[aklug] Re: 32 vs 64 bit

In a AKLUG meeting a few months ago I defended using 32-bit Linux as I found
no need to bother with 64-bit.
My opinion changed as I have a new 64-bit system here. ... my last system
was 64-bit but had 2 gigs of ram so I didn't bother.

64-bit cpu's have extra registers which hold variables on the CPU rather
than the ram. In addition, newer VM and MMX instructions speed up
virtualization, data compression and multimedia. Everything from unzipping a
folder, running tar, or creating mp3s is faster under 64 bit mode. If you
run virtual box or VMWare to run Windows or other Linux guest operating
systems then you will notice an even further speed boasts. On my system I
can not even run a 64-bit guest Linux OS without Hyper-V enabled. Databases
also use these extra CPU registers for common table IDs, columns, and rows.
Unless you just browse the web with a netbook you will notice a difference
under these tasks. I think in the future the CPU makers should focus on
putting tons and tons of registers on the CPU itself which get rid of the
ram bottleneck.

I was hesitant earlier to use a 64-bit version of Linux due to bad flash and
Java support but that problem is going away.

On Sun, Oct 24, 2010 at 9:39 PM, Tim Gibney <timgibney76@gmail.com> wrote:

> That reminds me of a guy I met once. He bought a used dual core Alpha
> workstation so he could run a shell script which launched several thousand
> other sh's over and over again to keep his dorm room warm in the winter.
>
> On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 11:49 AM, Arthur Corliss <
> acorliss@nevaeh-linux.org> wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 23 Oct 2010, Mike Tibor wrote:
>>
>> > This is funny. With the exception of my old Alphas which I ditched
>> quite
>> > awhile ago, 32 bit single core processors define my home network. :-)
>> I
>> > actually can't imagine wasting the money on a multi-core or 64 bit box
>> > when everything I can even dream of running runs just fine on a 32 bit
>> > single core box.
>> >
>> > Do I like 64 bit OS's? Of course--I have lots of serious big iron at
>> > work and I enjoy working with it. Do I need anything like that at home?
>> > Not even remotely.
>>
>> I don't know, my favorite computer at home is 64-bit, with two processors,
>> and even then it doesn't quite feel like it's enough all the time. Of
>> course, the processors are clocked at a screaming 250MHz, but the amount
>> of
>> thermal energy wafting off those MIPS processors make the den cozy. And
>> it still does better OpenGL better than any Intel machine ten years
>> younger.
>>
>> Long live SGI... er... long live Rackable Systems... uh... oh, that's
>> right,
>> they killed off MIPS/IRIX development. Screw it. I'll be in the den,
>> living in the past...
>>
>> --Arthur Corliss
>> Live Free or Die
>> ---------
>> To unsubscribe, send email to <aklug-request@aklug.org>
>> with 'unsubscribe' in the message body.
>>
>>
>

---------
To unsubscribe, send email to <aklug-request@aklug.org>
with 'unsubscribe' in the message body.
Received on Sun Oct 24 21:50:05 2010