What to install on an amd64 machine?

[Alexander Volovics]

On Mon, Dec 27, 2004 at 08:17:52PM +0530, G. Vamsee Krishna wrote:
 
> 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 :-)

Thanks for the reply.
 
> > - 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.

I think I will travel this route too. First i386, to test the waters,
and then 64-bit FC3.

> > - 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.

I have not downloaded and burned the x86_64 iso's yet so I don't know
what is on the actual installation 4 cd set.
But when I look in the x86_64 'os' directory on any of the download
sites, for example:
download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/3/x86_64/os/Fedora/RPMS/
I see quite a lot of i386 packages among the x86_64 packages.
So if they are not on the install cd's they were added to the download
sites to make downloading i386 versions more easy I suppose.
 
> 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.

This was something I did not understand. It might be better in this
case to install first and see what happens before asking.

> >   Can i386 libraries always coexist with x86_64 libraries without
> >   problems?
 
> Yes. /usr/lib and /usr/lib64 can coexist without problems :-)
 
Good. I should have expected this.
  
> > - 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 have just now found these reviews on anandtech with benchmarks:
http://www.anandtech.com/linux/showdoc.aspx?i=2213
http://www.anandtech.com/linux/showdoc.aspx?i=2229

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

One step ahead and two steps back eh... :)
Thanks again

Alexander