Should I fall back to 32 bit?

[John Paul Ritchey]

On Mon, 2006-09-04 at 19:22 +1000, benben wrote:
> Hi everyone!
> 
> I have a Pentium D pc and a few weeks ago I finally made the transition 
> to Ubuntu Linux AMD64 version from Windows.
> 
> However, it also comes with a number of 64 bit incompatibility issues 
> which to this date I am unable to solve. For example, the Intel graphics 
> driver does not do any hardware acceleration, SCIM does not work on 
> OpenOffice, I can't play a number of media such as flash and wmv.
> 
> I was forced to set up a vmware server on top of which runs a windows as 
> backup.
> 
> So I decided maybe I should give 32 bit Linux a try. Perhaps that'd 
> solve some of the problems. But on the other hand I am concerned about 
> the performance impact it would bring.
> 
> So what would you guys say? Should I stay with AMD64 or switch to x86? 
> To what scale would the performance impact be, and what things I shall 
> be careful with?
> 
> Regards,
> Ben
> 
> 

Ben,
I'm also a new arrival to Ubuntu, and I'm currently running 32 bit after
numerous attempts at the 64 bit version.  I'm having my best success in
Ubuntu now, on the 32 bit.  Instead of poking and hoping that THIS load
will be the one that takes, I'm back to actually doing my usual work.
Performance seems the same, IMO.  Your mileage may vary.

My 64 bit installs would quickly degrade to the point of wiping and
reloading the OS; I'm writing it off to my learning the ropes and some
of the short term fixes suggested on the boards not playing nice with my
hardware combination.  I've noticed that running 32 bit has taken a step
out of the process.  The software I've been installing is written for
i386, so no forced architecture, 32 bit Firefox on AMD64 type hassles
required.

All that having been said, I'd take either one over XP or Vista.

A question for the veterans however:  If I continue to run the 32 bit
version, come October will I be able to migrate to Eft 64 bit without
starting from scratch / curling into a fetal position / being heavily
sedated?  I figure I'd ask now, so I can keep my schedule open.

thanks, and good luck Ben,
John