64-bit RPM/APT based systems - Worth it?

[Randy Edwards]

   I've been doing a good bit of research into AMD 64 as I'm getting close to 
building a Myth-TV system.  I'll use Debian's AMD64 arch; right now it's 
still not officially released, but it's been around since before the last 
release of Debian and will officially be "stable" with the next release.

 > Are there RPMs or other packages out there to do what you'd need for a
 > typical home desktop?  (I'm talking about things like games and
 > multimedia codecs mostly.  Especially codecs.  I know there are packages
 > for the major apps.)

   There's the glitch.  Quite a few codecs are 32-bit.

 > How backward-compatible are they with 32-bit apps?

   Very.  But from what I gather, mixing 32-bit apps on a base 64-bit system 
is iffy.  Many of the Debian people I've talked to recommend installing a 
32-bit system alongside the 64-bit system.  Others have reported some success 
with everything from various Wine/Crossover to VMWare.

   The information I've gathered suggests that unless you want to play with 
and tweak things quite a bit, you either go with a straight 64-bit setup, or 
run at a straight 32-bit setup and wait for things to stabilize.  I'll opt 
for the latter; in my view, the price differences between AMD's 64 bit 
components and others makes it a no-brainer to go with an AMD64 setup.

   Of course, YMMV. :-)

 Regards,
 .
 Randy

-- 
"Our democracy is but a name. We vote? What does that mean? It means that we 
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person) Helen Keller, 1911