Arch 64 Advice

tntcoda · 2007-09-01 14:32:01

Hi,

I'm getting a new PC next week, which will have 4gb of ram and so i will be making the change from i686 to x64, but have a couple of questions first.

Firstly how mature are packages for arch 64? Can i still simply download packages off AUR and run makepkg and everything just works as with i686? Or am i going to have to use some other method to install software?

Secondly will i see much of a performance boost on brand new hardware / full addressing of 4gb memory running KDE? Or would i maybe be better of sticking with i686?

Thanks for any advice,

Jack

robotangel · 2007-09-01 15:40:38

The "usual" packages will probably work fine and you will probably have no problems building the most software (at least if the source code is available) from AUR. But if you use proprietary software you probably will experience some problems here and there (fe adobe flash isnt available for x64), because there aren't any 32bit compatibility libs in the x64 repos (I don't use Arch64, but I read this in the wiki somewhere I think).

If you really use apps which need a lot of memory and cpu usage you will notice the difference between i686 and amd64.

miggols99 · 2007-09-01 15:42:06

64 makes things much faster. Building packages are much faster. Boot time is better. Most AUR packages are compatible with 64bit. The packages are relatively stable and (almost) as up to date as the 32bit repos. You're not really missing out on anything. To install flash, there is a PKGBUILD on the AUR that does most of it for you. Java works fine with Konqueror. There are a few w32 codecs missing. But for me I don't really miss anything.

skottish · 2007-09-01 16:22:02

Arch64 is awesome. The development team has done an outstanding job. I've been using it for a very long time and couldn't be happier.

It is true that there are some programs that are 32 bit only (for now), but there's usually a work around. For instance, Flash runs fine under 64 bit Arch, you just need some stuff out of community/lib32*, nspluginwrapper, and nspluginwrapper-flash. Skype and Opera work also with stuff from community/lib32*. All of the information on how to do this is either in this sub-forum or in the wiki.

As miggols99 said, there are some win32 codecs missing. The numbers are dwindling very fast thanks mostly to the MPlayer/FFMPEG/VLC people.

I'd say go for it.

Last edited by skottish (2007-09-01 16:39:45)

robotangel · 2007-09-01 18:54:59

skottish wrote:

community/lib32*

I didn't know this exists. Then, if a bit more work doesn't hurt you and you can live with those small disadvantages then I would recommend you to use it

tntcoda · 2007-09-01 19:15:46

Thanks guys Sounds like its worth the effort

fwojciec · 2007-09-01 19:22:22

I've just installed Arch64 a week ago or so and since I have been using it exclusively, I've had no reason to log in to the 32bit installation. Everything works, and works very smoothly. Flash needs a _tiny_ bit of work, same with skype - and these are the only 32bit apps I still use. It looks like either gnash or swfdec will be good enough to use instead of flash soon... That'll only leave skype, but I guess some reasonable alternative will come up as well at some stage.

skottish · 2007-09-01 19:39:33

fwojciec wrote:

That'll only leave skype, but I guess some reasonable alternative will come up as well at some stage.

64 bit Skype is in the works. See post 21. Ignore me in this thread.

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=24964&p=21

Last edited by skottish (2007-09-01 19:40:07)

fwojciec · 2007-09-01 20:54:50

skottish wrote:

64 bit Skype is in the works.

That's great news! In that case soon lib32* will be no longer necessary, at least for me.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-09-01 14:32:01

Arch 64 Advice

#2 2007-09-01 15:40:38

Re: Arch 64 Advice

#3 2007-09-01 15:42:06

Re: Arch 64 Advice

#4 2007-09-01 16:22:02

Re: Arch 64 Advice

#5 2007-09-01 18:54:59

Re: Arch 64 Advice

#6 2007-09-01 19:15:46

Re: Arch 64 Advice

#7 2007-09-01 19:22:22

Re: Arch 64 Advice

#8 2007-09-01 19:39:33

Re: Arch 64 Advice

#9 2007-09-01 20:54:50

Re: Arch 64 Advice

Board footer