Anyone Venture Into the 64-bit World Yet

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I'll be in the market for a new notebook this spring and have decided that 64-bit is the next logical step based on my needs. Does anyone else in here use Windows Vista 64-bit or a flavor of Linux in 64-bit? If so, any caveats that I should be aware of that aren't always published online?

Many thanks in advance.
 
I bought a new one for my daughter going to college , back in August. Had to take it back, since her University was not set up to handle 64 bit computers. They said that there would definately be some compatibility issues, since thet did not support 64 bit Vista. This was Penn State, so they have a big IT department.
If you are going to use the machine online for banking, work, Etc, check and make sure there are no compatability issues. I tought that the 64 Bit was just faster/more advanced, but was mistaken.
 
I've used WinXP 64 bit for a couple years on an older HP Pavilion laptop. It's definitely faster than it's 32 bit counterpart.

Vista64 running on a Dell 1720 laptop just fine. Linux? Many flavors have run A-OK on this same unit.

64bit computing has been long overdue.
 
Originally Posted By: scudpilot
I bought a new one for my daughter going to college , back in August. Had to take it back, since her University was not set up to handle 64 bit computers. They said that there would definately be some compatibility issues, since thet did not support 64 bit Vista. This was Penn State, so they have a big IT department.
If you are going to use the machine online for banking, work, Etc, check and make sure there are no compatability issues. I tought that the 64 Bit was just faster/more advanced, but was mistaken.


Don't know your daughter's college setup, but I know I have a mix of 32-bit / 64-bit operating systems both Windows/Linux on my home network and they can all print, share files, surf the net just fine with each other... Maybe the college had some special software that wouldn't run under the 64-bit platform?

I do banking etc. from my 64-bit Vista machine on the internet just fine...

Maybe OVERK1LL can enlighten us because I have never heard of this problem.

35.gif
 
I running XP Media Center X64 in an Acer laptop with 17" display. It has been 100% with no issues except the right cover hinge freezing and damaging the display frame....
 
Penn State runs Cisco's VPN client software, it's is not supported under Vista64 or XP64. Cisco makes the customer purchase a much more expensive corporate VPN solution to gain 64 bit Windows client capabilities.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/ps2308/

Juniper has a VPN that runs on everything I've thrown at it, a better product IMO. Runs with any XP or Vista version, any Linux or Mac client...
 
Thanks for that info. It caused me a lot of headaches and a restocking fee. Just wanted to bring my experiences with 64 Bit out for the thread.
 
That makes sense... That also really sucks... With 64-bit becoming the Norm, they should really "Upgrade" to allow use of it on their networks...
 
The way around the whole Cisco VPN problem is to run Windows in a Virtual Machine. Sun's Virtual Box is a small download that's free. Then grab a copy of XP (32 bit version), install & patch it, then run the Cisco VPN software from inside the VPN. Just make sure the Virtual Machine is set to "bridged" networking.

I ran this setup for a long while when using XP64 to connect to work's corporate network.
 
I've been 64bit since Solaris 2.x (can't remember which version) went 64bit in the 1990's.

64 bit is really old news!
 
Originally Posted By: javacontour
I've been 64bit since Solaris 2.x (can't remember which version) went 64bit in the 1990's.

64 bit is really old news!


We're talking Windows here....
wink.gif


Ironically, Windows NT & Windows 2000 Betas worked on 64bit platforms.
 
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
The way around the whole Cisco VPN problem is to run Windows in a Virtual Machine. Sun's Virtual Box is a small download that's free. Then grab a copy of XP (32 bit version), install & patch it, then run the Cisco VPN software from inside the VPN. Just make sure the Virtual Machine is set to "bridged" networking.

I ran this setup for a long while when using XP64 to connect to work's corporate network.


Yup, that's a good workaround
wink.gif



To the OP:

64-bit OS's will run 32-bit code. Similar to how 32-bit OS's would run 16-bit code.

The problem with things like the Cisco VPN client is that they require a DRIVER, which must be 64-bit.

With the price of Cisco equipment, the fact that they do not do this at that level is ridiculous.

To answer the question:
I run 64-bit Gentoo on this box.

I've installed 64-bit Ubuntu, SUSE and Sabayon (based on Gentoo) on a laptop and for the most part, everything works.

You may (depending on the distro) have wireless issues, depending on which card is in the machine.

You may need to experiment, so I would download a couple of the 64-bit LiveCD's to see which ones better support your hardware.

-Chris
 
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
Originally Posted By: javacontour
I've been 64bit since Solaris 2.x (can't remember which version) went 64bit in the 1990's.

64 bit is really old news!


We're talking Windows here....
wink.gif


Ironically, Windows NT & Windows 2000 Betas worked on 64bit platforms.



Indeed. NT 4.0 for Alpha.
 
Solaris made it work so that you can use 64 bit as well as older 32 bit software. 64 bit was built into the kernel, but it would still run 32 bit software. Our specification for 64 bit drivers requied that 32 bit applications would still run on top of 64 bit drivers.

That's the beauty of SPARC and Solaris that is missed by most. We (Sun) have tried to preserve our customer's investment by allowing most software to run in newer environments. SPARC stands for Scalable Processor Architecture. We've not had the fastest CPU's, but consistently move more data than other architectures and adding CPUs gives one more bang for the buck. I.E. you might pay a 1% penalty for adding multiple CPUs in SPARC opposed to higher percentages for other architectures.

Even when Solaris 2.0 came out, we offered Binary Compatibility Mode for Solaris 1.x (Sun O/S 4.x) applications.

So I guess what you are saying is that Windows is finally using 1990's technology :) Maybe in 5 or 10 years, Windows will join 21st century software technology.
 
I don't think there is a 64 bit Flash available for Linux. I bought a MB with a 64 bit AMD early last year. I tried 64 bit Debian, and couldn't get 64 bit Flash. Without flash, you are locked out of much of the web. Even with my new system, I couldn't use RoadRunner's site because of flash. I now have Earthlink. Note to webmasters building software specific sites, I can do without your site.

I hate Flash and Java. I recently had to replace Flash with a new one because just as I have feared, it is a door way to Linux for malware. Check Adobe's website. 64 bit still isn't available.
 
Originally Posted By: javacontour
Solaris made it work so that you can use 64 bit as well as older 32 bit software. 64 bit was built into the kernel, but it would still run 32 bit software. Our specification for 64 bit drivers requied that 32 bit applications would still run on top of 64 bit drivers.

That's the beauty of SPARC and Solaris that is missed by most. We (Sun) have tried to preserve our customer's investment by allowing most software to run in newer environments. SPARC stands for Scalable Processor Architecture. We've not had the fastest CPU's, but consistently move more data than other architectures and adding CPUs gives one more bang for the buck. I.E. you might pay a 1% penalty for adding multiple CPUs in SPARC opposed to higher percentages for other architectures.

Even when Solaris 2.0 came out, we offered Binary Compatibility Mode for Solaris 1.x (Sun O/S 4.x) applications.

So I guess what you are saying is that Windows is finally using 1990's technology :) Maybe in 5 or 10 years, Windows will join 21st century software technology.


I believe SGI did the same thing. You two (SGI and SUN) have always been on the edge of scalable and IMHO, LOGICAL architectural advancement and development. Something that seems to be lacking in the PC world.....
 
Originally Posted By: labman
I don't think there is a 64 bit Flash available for Linux. I bought a MB with a 64 bit AMD early last year. I tried 64 bit Debian, and couldn't get 64 bit Flash. Without flash, you are locked out of much of the web. Even with my new system, I couldn't use RoadRunner's site because of flash. I now have Earthlink. Note to webmasters building software specific sites, I can do without your site.

I hate Flash and Java. I recently had to replace Flash with a new one because just as I have feared, it is a door way to Linux for malware. Check Adobe's website. 64 bit still isn't available.


It's been out for a number of months. It was as easy as emerging it in Gentoo.
 
Quote:

I've been 64bit since Solaris 2.x (can't remember which version) went 64bit in the 1990's.


Solaris 7 (aka SunOS 5.7) (ahem released 10 YEARS AGO) was Sun's first fully 64-bit OS; Solaris 2.6 (SunOS 5.6) had plenty of 64-bit extentions (like large file support)

As mentioned by numerous others, Windows is the last player to come to the table.
 
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