Fedora 9 32 or 64 Bit - Which One?

[Bill Davidsen]

Kevin Kofler wrote:
> Charlie McVeigh <cbmcveigh <at> gmail.com> writes:
>> I apologize if this question has been asked before.   I have a new
>> Thinkpad T61 in scheduled to arrive sometime next week.  I want to
>> install Fedora 9 on it.   Being as it has a Core 2 Duo processor, I
>> assume I can install the 64 bit version of Fedora 9.  My question is
>> what are the pros and cons that I need to consider when choosing 32 or
>> 64 bit version of Fedora 9?
> 
> 64-bit is faster (mainly because x86_64 has more registers to use) and it can 
> run everything 32-bit can (almost all the packages in Fedora are available in 
> 64-bit versions and there are multilibs to run 3rd-party 32-bit-only 
> binary-only junk), so really there's no good reason to use the obsolete 32-bit 
> version.
> 
> IMHO, it makes no sense to run a 32-bit OS on a 64-bit-capable CPU, especially 
> for x86 (x86_64 is really a huge improvement).
> 
Let me offer one, 32 bit applications are smaller and nicer to cache. Depending 
on the application that can make a difference. Also minute gains in load speed, 
memory using, probably too small to measure.

-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot