and doesn't run some major apps.
I am still trying to get gentoo 2005.1 64 installed on my workhorse but the install is a little out of my league. I will try for a 3rd or 4th time this weekend.

I am sorry for the long drawn out post, but I am frustrated with 64bit.

Regards,
Blair

Well ... you answered your own question. Lack of software, bugs, and unstability do not make up for the faster performance 64 bit offers.

Stick with a good 32 bit distro for your workhorse os and play with 64 bit in another partition/s.

Your exactly right. I know it to. I just want so bad for the 64 bits to work perfect now......
I am prolly going to put slackware 10.2 or debian 3.1 on the workhorse. The media box I might still try suse 64 and gentoo 64, and if they don't suit me I will probably go with Ubuntu Breezy x86.

I have two more boxes after these to setup...a P3 touchscreen running vector 5.1 deluxe, and a dual P3 running Centos.

I was just hoping I had missed something as far as the 64 bit distros were concerned. I am burning the dvd for rr64 right now just to check it out.....

Regards,
Blair

Good luck and enjoy.

rr64 is my workhorse right now. I'm loving it. solid, great. picked up what i needed. i'm going to try out the wireless too on it soon.

I'm using xfce as my desktop environ right now. I found kDE 3.5 way too buggy for what i needed. didn't have time for that spit... er, shite.

word of caution: you hardware clock will be 6 hours ahead before you know it. make sure you log into one of those time servers UTP or something like that, as it's the only way to "reset" it back to normal for at least a second.

also, no flash player, so that means no more www.homestarrunner.com

that sucks! but we need early adopters like ourselves to carry on our wayward son, cause they'll be peace when we are done.

kernel option: noapictimer

I miss OpenOffice on the 64 bit, but have been pleased to discover that abiword and gnumeric are more robust than OO's word processor and spreadsheet.

I'm running mandriva 2006 64bit without too many troubles. No w32 codecs at the moment, but I could use a 32bit player if I wanted to and use them. I can still play dvd's and most avi, mpg and wmv I've tried anyway. Running 32 bit firefox for plugin support like flash - and using 32bit java... Only thing I can't use is my UPS software so far... Have 32bit OOo2 which is working fine. I'm also running 32 bit native games (doom3 et al) and 32 bit windows games, apps and plugins (via cedega, crossover)... The box has been stable... Using kernel.org 2.6.15.1... I'm not fussed on the mandriva kernels, but most of the rest of the distro is okay...

I'm happy.

I somehow missed these replies.
Thank you for the feedback.
I got my bedroom pc running SUSE 10.0 64 bit eval. It does all the stuff I need it to fast. Plus my kids can still watch flash, dvds, avis. I am not the biggest fan of YAST but the box has been real solid. Nvidia was a breeze. I am running studio 64 on my other box and it has been fun to play with all the toys.

I tried rr64 and I really liked it, but I guess I have something about installing a live cd distro to hd. (I don't know why.)

I am playing ut2004 64 on the bedroom pc and it it is sik.

AMD3400+ + Nvidia 6800 + Linux + Ut2004 64 Demo = bad job review for me. Works gotta wonder why I have black circles under my eyes.

I haven't tried any other games.

I am a little upset the debian/ debian based stuff did not work better for me. I really enjoy debian on my 686 box.

I wish I could get gentoo 2005.1 64 bit setup the way it is in RR64. But I am lucky to get it installed right. Does Gentoo have a gui installer yet?

I am babbling...

Regards,
Blair

Thanks for the homestarrunner link.

my main man!!!!!! thanks so much. I hate for this beggar to be a chooser, but, I've never had to touch my kernel before, so i'm unsure where to even enter this option. You've helped immensely already mate. just wondered if you could do one more solid?

Dude, you ain't babbling. any talk about 64 bit OS's is song to me!

your welcome for homestar, but strong bad is the man, you'll see.(if you like comedy and have a good sense of humour)

I HAVE NEVER GOT TO USE 64STUDIO. the damn thing crapped out on me at the gnome splash screen. just hung there then cacked out. I tried forever to get support to fix it, but to no avail.

and as for a gentoo gui installer, good luck. gentooians love their "hardcore" ways. I personally love LIVE CD's that install (kanotix 64 and RR64 great examples) give it a shot. Even the LFS live cd is kinda good, solid. (that's my next thing a 64 Linux from Scratch setup. my compaq v2310ca is a pig and hates all boxed distros.) Something i gotta wrestle with, but kills time.

Rpath is good too, I just hated the fact it is based on an older almost dead red hat system. (not substantiated of course, but that is what i think of the redhat nash system it's based on, like caos.) I started noticing things, (wireless-tools had some odd messages, time caught up to the distro) and reading more posts and whatnot, i don't want to settle for a dying "base" of my next distro. Rpath however is my default distro, when i feel like 'cheating' i always come back to rpath. it works.

That's why i love RR64. customized to my system with a gui installer. I could never EVER figure out the instructions in Gentoo. I hope to donate to RR64 soon. Want to help them out.

You still won't have to touch your kernel ... just instruct it a little bit.

If your grub configuration file has a kopt line, just add noapictimer to it. If it doesn't, find a line that looks kind of like this: and add noapictimer at the end. Then reboot.

I have become a distro jumping whore for the last couple months since I got high speed internet access.
I am happy enough with Suse 10.0 eval 64 my bedroom Pc.

But my other pc that was going to run everything got repurposed. It would have been a waste to run it that way anyway. I am going to use it graphics and stuff more suitable to its 22" pro crt monitor.
I really like studio 64. I know its pretty much just Ubuntu with all
the graphics and audio stuff pre configured.
I am going to keep trying distros on this PC. If/when studio64 makes it out of alpha I will check it out.
I wanted to try Vlos, but I don't really understand the pay for binaries concept.
Still looking for the right 64 bit distro.

Regards,
Blair

Dude, the answer lies in RR64 or cAos. gentoo is just too ... umm.... gentooey. text based this, and it's uppity "only if you are the nerdiest of the nerdy could you possibly begin to understand how to install this distro" attitude. RR64, is like a flick in the nuts... it wakes you up to gentoo's power, but it is socialist, in the fact that it is for the people. it gave us the graphical installer. Now 'small n" NERDS can install it too.

cAos, is pretty good too. espically if you have a ati card. It's got all these current packages, and whatnot, but still uses a good x 6.8 server. they haven't gone to the ATI killer 6.9 or 7.0 yet. ATI should get their act together. Nerds play 3d games and love linux... it's only natural to keep us happy.

I tried to use the rr64 install to hd , but went with a stage 3 used "normal" snapshot. The graphical installer was very nice, and I thought I might have actually got it right until I rebooted to find a kernel panic. I am back on studio64 . I was looking at kororaa, but that looks like it will lead me to the same place I ended up last night with a f**ked install. I tried Vlos 1.2.1 64 last night also and that hung right in the middle of the base install. I reinstalled studio. I luv that debian install ..click ...click...click.."holy s" I have a working system already...
My biggest problem with this box is I am running two 250 SATA drives running R/aid 0 off an escalade card. Most distros see the two drives as 500GB SDA drive, but I am not sure how to manually partition this Raid. I am used to 80GB PATA drives 100MB /boot 512MB /swap 6000MB /root "rest" /home.

I would love to get a working gentoo like system up, but I think I have to 'emerge higher I.Q'

I'll check out cAos.
I think I am going to setup VMware to save myself some time in my search.
I am guessing if I mess up an install on a virtual machine I can just erase and start over.

Is the a 64 bit distro list anywhere?

Regards,
Blair

www.distrowatch.com Click search and then by x86_64 arch

That's the only real list i guess. I hope to create a website for guys like us soon.