Hi all; new here so bear with me.

I've just installed mandriva and was wondering how to upgrade the os to 64 bit? (i'm running an amd 64 acer laptop)

Thanks!

I would not advise trying an upgrade procedure from 32bit to 64bit on any system at this time. That could turn into a complete dysfunctional mess. I would suggest you do a clean install of a 64bit system, if you must try it.

Welcome to the board!

If the laptop doesn't have 8GB of RAM, and all its hardware (not just the CPU) isn't 100% 64-bit certified, I wouldn't do it.
In most cases what you will gain from such "upgrade" is reduced performance, plus some annoyances with things that are standards in 32-bit (Acroread, codecs, flash, java plugins, wine...).

Thanks for the feedback. I'm new to linux in general; i've been trying (unsuccessfully) to get ubuntu installed for months, and mandriva loaded up right away, so i'm sold. I do plan on doing graphics, video and web stuff, but if the 64 bit OS isn't worth it, i might just wait.

I have 4GB of RAM in my laptop, and 32 bit distros will only see 3GB unless PAE is enabled in the kernel. This means it pages memory therefore slower than if it could address the 4GB natively. Therefore, for me, 64 bit is the only way to get the best performance from the 4GB.

You won't be able to upgrade the 32 bit system to 64 bit - you will have to clean install. Acrobat Reader and Flash is not a problem in 64 bit like some people think. Java still is a problem currently, and means you have to run a 32 bit browser in the 64 bit distro. A 64 bit distro has access to both 64 and 32 bit packages.

If you've got the hardware to support a 64 bit distro, my line is use it. That way, it's more likely that it will get developed higher and more packages, like java will be released for the 64 bit platform. If nobody uses it, then it won't get developed simply is the way I see it. That's how Linux has come so far. It wouldn't have if nobody used it and asked for this package, and that package.