32 or 64 bit?

[Fred Roller]

Nik N wrote:
> I am about to install Ubuntu 9.10 on a laptop with a 64-bit AMD Turion.
>
> Can someone point me to a text that discusses the pros and cons of
> using a 64-bit (vs. 32-bit) Ubuntu on it?
> TIA, Nik N.
>
>   
I have been running 64 bit since I bought my laptop, which has amd64x2 
and 4Gb RAM.  I do a lot of virtualization and heavy graphics work on 
occasion.  At 4 gigs you can get the alternate PAE install for the extra 
gig in 32 bit.  What I and my partner have found is that the benies come 
from heavy loads.  He runs some 16-20 routers with dynamips and only 64 
bit can keep the load down to around 30-40% cpu utilization.  For me, 
the 64 helps me keep four desktops doing a million things at once going 
with little to no latency. 

i.e. typical load for me could be firefox with 12-15 tabs, filezilla, 
inkscape working on 3-4 documents, gimp with 2-3 documents, mail keeping 
up with 8 accounts and 3 google calendars, vbox with xp and ubuntu 
server to bang on, terminal with 3-4 tabs half of which sshing to 
servers, and either rhythmbox piping di.fm or playing Ice Age for my 
daughter on the second monitor.

Like a highway in the city.  You don't always need the lanes but come 
rush hour would you rather have 32 lanes or 64? Good luck in deciding.

-- 
Fred
www.fwrgallery.com

"Life is like linux, simple.  If you are fighting it you are doing something wrong."