Re: Best Kernel?
On Mon, Oct 29, 2007 at 06:06:34AM -0700, Jeff Grossman wrote:
> Douglas A. Tutty wrote:
> >On Mon, Oct 29, 2007 at 05:17:52AM -0400, Chris Bannister wrote:
> >>
> >>Are you saying that you can install a 64bit kernel on a current 32bit
> >>system and then end up with a running system.?
> >>
> >>I thought you couldn't replace a 32bit kernel with a 64bit kernel but
> >>had to *install* with an actual 64bit kernel to get any benefit.
> >>
> >>Or does the replacement 64bit kernel just run in 32bit mode? (although
> >>that is still better than a 32bit kernel, apparently.)
> >>
> >
> >I believe that you can install a 64bit kernel on you i386 system.
> >Assuming that you have room in /boot and /lib, just add the 64-bit
> >kernel and keep your 486 (or whatever) and try it. If it doesn't boot,
> >then choose the 486 from the grub menu.
> >
> >You can even run i386 apps in an amd64 system as long as you have the
> >i386 libs installed (available as a regular package in amd64).
> >
> Would I gain anything running a 64bit kernel on an i386 system?
Well amd64 has access to more (and larger) registers and can access more
virtual memory. AIUI, 32 bit (without some BIOS shenanagans) only sees
2 GB or physical memory and can only map 3 GB of virtual memory. Even
with BIOS shenanagans, the stock Debian i386 kernels aren't compiled to
take advantage of it.
So the first question is, how much memory does your box have?
You should peruse the amd64 list because this question comes up a lot
there and the answers are more informed than am I. You see, you have
three main options when you're on amd64 hardware:
i386 install with 32-bit kernel
i386 install with 64-bit kernel
amd64 install with 64-bit kernel
install 32-bit libs to run most 32-bit apps if need be
install an i386 chroot if the above option doesn't work.
Bottom line, though, is that I haven't found any downsides. When I'm
running Iceweasel with flash, I'm stuck in a chroot which is probably a
good thing since flash by definition is runing insecure code on my box
as me. Unless there's something truely malicious going on it won't be
able to break out of the i386 chroot to affect the amd64 system.
Everything else is 64 bit.
Doug.
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