[NCLUG] PC for Linux (Ubuntu)

Jim Hutchinson jim at ubuntu-rocks.org
Wed Sep 17 19:48:38 MDT 2008


On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 1:20 PM, DJ Eshelman <djsbignews at gmail.com> wrote:

> Bob Proulx wrote:
>
>> DJ Eshelman wrote:
>>
>>
>>> As a general rule- only worry about 64 bit if you need to use more
>>> than 4GB of RAM.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I would say that if you have to ask if which you should be running
>> then I think the person asking should stick with 32-bit.  It is
>> simpler and if someone is asking then they probably need the simpler
>> course of action.  I personally run 64-bit because I want to exercise
>> that path and to fix any programs which do not work properly on
>> 64-bits.  I think developers should run 64-bits to continue to improve
>> the system.
>>
> Oh, absolutely- those of you smart enough to actually write code (which I
> am NOT), I'm glad that you're running 64 bit.
>
> I think we're going to see some interesting things coming down the road in
> the next year or so, as people are already up against the 3.4 GB ceiling in
> Vista and still having performance issues (I run Vista at the office with 3
> GB of RAM- it's just not enough).  Fortunately this isn't as large an issue
> with Linux desktops, however- Linux has been leading the charge towards 64
> bit.
> Xen and VMWare would not be possible if not for this effort, and Microsoft
> is still trying to catch up.
> It's odd that it's come full circle like this, but if it weren't for Xen
> and VMWare my life would suck these days.


A while back I read a "theory" by Eric S. Raymond in which he claimed that
the next monopoly OS would be decided this year and would be the one that
did 64bit the best. He felt it would be Linux because Apple didn't seem to
care and windows was too dependent on third party drivers. At least that was
my take on it. I'm not positive but this might be the link
http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/world-domination/world-domination-201.html.
If I goofed up on my summary I'm sure I'll be corrected.

I bring this up because just the other day I read a story that said sales of
64bit vista had tripled recently (albeit to about 3 or 4% or something).
Sorry, I can't find the story but it was on CNN's tech page in the last week
or so.

I'm not sure what that means but I suspect it means there are probably more
64bit windows users than there are Linux users which kind of punches holes
in any hopes of seeing Raymond's theory become reality. The conclusion I
draw from this is that Linux users should use 64bit as much as possible to
help show demand for it as well as help it improve.

-- 
Jim (Ubuntu geek extraordinaire)
----
Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html



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