32bit or 64bit Gentoo?

[wolfton]

After years of distro-hopping, not even the "Disrto Hopper Stopper" could tame me. Just when I settled on PCLOS2K7, it was January "2k8" and my craptop died. I came here for help and settled upon a tabletPC, based solely upon the cool factor.

The problem is that it came with the worst OS since Millenium Edition; Vista.

Here's my specs (wrapped like code for stunning visual effects):

HP TX 1410US
CPU: AMD64, dual core, 2.2GHz
RAM: 2GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 (128MB Shared Video Memory)
HDD: 250GB SATA
WiFi: Broadcom 4321 (4328) a/b/g/draft n (works well in Mandriva with ndiswrapper)

So I want to get the 'best' installation of Linux possible. I know that there is no 'best distro' for everyone, and that it is foolish to think so. But I do beleive that a stage one installation of Gentoo is difficult to get on the first attempt.

I want to try anyway, and I want to do it both see just how much better it is, and to say that I've done it.

I had an acquaintence here in Korea who showed me his Gentoo on his laptop running circles around my dual-boot XP/PCLOS2K7 last year. Unfortunately, I think he moved away because I haven't seen him in a while. (Otherwise I'd ask him for his opinon.)

So, like the title imples, I would like opinons as to which arch I should use to get my system up and running.

I think that the key drivers I need (wireless and graphics) exist for both 32 bit and 64 bit Linux.

I do want to get my touchscreen working. Currently, I can click on it, but I cannot move the cursor unless I use the mouse or touchpad.

Eventually, I want to get Cedega and configure my laptop to play Anarchy Online. (AO is pretty nuch the only reason I use Windows anymore.)

After I create this topic, I will experiment with Gentoo using the 64bit cd I just downloaded, and I will try stage 3 first. Assuming that I can get it to work, I'll post my success and any lessons learned.

[dberkholz]

I use 64-bit on my laptop, and for the most part, it works well. One place where you hit some problems is binary browser plugins like Flash, but you can install the 32-bit emulation libraries to make that work too.

[i92guboj]

So, like the title imples, I would like opinons as to which arch I should use to get my system up and running.

I think that the key drivers I need (wireless and graphics) exist for both 32 bit and 64 bit Linux.

This is the first thing to check. So, if you can confirm that, the bigger show stopper is gone.

I do want to get my touchscreen working. Currently, I can click on it, but I cannot move the cursor unless I use the mouse or touchpad.

Unless it's a very specific issue or it nees a closed source driver, the architecture is not related to this problem. Of course, without further info I can't confirm or deny this.

Eventually, I want to get Cedega and configure my laptop to play Anarchy Online. (AO is pretty nuch the only reason I use Windows anymore.)

Cedega and wine can't be compiled on amd64, but they work just perfectly under amd64 as 32 bits applications, provided you have all the libraries on place. Gentoo is *particularly good* at this, and it sets up it all ok out of the box. For the rest, it will work exactly the same as it does on a 32 bits environment, because, in fact, it will be the same exact binary.

I use 64-bit on my laptop, and for the most part, it works well. One place where you hit some problems is binary browser plugins like Flash, but you can install the 32-bit emulation libraries to make that work too.

yep. There are a number of workarounds. If it's just for youtube stuff, you can use net-www/swfdec-mozilla which handles them just fine, and will run natively on amd64. You can as well use a 64 bits browser with a 32 bits flash plugin by installing nspluginwrapper. There's also gnash, another native solution. And, finally, you can run a 32 bits browser, like opera or firefox-bin. I also remember someone who got to work a 32 bits plugin into a 64 bits konqueror by manually installing a 32 bits kde-base/nsplugins package, which is the package that provides konqueror with the ability to load netscape plugins.

[wolfton]

I suppose that this is the most accurate way to do it. I happen to love workarounds, so long as they are consistent, and persistant.

I went with CrossoverGames. It is also a WINE dirivative, and it ran Anarchy Online QUITE well in my initial test with PCLinuxOS 2008 Mini Me. (32 bit, of course)

What I intend to do with this is make a fully blogged project out of it, then remaster a DVD specificallly tailored to my hardware, and then I'll post it here in our downloads section.

I hope that in doing so, I might help fellow users the way you guys help me.



Also, I am working on several more articles to submit here, but I am still waiting for payment promised for my first article, 18 months ago.

Does anyone knoe if this site is still paying for article submissions that get published?

[i92guboj]

[...]
I went with CrossoverGames. It is also a WINE dirivative, and it ran Anarchy Online QUITE well in my initial test with PCLinuxOS 2008 Mini Me. (32 bit, of course)

What I intend to do with this is make a fully blogged project out of it, then remaster a DVD specificallly tailored to my hardware, and then I'll post it here in our downloads section.

I hope that in doing so, I might help fellow users the way you guys help me.
[...]

I am not sure I understood it ok. But just in case I did: you can't redistribute Crossover office into a livecd, it's got a propietary license, and by doing so, you would be putting yourself in serious legal trouble with Crossover.

[wolfton]

Actually, I read the license agreement beforehand. I am not redistributing the license, only the software with a seven day trial. In any case, I will write them and ask for explicit permission to do so before I am finished testing the disc.

[i92guboj]

Actually, I read the license agreement beforehand. I am not redistributing the license, only the software with a seven day trial. In any case, I will write them and ask for explicit permission to do so before I am finished testing the disc.

It should be ok then, still, I have never used it so I agree that it's better to ask for permission. Anyway, if the license permits the redistribution of the demo then there shouldn't be a problem.