[RLUG] 64 bit vs 32 bit

[Sebastian Smith]

Austin,

You can install a 32-bit distribution on a 64-bit architecture if the
architecture supports the 32-bit instruction set (the pentium, athlon64,
opteron, and sempron line do).  Most of the 64-bit architectures offer a
boost in SIMD performance running in 64-bit mode.  If you're not crunching
numbers, you probably won't notice much of a difference.

Most distros offer a multilib setup so that you can transparently run 64,
and 32-bit binaries.  Because of chroot, and multilib there is no reason
not to run in 64-bit mode IMHO.

- Sebastian


On Sun, 13 Nov 2005, Austin Stanhope wrote:

> Based on the presentation given last Thursday about using the chroot 
> command to run 32 bit stuff on a 64 bit Linux distribution, i was 
> wondering if you could also just install a 32 bit version of Linux on 
> your 64 bit machine to achieve the same outcome.  Are there any cons or 
> pros to this idea versus using chroot on your 64 bit distro?
> 
> Thanks,
> -Austin
> 
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