Re: [Hampshire] [Hardware] - 64 bit Fedora

On Thu, Nov 22, 2007 at 07:11:19PM -0000, Rob Malpass wrote:
> Hi all
>
> I was told today (by a sales rep) that all CPUs on sale nowadays are 64
> bit - is this true?
>

Pretty much. I had a hard time finding any that aren't.

> I'm thinking of building / buying a new box as a sort of Christmas present
> from me to me (!). I'm thinking of giving another distro a try and
> thought while I'm building a sort of "trial and error" box, I might give 64
> bit distros a go and had Fedora in mind. [I'm something of an Ubuntu fan
> given I started with Slackware - though IMHO Slack now is unrecognisable
> from a few years ago - but I don't want this thread drifting into a distro
> war].
>

I have 3 64-bit capable machines, and run 32-bit linux on all of them.

> Anyway, I perused the Novatech barebones list and noticed that only the
> cheapest kit mentions that it's 64 bit. A quick wikipedia [1] revealed
> that (it seems) if it's a 64 bit CPU, then it'll have "64" in its title.
>

Dabs actually specify in their specifications for processors whether cpus
are 64-bit capable or not.

> I freely admit I've not kept pace (in any respect!) with modern CPUs. The
> trend now seems to be 2-4 CPUs on one chip but I don't know whether if you
> have 2 32-bit CPUs on one chip (for example) then that chip is considered
> 64 bit.

No. If you have two cores they will be the same, and they will either both
be 32-bit or (more likely these days) both be 64-bit capable. Two 32-bit
cores do not a 64-bit core make.

> Can someone enlighten me? I was highly skeptical when she told me "all
> chips are 64 bit" but if she's right I'll ring back tomorrow and buy one of
> them.
>

I wouldn't focus on that. I'd look at the most cores/MHz at the right price
and then look at whether they are 64-bit. Chances are any cpu you look at
these days will be anyway.

Cheers,
Al.