Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

gsibble · 2004-03-11 20:38:14

So, the gist of the quetsion is:

Would you donate (more) money to Arch if they were to make a 64-bit version of it? (IE. AMD64, not Itanic)

I know I would!

-G

Arielext · 2004-03-11 20:53:00

my anwer would be NO for the moment

why? Because I'm egocentric and I don't need a 64bit version right now. plain, simple and honest.

skparkes · 2004-03-11 23:05:08

I am running on a AMD64 3000+, and I would make further donations towards a x86-64 version.

Thanks,

Isamoor

gvre · 2004-03-11 23:05:53

My answer is Yes

Gvre

nifan · 2004-03-11 23:15:12

my anwser is no, i dont even have money to my own hardware needs, being a non paid student sux big time :

wdemoss · 2004-03-11 23:29:28

I answered no because i wouldn't donate any more money or any less money then I already do if they made a 64 bit version.

Really, from my understanding all money donated goes to server and bandwidth costs. I don't believe the Arch community is driven by money, or are looking to make money from donations. Dontating more for a feature is usually found in commercial products, hense "you get what you pay for."

From what I understand, and as always i could be wrong, arch does support a 64 bit version, do an ABS, modify your abs.conf with the right paramaters and do a make world. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

You could set this up from another machine, build all your packages, then host a local repos that your 64 bit machine could target, just a thought.

Just a tanget thought, if i am right about the above, I have gained a better appriciation for how extensable and powerful the arch build system is. Thanks arch community.

-wd

wdemoss · 2004-03-11 23:34:11

Oops, guess i should have read thread http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?t=3146 first. Sorry for the overlap
-wd

gsibble · 2004-03-11 23:36:27

Hehe. It's cool.

To summarize that other thread:

Many developers do not have 64-bit systems in order to develop a 64-bit optimized version. Donations would further that cause.

-G

andy · 2004-03-12 00:50:41

So, how many are out there to test a 64 bit version ? I have it somewhat working in 64bit. I still have weird errors (mostly outside of Arch, though) and I still need to make a clean boot image.

So ... can I set up a page for donations ;-) ....

MNKyDeth · 2004-03-12 10:03:14

I am not sure what your exact goals are for having an A64bit compat OS. But, I use an A64 3400+ and I use my system mostly for gaming. For me I would wait cause 32bit linux commercial games still have issues with the A64 OS. Look at gentoo for example. They have a bunch of emulation libraries for 32bit apps to run on the a64 OS and most games still do not run correctly on it. The games that seem to run fine are the ones that have source code available so you can compile them into 64bit.

So, for me, I would wait till X or nvidia or opengl make drivers or libraries that work in 32bit from the 64bit OS. Until that happens and I have true backward compat in a 64bit OS, I will wait.

I have tried the gentoo amd64bit OS and it is fast, you can see a difference in desktop speed. But I need my commercial games in linux and I must follow them. I just can't get into the whole emulation thing anymore. I've done it with wine and wineX and have ceased to use them and accept what games are available for linux. I must do the same until true backward compat for the A64bit OS is there.

andy · 2004-03-12 10:26:50

MNKyDeth, these are exactly the hings I'm struggeling with ;-) ... I never looked too closely what the other distros do about that and how well they work, but I'm glad (sort of) that I'm not the only one with these problems.

The pure 64bit stuff seems to work fine. I even have some 32bit compatibility libraries. But I want to go even further than playing games : I want to compile 32bit binaries ... :-) (don't ask why ... ).

Just a note about the term "emulation" : there is not much emulation going on. the AMD64 CPU can execute 32bit binaries natively. It's just that the dynamic loader needs to match the right binaries with the right shared libraries.
E.g. if you have a 32bit static binary, there is no compatibility layer needed to run that in a 64bit OS.
Or the other way round : in a first step I compiled a 64bit Kernel and stuck that in a standard 32bit AL - worked quite nice, with the added bonus of being able to run static 64bit binaries.

I think the real tough part is when the programs assume certain behaviour from the CPU (like word width etc.)

gvre · 2004-03-12 11:06:22

MNKyDeth,

You are playing games but other people are using linux for servers. That's why i think it would be good for those people an AMD-64 Arch distro to exist.

Gvre

jojapa · 2004-03-12 15:25:20

Sorry to say that, but i see ridiculous to use a powerfull CPU like the one's based on the amd64 to be used just for games.
I have a Dual Opteron that for sure is used as a server and a develop machine, and maybe sometimes to play games, but that's not the primary usage of it.
The distros that i have tested ( in 64bit mode) are all very inmature, and i think that doing a port to this architecture is not an easy task.
Anyway if there's a coletive effort ( monetary or whatever) to do a port, i think that's something positive, and count with me.

andy · 2004-03-12 16:33:02

Just to clarify a little bit : I myself am not using the AMD64 for games (I haven't even installed X on it). But the need to run 32 bit binaries is there - especially to run binary-only programs. And there are other beasts than just games that are binary-only.

As I said, the pure 64bit part seems to work for my machine.

MNKyDeth · 2004-03-12 19:58:18

I understand that linux is used mostly for other things than games. I was just stating what I use it for and why I wouldn't support a A64bit OS currently. I know there are many other reasons to have a 64bit OS for these cpu's but for my main interest I cannot justify it yet.

gvre · 2004-04-03 16:53:04

So, is Arch going to support AMD64 or not?

Thanks,
Gvre

Arch Linux

#1 2004-03-11 20:38:14

Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#2 2004-03-11 20:53:00

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#3 2004-03-11 23:05:08

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#4 2004-03-11 23:05:53

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#5 2004-03-11 23:15:12

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#6 2004-03-11 23:29:28

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#7 2004-03-11 23:34:11

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#8 2004-03-11 23:36:27

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#9 2004-03-12 00:50:41

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#10 2004-03-12 10:03:14

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#11 2004-03-12 10:26:50

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#12 2004-03-12 11:06:22

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#13 2004-03-12 15:25:20

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#14 2004-03-12 16:33:02

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#15 2004-03-12 19:58:18

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

#16 2004-04-03 16:53:04

Re: Donate for 64-Bit Arch?

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