This isn't a question, but a posting of some things I (painfully) just learned.

I tried several times to install some Firefox plugins on my 64-bit system. Each time I faithfully followed the install instructions, but the plugin seemed not to be there. To add to the confusion, I was instructed to look for its presence using Help/About Plugins, which wasn't on the Firefox menu. Since that didn't work I couldn't even verify for sure if the plugin was absent or was present but somehow inaccessible.

First, the way to see what plugins you have installed is to type about:plugins as a URL. (This fact, the subject of another thread, ought to be in the Firefox help but isn't.) Doing that verified that none of the plugins I thought I had installed were actually there.

The problem, apparently, is that you can't install 32-bit plugins into a 64-bit browser -- at least not directly. But there's a marvelous program, nspluginwrapper, that will do the job for you. You can read all about it at[HTML]http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/linux-amd64.html[/HTML]. That web page conveniently has installation instructions for a number of popular plugins.

Used it before but just have 32bit firefox for most browsing but do have both installed. Now for Java on 64bit look into Icedtea Java or for older Java 1.42 look for Blackdown Java.

Brian

Does 64-bit Firefox have any noticeable advantages over 32-bit Firefox? It certainly has fewer complications about plugins.

I haven't really noticed a speed increase just plugin free hassles.

Brian

Tell me, it seems that 64 bits work well but the applications compiled for 64 bits don't seem to take advantage of the actual added memory namespace, is that right?

Does anyone know? Any C++ developer in the room?

I guess that depends on how memory-intensive an application is, and what you mean by taking advantage. Any application compiled to run on a 64-bit architecture is able to address the entire virtual memory space. So on applications with dynamic memory requirements, you can keep allocating as much memory as you need. On other programs (such as whoami), you won’t really the extra memory.

Also, there are usually more powerful instructions and idioms in the ABI of “64-bit” architectures than their corresponding “32-bit” architectures (if they have one) besides 64-bit memory addresses. Mostly these are instructions do 64-bit arithmetic and logic. For example, in the specific case of the x86-64 ABI, there is standard fastcalling (where function arguments are passed in registers rather than the stack). Additionally, you can address memory relative to the instruction pointer.

All these “new” features will be used by a program compiled for a 64-bit architecture. Whether or not this results in a significant, noticeable performance increase (what most people care about) depends greatly on the specific application.

Great explanation. So I think it's worth it. Tomorrow Saturday, I'll take the plunge