santner Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 I am wanting to switch to a 64-bit processor(down the road...) and I was wondering what kind of compatibility issues I will have by doing so. I know that the kernel will have to be compiled for it, but I was wondering about the applications. Will 32-bit compiled applications work on a 64-bit processor? Basically, If I buy the correct mobo and processor and compile the kernel correctly will I have any problems? :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulSe Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 I am wanting to switch to a 64-bit processor(down the road...) and I was wondering what kind of compatibility issues I will have by doing so. I know that the kernel will have to be compiled for it, but I was wondering about the applications. Will 32-bit compiled applications work on a 64-bit processor? Basically, If I buy the correct mobo and processor and compile the kernel correctly will I have any problems? :unsure: <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You shouldn't have any problems. Just download Mandrake 10 for 64bit processor (if you plan on using Mandrake). There are 64bit versions of a lot of distros. All 'older' progs should run as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imwithstupid Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 Almost everything should work... However, if you use any specialty programs that aren't in high distribution you will have to compile them yourself. This leads to problems because the source code is not always writen so it can be compiled for 64 bit and for 32 bit. That said, sometimes you can get away with compiling things for 32 bit on the 64 bit machine or compiling them on a 32 bit machine and putting them on your 64. Like other linux issues, where there is a will there is a way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qchem Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 Just to be a stickler I guess I should ask what kind of 64-bit machine? The case with an AMD64 is very different to that with an Itanium2 for instance. If you're thinking of a 64-bit AMD or somekind of Intel EMT then they can both natively run 32-bit as well as 64-bit apps, the only problem which arrises is from a mixing of shared libs. The best way to approach this is to install a distro (with good support) thats intended for your machine type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santner Posted August 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 I was thinking 64-bit AMD. Thanks everyone for your answers, I have a clear idea of what I need to do now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 Its really not that simple if you want a home machine... I have yet to find a single stable working distro with AMD64 Its impossible to run everything 64 bit, for instance you can comple mozilla et al 64 bit but pre-compiled plug-ins wont work You can compile Xine but then you can't use 32 bit Win32 libs (which guess what are win32) Stuff actually on the CD's is usually OK, stuff you wanna add is pretty much broken at the moment... Im currently running mine with 32 bit apps although I could put a 64 bit kernel... 64 bit Mandrake was nowhere near like 32 bit in terms of packages available etc. and the clashes of 32 bit and 64 bit libs makes it worse... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imwithstupid Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 santner...tell us what you think you might use the computer for and what really specific types of applications you have to have working (like wine, 3d stuff, etc.) beacuse Gowator, I and others could tell you what we've come across that work and what doesnt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 talk about coincindence I just had the technical director of Mandrake on the phone! Wanting to know about using 64 bit in the enterprise... and if we could use it at work! I passed him on but I forgot to mention one other thing.... They need to make a commitment... look at MDK for PPC... its stuck in 9.1 ... and it needs commitment to get the mirrors et al. and achieve a critical mass... To me the 'best' part or distinguishing part of MDK is urpmi... and without sources and plf etc its pretty much just another distro... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santner Posted August 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 What I do mostly on my computer: -- Program using gcc -- Make home DVD's -- Surf the internet, email, blah blah -- Listen to music -- Try to tweak my graphics card, even though I am not a big gamer First two are major. Really looking for performance increase in transcoding home video's to dvd. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imwithstupid Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 -k3b works like a charm in mdk 10 amd64 rc1...no problems at all there -gcc works as it usually works...you should probably pay close attention to the locations of libraries and stuff to make sure gcc is pointing to the ones you want to use...mdk comes with ../lib/ and ../lib64/ and you can mix and match with varying results. These articles (adds) have some info on that sort of stuff http://www.devx.com/amd/Article/17783 http://www.devx.com/amd/Article/16520 http://www.devx.com/amd/Article/17363 -firefox and mozilla work...to get the flash plugin working i had to install it on another computer and copy the plugin file because the plugin installer complained that i had a 64 bit chip. -xmms. totem, mplayer, xine, grip, etc. all work flawlessly -games have worked off and on...i got driver to work and tuxracer, but not torcs, the open gl flight sim, or wine (though some people have jumped through some big hoops and do have wine running). -gtkpod work...i had to make it twice though because for some reason the first time i made it all the menus had no text. -audacity won't start (or it starts to start then poof its gone) so i think i might compile it myself. -gkrellm (sp?) works -gnucash...compiled myself...because i couldn't find the rpm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qchem Posted August 6, 2004 Report Share Posted August 6, 2004 Just an idea.... Might it be better to just install a fully 32-bit version of your favourite distro until 64-bit performance is where it should be (all the 64-bit machines I have used are fully 64-bit servers). The performance of the AMD chips is pretty good at 32-bit anyway - or else windows users (that don't want to install a beta os) wouldn't bother with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted August 6, 2004 Report Share Posted August 6, 2004 Indeed qchem thats what Im doing. Its just too complex for the 15% or so performance gain and your still loced in certain things... video encoding is a great example... the deps for transcode etal involve avifile ... and sooner or later this comes back to the player (for instance I like acidrip as a simple ripper) and then this uses mplayer... so I need to install the mplayer with the deps (or force) and then if I need win32 this means the trail leads back to my encoder again...so its easy to end up going full circle.... As a server its probably great... once its working dont mess but as a home system for the inquisitive .... If I was to do anything 64 I'd go gentoo and possibly still dual boot for compatibility..and this is what i was doing when I realised I hadnt rebooted into 64 in a couple of weeks! Usually its inconvienient rebooting becuase Im dloading or doing something i dont wanna stop...to say rip a movie 10% faster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphitus Posted August 6, 2004 Report Share Posted August 6, 2004 ive heard debian has a decent 64bit package list, might be somethin cool there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted August 6, 2004 Report Share Posted August 6, 2004 Thats not the prob iphitus its the missing ones that sting! The 'official' debs are 99% converted but for instance no libdvdcss... its the tiny missing parts that stop the jigsaw being quite ready... its getting better all the time but presently it needs more developers ... It can be something as simple as say a kdetheme but it uses a lib that isnt there cause its looking in lib not lib64.... You *can* get almost everything to work by compiling yourself and setting paths etc but it somehow then becomes a challenge, not fun (to me) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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