[ubuntu-uk] Dell Optiplex 740

[Bruno Girin]

On Sun, 2010-06-20 at 23:08 +0100, Alan Pope wrote:

> 32-bit Ubuntu copes just fine with more than 4GB RAM these days. It
> autodetects during the install and installs the PAE kernel. It works
> just fine, whatever some people might say :)

True. I keep forgetting about the PAE kernel.

> 
> The main issues I've had with 64-bit Linux have all been due to
> non-free software. Flash, Skype and other 3rd party apps have had
> issues on 64-bit where they don't on 32-bit.

Which in itself demonstrates why open source is a more efficient model.
If the code for Flash, Skype et al was available, pure 64bit builds for
those would have been sorted aeons ago.

This is rather frustrating because it means most people use the 32bit
ISO rather than the 64bit one, even if they have hardware that should be
able to take full advantage of a 64bit OS, because some non-free stuff
is borked in 64bit. As a result, the 64bit desktop gets a lot less
testing than it should. In the meantime, MS has Win7 with 64bit versions
and can point at Linux and say "look, we can do 64bit, they can't!"

Anyway, enough ranting for tonight: as a Frenchman who lives in England,
I've seen way too much ranting on TV today :-)

Cheers,

Bruno