Hi,

A friend of mine has a Pentium dual core laptop, which version of fedora should he install, the 32 or the 64 bit?

Thanks,

Noha

Looks like most Pentium Dual-Cores are 64-bit capable, but I would still probably recommend the 32-bit version,since there can sometimes there can be compatibility issues with the 64-bit version.

If it is 64-bit then install 64-bit...all of the packages are available. Otherwise you will have to install 32-bit.

The 64-bit dvd will not boot off 32-bit systems

Thanks for the replies, but I am still not sure which one should I go for?

noha

Unless your friend has a specific need for features of the 64-bit system, go for 32-bit. That way there are fewer hassles with non-free software like Acrobat Reader, Skype, Flash ...

Google should help you sort out the difference between "dual core" and "core 2 duo". One thing you can do is plug in a live Linux CD and write down CPU information from:

cat /proc/cpuinfo

Then you can search for more information on that particular CPU. For example, I have:

vendor_id : AuthenticAMD (Hey, I want a FakeAMD!)
cpu family : 15
model : 37
model name : AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 252

I use only 64-bit Linux and 64-bit BSD on 64-bit AMD systems...and have no problems. Try searching the FC9 and these forums against your Mainboard for possible issues.

If you get anything back from this, your hardware is 64-bit (one line per core)And I, like amani, only use 64-bit where appropriate.

You didn't tell us how much ram he has nor what he uses the computer for. Those things might provide a good reason to use 64 bit software. More likely, it won't make a serious difference either way.

In this thread
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...94#post3140494
someone answered regarding "video encoding / transcoding / compressing / etc" saying related audio processing had an "enormous" difference (advantage for 64 bit).

So if he will be doing such activities, there is likely a good reason to use 64 bit software.

As I said in that other thread, the real performance difference may be an effect of gcc default behavior, rather than an true difference between 32 bit and 64 bit modes in the architecture. But that distinction doesn't matter to an ordinary user. If you can't or don't recompile the software to make best use of SSE in 32 bit mode, then you only get those benefits in 64 bit software. For compatibility and/or other reasons, precompiled 32 bit won't make best use of SSE.

I use 64 bit Mepis distribution myself. I've read about hassles such as pinniped mentioned (post #5 of this thread) but I've never encountered any myself. I open pdf files when needed and never thought to even check what software is running to do that and whether it is 32 bit or 64 bit. It just works. Similarly Flash seems to just work. I don't use Skype.

But we don't seem to have any good guidelines for where 64-bit is appropriate.

D'oh - what I meant was I use only 64-bit O/Ss when I have 64-bit capable hardware. For me that is sufficient (and appropriate)
I accept this doesn't offer any assistance to anyone about what might work and what might not.

Just check the settings first whether its 32 bit or 64 bit
U can get a idea of it
by looking into /proc/meminfo
if its 64 bit then go in for fedora that is compatible with 64 bit.
else just go in for 32 bit os

A "Core Duo" is 32-bit. A "Core 2 Duo" is 64-bit. If you have 64-bit hardware, you should run 64-bit software. The only issue, except with proprietary software, is Java applets in your browser, and there are ways to handle that.

Wow! Lots of responses.

Let me try to make this a little clearer.

There are really two questions:

(1) Is your processor 64-bit capable (meaning that it can run 32-bit or 64-bit OSs)?
(2) Assuming your processor is 64-bit capable, do you want to use a 64-bit OS?

To find out the answer to question (1), I would recommend looking in your friend's computer's manual. It might say there. Alternatively, if you know or can figure out the exact model of the processor, then a search on Google or Newegg.com might turn up the answer. If your processor is not 64-bit capable, you must use the 32-bit version. If it is 64-bit capable, you can use either the 32-bit or 64-bit version.

If your processor is 64-bit capable, you have to answer question (2). As I understand it, there are both benefits and drawbacks to choosing the 64-bit version. The main advantage is potentially getting better performance. The main disadvantage, on the other hand, is that there could be software that does not run properly on 64-bit OSs.

It is your call, but if you friend just does normal web browsing and office stuff, I would go with the 32-bit version.

I will suggest you go for the x64 version. Like someone wrote if your system is not 64-bit the DVD won't boot! BUT if you decide to install the x32 version is fine just remember if later on there is a new release and try to upgrade it make sure you use the x32 version as well.
I had installed Suse 10.3 x32 on a Intel core2 duo and I upgraded to SuSE 11.0 x64 version which works fine until I tried loading KD4 I got an error message.
hope this helps!