Ubuntu 8.10 – 32bit or 64bit?
Posted on November 1, 2008
7 Comments
Ubuntu 8.10 release was announced this week. In somewhat related news I got my free license for CrossOver stuff this week too. Seems like it might finally be time for me to switch my home desktop back to Linux. No reason really, but I like the synchronicity of it all.
Now I’m pondering: 32bit or 64bit? The desktop is an AMD 64 3200+ w/ 2GB RAM. Nothing incredible, but it does the job just fine. Would I gain performance or any other advantage by going x64? Or would I introduce problems?
Help me Lazyweb! I’ll start by reading this thread on the support forums, but I’m open to additional input or thoughts as well.
(to be honest, I’m leaning towards 32bit… but wondering if I’m missing out on something)
So what’s up with this new 8.10 release anyways? The main gist seems to be:
Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition is designed for the pervasively connected digital lifestyle. With new 3G network support, users can move smoothly from wired and WiFi networks onto 3G cellphone networks while traveling. Ubuntu 8.10 is also built to be shared – users can start a quick “guest session” on the fly and let someone use their computer to surf the web or check email, while maintaining the security and integrity of their own data. And if that person really enjoys their brief session as an Ubuntu guest, they can put Ubuntu on any USB key and take it home to install on their own computer rather than having to burn a CD.
Err… hmm… nothing all that exciting to me (the shared thing seems cool though) but still — a new release seems like a good excuse to switch. Right?
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7 Responses to “Ubuntu 8.10 – 32bit or 64bit?”
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I do think that GChOS will be a niche...
Are the same packages available for 64bit as 32 bit?
I’ll let you know… I decided to go ahead and start with 64bit just to see how it goes. I did spot check a few apps just to make sure 64bit flavors were available.
Now I just need to find the time to give it a go. Oh, and a blank CD. Turns out I’m out of blanks and I have an ISO to burn.
The only thing that would tempt me to go 64 bit desktop at this point would be if I was using and needed more than 4 gigs of ram. I’m still not at that point, so the screwing around I’ve seen others have to do just doesn’t seem worth it.
(The apps I use that would really benefit from the extra ram aren’t built in 64bit yet anyway.)
Paul
installing 64 bit version is better choice, because 64 bit usually run 32 bit application with no problem, and can handle future of 64 bit version application.
But is there any advatage to install 64-bit on such a basic pc? I have a laptop with same specs and I know that there will be some drivers and programs which wont run in 64-bit.
@Joonas – as near as I can tell, there’s about a 5% performance gain for basic usage. If you do a lot of rendering or similar activities I’m told you can expect even better gains.
I did the install last night and, after much flip-flopping and reversals, chose to go 32bit for now…
Joonas:
The 32-bit libs package makes all programs work normally. All 32-bit built-in hardware drivers work for 64-bit.
32-bit binary drivers you install afterward will fail. (Rare, but I’ve seen printers like that).