What to install on an amd64 machine?

[G. Vamsee Krishna]

I've been using amd64 for the past 2 months. So my comments are based 
mostly  on my personal experiences and the problems I've solved as a 
resident linux geek :-)

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004, Alexander Volovics wrote:

> - Can you install FC3-i386 on an amd64 machine without problems?
>   Can the FC3-i386 kernel and drivers handel the hardware without
>   problems?
> 

Yes. I installed FC3-i386 and then downloaded 64-bit FC2.

> - Looking at the packages contained in FC3-x86_64 I see both i386
>   and x86_64 versions for a lot of things. For example:
>   hal-0.4.0-10.i386.rpm and hal-0.4.0-10.x86_64.rpm.
>   Are the i386 versions included for 'compat' reasons, so you can
>   run i386 apps under FC3-x86_64?

You must've mistaked. I don't see any 32-bit stuff (atleast not many) in 
my install CDs. The general softwares directory on redhat/fedora websites 
has both the versions.

>   And are they installed by default when doing a standard workstation 
>   install or do you add them if necessary?

AFAIK no 32-bit RPM is installed by default. You can install them yourself 
if the 64-bit version is not available. It works in most cases.

>   If they are available for 'compat' reasons are they sufficient for
>   all i386 apps I would like to run or do you sometimes have to add
>   extra i386 libraries?

If at all they are included only for compat reasons, I see no point why 
you should be needing extra libs. Just the compat libs would do.

>   Can i386 libraries always coexist with x86_64 libraries without
>   problems?

Yes. /usr/lib and /usr/lib64 can coexist without problems :-)

> 
> - Do up2date/yum function faultlessly when adding i386 apps to
>   a machine running FC3-x86_64.
>

That's one thing I haven't tried yet. But they should work (conceptually).

> 
> - If both FC3-i386 and FC3-x86_64 can run on an amd64 machine without
>   problems are there significant advantages for the x86_64 version?
>

I find my x86_64 perform a bit better than i686 (same machine - amd64). 
Since I have no idea how to perform any benchmarks, I can't give you any 
solid proofs. I can give you the output/run-times of some apps.

>
> - I will be getting a MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum board with an Athlon64
>   3500+ socket 399 and an UDMA100 hard drive. Does anybody know of
>   any special problems when installing either FC3-i386 or FC3-x86_64?
> 
FC3 is running fine on my MSI K8N (VIA 8237) without a problem. I'm 
totally ignorant of UDMA drives. 

Hope this helps. One final word, go for it!!! It's always better to stay a 
step ahead...

GVK

-- 
experience is what you get when you don't get what you really wanted