Wow!
Thank you!
Background: I am involved with a small business venture supporting folks who want to migrate from Windows to Linux. In another thread we discussed the idea of using Slackware or a Slackware derivative as a base operating system (OS). There are certain challenges to overcome with Slackware as a base, primarily graphical admin tools, but I refuse to let the idea die.
For myself, I have been using 32-bit Slackware all along because I have some older 32-bit machines. Keeping those systems synced is much easier if I just use 32-bit all around. I could (perhaps should) retire those old systems and then I could move my primary systems all to 64-bit. With the great posts provided in this thread, I see that I have no need for any 32-bit only apps.
Nice for me, perhaps not nice for future customers. Some of them will need WINE or Skype, some might scream for Acrobat Reader, google-earth, etc. Personally, I prefer to avoid the entire multilibs mess, despite the fact most of you are not having problems. That said, many of these people do not have the base hardware to run 64-bit anyway, so probably not a significant issue. Just install 32-bit and be done. From all I have read, few users would know notice a performance difference. Only users doing serious number crunching, compiling, video processing and the like would notice a difference.
Moreso, if they did have the hardware, more than likely they bought a system with Windows 7/8 preinstalled and would not be a potential customer. If they were, they have the hardware to run a VM.
All of that said, the lists above now provide me comfort.
Long-term, if this endeavor turned into a distro or something similar to an MLED add-on, I need to know what mountains I might have to climb. Of course, if my life proceeded to that point then I would be compiling both 32-bit and 64-bit non-stock packages, so perhaps my worries are empty. And as my best friend used to say, should I get to that point then these are the types of problems one prefers to have.
Thank you all for the lists!
