New Computer, what should I install?

[Kristian Hermansen]

markw-FJ05HQ0HCKaWd6l5hS35sQ at public.gmane.org wrote:
> After our discussions, I decided to buy an AMD Athlon 64X2 6000 dual core
> system. (Barebones + video + 4G RAM) (Oh! Does anyone remember when hard
> disks were 4G? But I digress)

Excellent decision :-)

> I am currently using Kubuntu 6.10 on my desktop, CentOS 4.4 on my servers,
> RedHat RHEL 4.4 at work on one machine, Microsoft Windows XP at work on
> another machine, Slackware on my robot project, and Kubuntu 6.10 on my
> laptop.

No BSD, eh?

> (1) Is Linux 64bit "real?" i.e. everything works, or is it 90% of
> everything works and some don't?

I have run Linux on AMD64 since 2004.  It has vastly improved since that 
time (Gentoo was only distro that supported it nicely -- many bugs). 
Nowadays, I have no issues with the Open Source side of things.  Very 
rarely do I encounter a 64-bit issue.  The only issue is with 
proprietary software like Sun's Java browser plugin, Adobe Flash, Adobe 
Acrobat, etc.  However, I have been able to workaround all these issues, 
except for Sun's Java browser plugin.  However, word on the street is 
that Sun will release an official 64-bit browser plugin early next year.

> (2) If I have 64bit Linux, will 32bit apps run?

Yes.  Install ia32-libs, lib32*, etc.  I even cross-compile Windows 
32-bit applications from my 64-bit Linux!  I do it all the time with gcc.

> (3) If I have 64bit Linux, will GCC/G++ target 32bit environments?

Yes.  Just install the necessary 32-bit packages and you can compile for 
32-bit using the -m32 gcc option.

> (4) Should I just use 32bit until 64bit is real (ignore if #1 is "yes")

Up to you.  I run 64-bit every day.  Even got my Broadcom Wireless 
running under Ndiswrapper using a native 64-bit Windows driver :-)  I 
wrote the HOWTO on Ubuntuforums for this.  Google it if you need 
Broadcom support on 64-bit Linux...

> What's your personal experience with 64bit Linux?

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT :-)  OK, so now your brain has been corrupted. 
But even so, Linux gives you the power to choose.  Have fun choosing...
-- 
Kristian Hermansen

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