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Re: Switching to 64 bit

On 28/06/13 03:49 PM, Frank McCormick wrote:

On 06/27/2013 10:56 PM, Stan Hoeppner wrote:

On 6/27/2013 7:11 PM, Frank McCormick wrote:

I am running 32 bit Sid and am thinking about a new computer which
has a 64 bit Intel CPU. How much of a hassle will it be switching
my installation over ? I know there are some problems with Flash but
what about the kernel and so forth- I am not a newby but this is the
first time I've considered a a major change.


You don't have to change anything. 32 bit Sid will run just fine on an
x86-64 CPU. Switching to 64 bit software is a choice, not a requirement.




Well , that was quite the debate :)

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions - for now I will run regular
32-bit Sid..realizing I am wasting the opportunity to utilize
more memory and perhaps faster operations.

Later I will re-install ( I am a little worried about the convoluted
magical tricks which have to be performed to switch-over the system to
64 bit)...but I will preserve /home and perhaps one other directory.

Again thanks to all for their contributions. I now know more
than I ever did (which wasn't much) about 32 vs 64 bit :)
There's not much convoluted about running 64bit. In your case, boot the new computer from a live CD/USB stick, partition the new drive and copy your old home directory to the new partition. Reboot into the installer or install from the live system and enjoy the 64bit world.
The bit about copying the home folder is what you'd do anytime you want to install on a new machine. It has nothing to do with 32 vs 64 bit. The alternative, copying your old 32bit system completely to the new machine, takes just as long as installing a fresh system (this isn't Windows, after all).
Of course, if you just wanted to plug the old drive into the new machine, you don't need to do anything. However, that would leave you with an old computer without a drive, which isn't much good unless you wanted to run it as a terminal booting off your new machine.
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