There are issues with running a 32-bit OS with more than 4GB of RAM. You will need to enable PAE in order for the OS to see more than 4GB and even then a 32-bit process can only allocate 2GB of RAM unless the app has been written to take advantage of PAE. So, in my opinion, if you have a 64-bit processor and more than 2GB of RAM, then without a doubt, use the 64-bit version. I would do a fresh install if you are switching to 64-bit. I don't think there is any issues with running 32-bit apps on a 64-bit OS since I'm doing it right now. Just about all open source Linux apps have a 64-bit port. There are a few apps that they haven't made a 64-bit version (Flash, Acrobat, etc), but I managed to get 32-bit Flash to work in 64-bit Firefox. I would also make sure you can get 64-bit Linux driver support. Even Windows doesn't have great 64-bit driver support. -Chris http://www.cb1inc.com Matt Dittbenner wrote: > Alright... I did my googling and after poring over several pages of > forum posts, I still wasn't able to find an answer that satisfied me. > > I've got a server with an "AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+" running > Gentoo. Everything has been compiled as 32-bit (i686). I am in the > process of looking at a new server from Dell with a 64-bit Intel > Processor (currently comparing the Xeon E5310 & the Xeon 5130). > Questions are as follows: > > 1. If I plan on getting 8GB of RAM, will I need (or really want) to > install 64-bit linux? Are there gains by going 64-bit or is it > better to enable high ram support in the kernel, compile as 32 > and call it done? > 2. Will I be able to use the same binaries from the old server on > the new one if I install 64-bit? I'd really prefer to copy as > much of the data from the old server to the new one as I can. I > am aware that a 64-bit chip can run 32-bit software, but I don't > know the details. Do I need a 64-bit kernel? How about libraries? > > I realize these questions are probably very generalized, but I have > basically zero knowledge of the subject so I don't really even know > where to start. If people need more info to be able to answer, I'd be > happy to provide it. > > Essentially, it comes down to this: > > Should I use 8 GB of RAM in a 32-bit machine? > How much work is it to transition a machine from 32-bit to 64? > > I really appreciate all the help TCLUG has been in the past. A good > group of solid techies. Thanks. > > -Matt > > -- > > <http://www.plaudit.com/> > Matt Dittbenner > *EMAIL* . matt at plaudit.com <mailto:matt at plaudit.com> > *WEB* . www.plaudit.com <http://www.plaudit.com/> > *PHONE* . 651.646.0696 > *FAX* . 651.917.0600 > *ADDRESS* . 2470 University Ave. W. > > St. Paul, MN 55114 > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20070713/94d552b9/attachment-0001.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1839 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20070713/94d552b9/attachment-0001.gif
