new notebook - wait for 64bit version? (solved for now)

[nixus]

Hallo,

Recently I bought a HP ProBook (6450b) with 4gigs of RAM. All partitions are in place and are eagerly waiting for the PCLOS installation.
I am not sure whether I should just wait for the 64bit version or just install 32bit (with PAE) and replace it with the 64bit version when it's available.
My Question:
Is it possible to use the the same /Home partition no matter if 64bit or 32bit is installed or do I have to reformat /Home, as well?

Thanks,
nixus

[T6]

from what i know, it should be possible to do that without much problem, keep home

about wait vs instal 32 bit os, i would install 32 bit first

pclinux is better than no linux 

[OMSkates]

That's a nice notebook nixus.  It depends on why you are interested in the 64 bit.  The consensus is that currently regular desktop use and common online activities won't see a big performance increase.  If you are wanting to test benchmarking and 64 bit programs or use high demand activities etc. then it would be good to wait.

[Vorteggs]

nixus,
I'm not sure I'll switch my desktop to 64 bit version when it comes out. The Boss said there'd be little advance for the common tasks that I use. But I am sure there ought to be glitches if I switch, and now the .bfs.pae 32 bit kernel can happily see up to 64 GB of RAM.
 

[nixus]

Thanks T6 and omskates

I have to run win XP in VB, because workwise I need ArcInfo, which is a very resource intensive piece of software. Would 64 vs 32 make any difference in this case?

nixus

[nixus]

nixus,
I'm not sure I'll switch my desktop to 64 bit version when it comes out. The Boss said there'd be little advance for the common tasks that I use. But I am sure there ought to be glitches if I switch, and now the .bfs.pae 32 bit kernel can happily see up to 64 GB of RAM.
 

You are right, Vorteks. I guess for the common tasks, which I also use most of the time, that might be true. I just wonder if it makes any difference in my particular case.

nixus

[T6]

i ignore if virtualbox can let you allocate more than two gbs of ram for each virtual machine now, if i remember correctly, no

the os afik, can't be emulated on 64 bit mode, only 32 bit mode but i could be wrong

xp in 64 bit mode is identical to 32 bit mode but with more restrictions, possibly virtualbox covers them but not sure

the whole os should run a bit faster but we are not talking about 5% of speed increase, probably less than that

[YouCanToo]

Thanks T6 and omskates

I have to run win XP in VB, because workwise I need ArcInfo, which is a very resource intensive piece of software. Would 64 vs 32 make any difference in this case?

nixus

Was it written to take advantage of a 64bit processor?

[djohnston]

For desktop use, you won't be able to tell any difference between 64bit and 32bit use. You'll only see a difference in high performance computing with high CPU usage. Running a pae kernel will allow you to use all 4GB of your RAM.

I have an Athlon64 CPU with 4GB RAM. I can tell you this. The 2.6.38.8-pclos1.pae.bfs is extremely good. I gauge its performance by the number of points per day I get on the folding@home tasks I run. Before switching to the aforementioned kernel, I was running an .a64 kernel, optimized for the Athlon64. With the pae.bfs kernel, my points per day have nearly tripled over a two or three week period. Nothing else changed, just the kernel used. The pae.bfs kernel is the first one Texstar's done that combines the aspects of Con Kolivas's scheduling with physical address extension.

You can run 64bit Windows in VirtualBox if you have a copy to install. I don't think you'll see any performance increase there, either. I'm told you can run a 64bit OS in VirtualBox, even if the host is 32bit, as long as you have PAE/NX enabled in VirtualBox. I haven't tried it yet, though.

As to your /home partition, you should be able to use the same one, keeping all your data intact. At worst case, you'll need to move some configuration files and/or folders to be sure you get a clean setup. That's pretty standard praxctice, though.

[nixus]

Thanks T6 and omskates

I have to run win XP in VB, because workwise I need ArcInfo, which is a very resource intensive piece of software. Would 64 vs 32 make any difference in this case?

nixus

Was it written to take advantage of a 64bit processor?

not that I know of.

[nixus]

For desktop use, you won't be able to tell any difference between 64bit and 32bit use. You'll only see a difference in high performance computing with high CPU usage. Running a pae kernel will allow you to use all 4GB of your RAM.

You can run 64bit Windows in VirtualBox if you have a copy to install. I don't think you'll see any performance increase there, either. I'm told you can run a 64bit OS in VirtualBox, even if the host is 32bit, as long as you have PAE/NX enabled in VirtualBox. I haven't tried it yet, though.

As to your /home partition, you should be able to use the same one, keeping all your data intact. At worst case, you'll need to move some configuration files and/or folders to be sure you get a clean setup. That's pretty standard praxctice, though.

Many thanks djohnston

Just for clarification:
It 's not a 64bit XP version. I am running a 32bit XP in VirtualBox. ArcInfo and other simulation/modelling tools I use have high CPU usage, but they still run in a 32bit windows environment.
The question is whether 32bit or 64bit PCLOS would make any difference.

nixus

[OMSkates]

IMO you would see a bigger performance boost by just running your VB on an openbox or LXDE session than going to 64bit.  What would be really cool is getting benchmark comparisons from you, but that would require installing 32bit, testing, then install 64bit and test again.

[djohnston]

The question is whether 32bit or 64bit PCLOS would make any difference.

Because there's no 64-bit version yet, it's all conjecture. I've tried distros that have both 32 and 64 bit versions, and I was hard pressed to see any real difference. Running some kind of benchmarks might show an advantage to either one.

[T6]

"The question is whether 32bit or 64bit PCLOS would make any difference"

we already answered it, the diference is very small

but lets hope i'm wrong

[nixus]

I guess without doing some kind of benchmark testing, finding an answer is illusory.

For now I will install the 32-bit version and do some basic testing with my simulation software (some of them even plot the simulation time at the end of each run). Once the 64-bit version is released, I will check the forum for any installation issues related to /Home, install it when it's somehow hassle free and perform the same tests.
Will report back :-)

Many thanks for your input.

nixus