64-bit puppy

A home for all kinds of Puppy related projects
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Runemaster
Posts: 180
Joined: Sat 05 Aug 2006, 04:41
Location: Albany, GA U.S.

64-bit puppy

#1 Post by Runemaster »

anyone know anything because if i had a 64-bit puppy i'd boot vista out the door!
Adventurer: I seek knowledge and strength.

Seer:Knowledge comes from experience.....Strength comes from battleaxes.

disciple
Posts: 6984
Joined: Sun 21 May 2006, 01:46
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

#2 Post by disciple »

What! Why did you let Vista in the door?!!!
I'm pretty sure the answer is no, and there isn't much hope for the near future - Barry was only recently persuaded to go SMP (dual processor) compatible.
But why do you need Puppy to be 64bit? You can run a 32 bit OS on 64bit hardware, and I still haven't had anybody explain to me any REAL benefits of 64 bit.
Personally, after our experiences with it at work, I'd take anything over Vista... right down to Win98 or any non-Puppy non-64 bit distro. There are actually plenty of 64bit distros around, but of course none of them will be anywhere near as good as puppy :)

User avatar
Pizzasgood
Posts: 6183
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 20:28
Location: Knoxville, TN, USA

#3 Post by Pizzasgood »

Indeed. I really would choose 98SE over Vista. The speed difference would be insane. Especially on my 3GHz machine :evil:
any REAL benefits of 64 bit.
Best I've heard is more than 4gb of ram. And if you're a scientist type the larger precision might be nice.

I've been playing with Gentoo lately, and am thinking about maybe clearing out another partition and setting up two nearly identical installs w/ one 32 and the other 64, just to see if I notice a difference. I don't have the time right now though.
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
[img]http://www.browserloadofcoolness.com/sig.png[/img]

User avatar
Runemaster
Posts: 180
Joined: Sat 05 Aug 2006, 04:41
Location: Albany, GA U.S.

#4 Post by Runemaster »

it's just that me entire machine is 64-bit and i'd like to utilize it's full potential. i've noticed a lot of difference in having a 64-bit os and have a 32-bit one so I would like to just use all ive got. if my processor has got the power to use 64-bit instructions then why not use it. if im running under 32-bit i can only process half the data that i could be processing. i just see no point to have a 64-bit machine to run 32-bit software like some of these computer manufacturing companies are doing, putting in 64-bit processors then installing vista 32-bit, it makes no sense, beside its not like vista 64 cant run 32-bit software... i realize my machine is way ahead of its time seeing as everything is still 32-bit but i figured why not go 64-bit because i guarantee you that within the next 5 years all home pcs and all software will be 64-bit.

so quit bashing on me please....
Adventurer: I seek knowledge and strength.

Seer:Knowledge comes from experience.....Strength comes from battleaxes.

User avatar
Pizzasgood
Posts: 6183
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 20:28
Location: Knoxville, TN, USA

#5 Post by Pizzasgood »

The way I see it, 32 bit Puppy would still process more data than a 64 bit Vista. Well, technically Vista would process more, but all that extra is just bloat, making the useful data less.

Though technically, 64 bit isn't about processing more data. It's about handling more data: bigger registers = more precision and more address space, and more address space = higher ram cap and easier use of large files. That does mean better speed, but it's not a 2:1 type deal. Speed isn't the point though. In terms of address space, it doesn't just get doubled; it gets squared. :shock:


I'm not bashing you or even 64 bit. Just Vista. I'd be interested in a 64 bit Puppy too. Someday I'll have to teach myself to compile the majority of Puppy from the ground up, so I might see about doing a 64 bit one then just for fun. But I won't have time to do that for a good while still.
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
[img]http://www.browserloadofcoolness.com/sig.png[/img]

disciple
Posts: 6984
Joined: Sun 21 May 2006, 01:46
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

#6 Post by disciple »

Yes, sorry - I didn't mean to bash you either, only Vista :)
But the answer is: probably not in the immediate future, although I personally suspect quite likely in a year or three.
If you really need to utilise the 64bits for something then go ahead and get a 64bit distro, but I suspect it is unlikely you would need to, unless you want to do a lot of video editing or something... maybe that would see a significant improvement with 64bit.

BTW there is actually a significant advantage in not getting 64bit Vista, if you have software that won't run on it, which wasn't that uncommon last time I heard... even Microsoft make sofware that only run on 32bit Vista :)

User avatar
Pizzasgood
Posts: 6183
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 20:28
Location: Knoxville, TN, USA

#7 Post by Pizzasgood »

i'd like to utilize it's full potential.
If you really want to do that, you might consider looking into Gentoo, which isn't as hard as people make it out to be, just very tedious. Might be a good idea to print off some data from Hardinfo first, to use as a reference when configuring the kernel. Especially the processor section and the kernel modules section (to know which drivers you'll need). It's also handy if you have a second machine running to google things with, though you could just run links in a virtual terminal.

Way more free time than is healthy is also handy. Used up much of my spring break :roll:
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
[img]http://www.browserloadofcoolness.com/sig.png[/img]

User avatar
Lobster
Official Crustacean
Posts: 15522
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 06:06
Location: Paradox Realm
Contact:

#8 Post by Lobster »

you might consider looking into Gentoo
Puppy + Gentoo
http://simplux.org/
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

User avatar
inged
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri 13 Jul 2007, 05:03

#9 Post by inged »

Yes, I would be curious of a 64bits Puppy. AFAIK IMHO still there are some issues for 64bits linux when running/compiling the abundant 32bit applications. I was temped for Slackware 64bits (slamd64), but too many disc for installing, about 4 as I remember. According to the website they need to keep some 32bits libraries for compatibility, so it means to me that extra tweaking and extra careful work is needed. To much for my taste and maybe to prone for possible issues in the future. In addition it seems a bit outdated for some applications.

Apart from that, I would prefer a Puppy with dual core support (the SMP thing) at 32bits for mainstream compatibility at this time rather than a 64 bits one.

I installed OpenSuse10.3 for 64 bits on my laptop (using the 2 cores), but I feel Puppy more responsive using 1 core and 32bits. And I use Puppy more often than OpenSuse because of the speed.

Rather than Vista I will use XP for 64bits, wouldn't be as nice looking as Vista but will be more responsive. Still, drivers for peripherals sometimes become an issue.

If you have a multi-core, wait a bit for Dingo, the actual Dingo Beta 2 uses the same kernel as 3.01, so no multi-core support, but BarryK is working on that for the final release. Then, you can compare your machine speed.

There was one Dingo Aplha (2 or 3, don't remember) with multi-core support if you can't wait.

User avatar
Lobster
Official Crustacean
Posts: 15522
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 06:06
Location: Paradox Realm
Contact:

#10 Post by Lobster »

Compiling and maintaining a Puppy for 64 bit is a major effort
just as moving it to another processor would be

Would the T2 system (which Barry is using) be useful in all this? 8)
http://www.puppylinux.com/pfs/index.html

The x86 chip mentioned here is now known as the Atom
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6210033.html

Atom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverthorne_(CPU)

T2 supports the ARM
but the Cell processor in the PS3 is also a contender
being primed for other devices by IBM . . .
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

Post Reply