is 64 bit ready for primetime yet?

[O. Sinclair]

On 06/04/2011 00:59, Marcelo Magno T. Sales wrote:
> Em terça-feira 05 abril 2011, Errol Sapir escreveu:
>> On 04/04/2011 05:10 PM, Marcelo Magno T. Sales wrote:
>>> 2011/4/2 Paul Lemmons<paul at lemmons.name
>>> <mailto:paul at lemmons.name>>
>>>
>>>      When Natty comes out I am planning on doing a clean install. My
>>>      first on this particular machine since Feisty. I am considering
>>>      the 64 bit version. The machine has more than 4GB of ram so I
>>>      have been successfully running the pae version without any
>>>      real hiccups.  It has been a long time since I considered
>>>      "real" 64 bit and was wondering has it matured to the point
>>>      where it is as smooth, application and stability wise, as the
>>>      32 bit version? In particular: Firefox? Flash? Java? VMWare
>>>      Workstation?
>>>
>>> I consider the 64 bit version quite stable. About the specific
>>> applications you mentioned:
>>> Firefox - as stable as its plugins allow it to be. If a plugin
>>> crashes, all browser windows crash, but it's the same in the 32 bit
>>> version (at least for now. Firefox 4 is supposed to change this,
>>> but I didn't test it yet).
>>> Flash - unstable. But the 32 bit version is not very stable either.
>>> Java - very stable
>>> VMWare Workstation - I don't use it, but I use Virtualbox and it is
>>> very stable.
>>>
>>> In my opinion, flash is the most unstable software among those I
>>> use in the 64 bit version. And, because of it, Firefox may become
>>> unstable too. However, without flash installed, Firefox is
>>> reasonably stable. All other applications I use are very stable in
>>> the 64 bit version.
>>>
>>> []'s
>>> Marcelo
>>
>> Is having more than 4 giga ram the only or main reason to use the 64
>> bit installation? Are there any advantages to using the 64 bit with
>> less than 4 giga. I have a 64 bit machine but less than 4 giga ram.
>> Should I change to 64 bit Kubuntu?
>>
>> Errol
>
> Applications that do intensive calculations can benefit from a 64 bits
> architecture too. On the other hand, 64 bits softwares generally use
> more memory than their 32 bits counterparts. If you don't have more than
> 4 Gb and do not run software that do intensive calculation, maybe it's
> better to stay with the 32 bits version.
> Either way, for most applications a regular user runs, you probably
> won't notice any difference.
 From my experience that should read "more than 3GB RAM". My "plain" 
kubuntu can not see more at least, the pae version can see 4 but then 
you migh as well go 64...