Debian AMD64

[stokes]

Anyone tried the AMD64-bit version of Debian? I would like to hear about people's positive or negative experiences ...? Is it much faster than 'regular' Debian? Do all the packages for Sarge 32-bit still work on the 64-bit version?

Thanks!

[techieMoe]

Anyone tried the AMD64-bit version of Debian? I would like to hear about people's positive or negative experiences ...? Is it much faster than 'regular' Debian? Do all the packages for Sarge 32-bit still work on the 64-bit version?

Thanks!

I've tried 64-bit versions of many distributions and none of them are noticeably faster than their 32-bit counterparts. You run the extra risk of some software refusing to install or run (and some proprietary software like the Macromedia Flash plug-in doesn't even have a 64-bit version yet). As far as I know there is no "official" AMD64 port of Debian, but there is an "unofficial" one here. Personally, you're better off sticking to a 32-bit distribution for the time being.

[spoon!]

AMD64 is one of the official architectures for Etch (the next release of Debian). You can get the latest install media here. The AMD64 distribution that Debian has is "pure 64-bit" which means that you can't run 32-bit programs in the normal system; you have to run them in a 32-bit chroot or something. This is a little inconvenient because some programs (like OpenOffice.org) only run on 32-bit.

[stokes]

Blimey ... it sounds like it might be more hassle than it's worth. I've downloaded the DVD iso's for the unofficial 64-bit so I'll give that a try. I don't think there's a 64-bit version of QMail which I will be installing so that might cause me some problems.

Thanks guys

[techieMoe]

Blimey ... it sounds like it might be more hassle than it's worth. I've downloaded the DVD iso's for the unofficial 64-bit so I'll give that a try. I don't think there's a 64-bit version of QMail which I will be installing so that might cause me some problems.

Thanks guys

It sort of depends on the program. Some 32-bit programs install just fine on 64-bit Linux, and others might install but have issues running or not install at all. Best of luck.