64bit linux

[footbal07]

how many of you guys run 64bit linux? which distros work well the A64s? i currently have mandrake 10 and sus 9.1 personal (with the suse/novell package on the way) but i am not sure what is all involved in installing 64bit version. i would like to mess around with this idea but i do not have a lot of experience with linux. any help or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[drag]

I don't have a AMD-64 machine to try it out on.

But it shouldn't be any different then running a 32 bit machine. You may run into more bugs because it's newer and less people use it, but other then that it shouldn't be to much harder.

 

[yak8998]

I believe gentoo's AMD64 fork is rather stable at this point, but I couldn't say for sure.

 

[footbal07]

thanks ill have to check that out. i think my main problem will be drivers but it will be worth a try

 

[drag]

drivers aren't any worse in Linux 64bit then Linux 32bit generally.

ATI may be a problem, but Nvidia's has AMD-64 bit drives months before AMD-64 was actually released.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Mandrake also has a AMD 64 distro (2.6 kernel)

 

[silverpig]

If you are looking at 64 bit linux I'd go with gentoo as it's always updating and it's very easy to update as new things come out.

 

[KristopherKubicki]

Go the way of SuSE

Kristopher

 

[drag]

Well, SuSE was the first distro (well the first anything probably) to have a AMD-64 native OS. They worked directly with AMD. Had it out even before the first cpus were being sold to everyday customers.
IRC

And suse has gotten rid of just having the ftp install cdrom (although they still have that), they now have a "personal" Suse edition, but the ftp install will probably have more software aviable. Not sure.

 

[footbal07]

i have the suse 9.1 personal and i will be gettin the professional and all but i couldnt find the 64bit version of it so i figured id try something else. i guess i just need to look harder.

 

[drag]

Aww... I can't find the personal version for x86_64 either.

Although I do beleive they have a ftp install version.

here is the directions for the FTP install

It's a little bit awkward, but it's not that hard once you get what to do. Just change the paths from i386 to x86_64 and it should be fine. It'll go much quicker if you choose a local mirror, rather then the actual ftp.suse.com which is probably located somewere in germany.

Otherwise their always is fedora core2/1 x86-64

 

[Brazen]

There is a new article on Anandtech comparing the 64bit beta Windows with AMD64 versions of Fedora and SuSe. From the article it looks like SuSe works better but is not available for free. EDIT: not free for the AMD64 compiled version, that is.

 

[erichbf]

The 64 bit SuSE actually is quite good, and is available for free download, but not as an ISO, you have to do an ftp install. Instructions for ftp install are here: http://forums.suselinuxsupport...dex.php?showtopic=3736

 

[erichbf]

See my other comment, the SuSE 64 bit edition IS available for FREE DOWNLOAD, but NOT as an ISO download, you have to do an ftp install. It really is not that hard, as long as you have a fast connection. I actually prefer the ftp install, because you can do it unattended (you never have to change cd's), once you get it started, that is...