64 bit Linux... worth it and if so, which one?

[vakkotaur]

The new laptop (see previous entry) presents a question of what,exactly, to run on it. Is it worthwhile to go for a 64-bit Linux, or am I better off staying with 32-bit for now? With 64-bit cores it seems like 64-bit would be the way to go, but I've seen things pointing out that not much is actually compiled for 64-bit and some stuff has to then run in a sort of simulated 32-bit environment. One potential factor, memory, is not a factor as the maximum addressable memory is 4 GB and I have "only" 4 GB, so I don't need to go 64-bit to use all the RAM.

The other part is, if I do go for 64-bit, then which distribution? And, no, it will NOT be Ubuntu or Debian nor (hopefully) any of their cancerously multiplying derivatives. I would like it very much if the Linux-using internet would kindly pull its head out of Ubuntu's behind. Alas, there is not a 64-bit version of PCLinuxOS or the distribution decision (for 64-bit) would be trivial.

Comments

[pndc.livejournal.com]

On a purely RAM basis, a 32 bit OS will give you less than 4GB of usable memory because of PCI devices cluttering up the 4GB address space. On the other hand, 64 bit code uses longer pointers so consumes more memory. AMD64 has more and wider registers than i386, so code can run faster, but you lose if you end up swapping because of the larger code.

All things being equal, I'd go for a 32 bit OS on a machine with less than 1GB or so of RAM, and 64 bit otherwise.

[sideband.livejournal.com]

Since you have more than 3G RAM, 32-bit won't address the excess, so that's one reason... The most 32 bit will be able to address is 3268M (Just over 3 gigs).

I've used the 64 bit versions of both Fedora and KUbubtu. Both are quite acceptable. Your choice will depend on whether you're more comfortable with a SYSV (Fedora) or BSD (Debian/Ubuntu) type implementation of the OS.

I've noted that getting 32-bit Win apps to run under WINE (namely, World of Warcraft...) was much less painful under 64 bit than under 32, once I installed the 32-bit binaries and libs for the video card driver along side the 64 bit ones.