32 vs. 64 bit Linux

[Collins Richey]

On 3/13/07, Steve Jardine <sjardine at acm.org> wrote:
>
>     I have a system that I am running 64 bit Linux on. Let me tell you, the librariers that are split out between /usr
> /lib, and /usr/lib64 make compiling a real pain. May packages require going into the Makefiles to compile, or in some
> cases having to hand compile some objects.
>
>     Think real hard before using 64 bit Linux yet. If not doing hard core number crunching (video/audio,etc), I would
> think twice.
>

My impression is: think 3 times at least. Unless you have an
application that requires or benefits from a very large linear address
space (heavy duty db stuff comes to mind), you aren't going to get
much benefit to offset the grief.

One of the biggest shortcomings for most users is the fact that many
useful plugins will not run in the 64-bit browser environment, so you
need to have alternative 32-bit libraries to run with a 32-bit browser
in a chroot environment if you expect to have these plugins work.

For the general purpose user, 64-bit is not yet ready.


-- 
Collins Richey
     If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries
     of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.