Linux 32bit vs 64bit

[calvincoetzee]

Greetings Linux guru's

I have tried Linux on and off over the past few years, and well not being a complete noob anymore but far from a power user, I do have some queries.

I am planning to download the Opensuse iso, either the 32 bit or 64 bit maybe both

From a compatability point of view, which of the two would be most compatible when it comes to drivers and applications?

And performance wise does the 64 bit offer a notable increase in performance?

My system specifications are:
Toshiba Satellite Pro A300-15V
2.4GHz Intel Core2Duo
2GB DDR2
ATI Radeon HD3650
Intel Wifi n draft.

I thought I'd list a few common components, ofcourse for driver availability the graphics card and wifi would be most troublesome.

Please advice me

 

[.Froot.]

There is no difference whatsoever between compatibility for Linux when it comes to 32 or 64 bit, apart from like the odd program written only for 32-bit (some people are slow to respond to change).

You will be much better off running that machine on 64-bit, you should see a noticeable difference.
The only issue you might have is getting a decent performance from your ATI graphics card in Linux as ATI have only recently released a better-than-nothing driver for Linux.

 

[wezhira]

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/li...85-should-you-choose-32-bit-64-bit-linux.html

interesting article might help

 

[slayerza]

Some of the application that 'fail' on 64bit architectures can be forced to install by overriding the architecture checking during install. I've done this multiple times and have yet to have the software fail.

 

[.Froot.]

Quote true. For instance Skype (before the most recent release) had to be force installed. but medibuntu now has a 64-bit skype that works fine.

 

[calvincoetzee]

great thanks for the response
I am currently running Windows Vista sp1 but will have to dual boot or something

 

[Lino]

There is no difference whatsoever between compatibility for Linux when it comes to 32 or 64 bit, apart from like the odd program written only for 32-bit (some people are slow to respond to change).

You will be much better off running that machine on 64-bit, you should see a noticeable difference.
The only issue you might have is getting a decent performance from your ATI graphics card in Linux as ATI have only recently released a better-than-nothing driver for Linux.

+1000000

 

[Broo]

I am dual booting WinXP and Ubuntu 64bit and I have had no serious issues (to date). Whether there is a noticable increase in speed over Ubuntu 32bit...that I am not so sure about either

 

[.Froot.]

I am dual booting WinXP and Ubuntu 64bit and I have had no serious issues (to date). Whether there is a noticable increase in speed over Ubuntu 32bit...that I am not so sure about either

There is a huge difference if you make use of any resource intensive applications. Even on some other applications I am able to see a noticeable difference between 32 and 64 bit.

 

[slayerza]

Agreed, if you are compressing, encoding, decoding there will be a huge difference. Also I have noticed that running 32bit apps on my 64bit system the OS (Ubuntu / Suse) seems to do load balancing over two cores. If this is only luck I can't tell, but this is what I have observed.