HELP...32 bit or 64 bit which one to choose for my laptop..

[Nikhil Parmar]

I have purchased a new laptop with foll. configuration.
Core i5 Second Gen. Processor
4 GB RAM
1 TB HDD

Pls help me choose which version of FEDORA should i install, a 64 Bit or 32 Bit FEDORA.
And also pls tell what is the benefit of choosing that version (64 or 32).

Thank You.

[nonamedotc]

Your computer should be capable of handling 64-bit and I would go for 64-bit unless you have some specific reason to choose 32-bit. Search around a bit for the 'classical' pros and cons of using 64-bit OS

[DBelton]

I would run the 64 bit version since the hardware supports it.

There have been a few benchmark tests run that show an improvement with numerous applications running on a 64 bit system. Rendering in blender, video playback, even javascript performance in firefox shows a fairly big improvement when run on 64 bit. I believe a lot of the performance boost in the applications is due to more registers, an enhanced register instruction set, and native 64 bit arithmetic operations.

While the 64 bit does use a little more memory than the 32 bit (about the only minus to the 64 bit version), it utilizes it more efficiently, I believe.

[Nikhil Parmar]

Originally Posted by DBelton

I would run the 64 bit version since the hardware supports it.

There have been a few benchmark tests run that show an improvement with numerous applications running on a 64 bit system. Rendering in blender, video playback, even javascript performance in firefox shows a fairly big improvement when run on 64 bit. I believe a lot of the performance boost in the applications is due to more registers, an enhanced register instruction set, and native 64 bit arithmetic operations.

While the 64 bit does use a little more memory than the 32 bit (about the only minus to the 64 bit version), it utilizes it more efficiently, I believe.

Few people say that there are many problems associated with a 64 bit OS. Eg All apps available for 32 bit are not available for 64 bit. Is it true for FEDORA too..?

[DBelton]

I haven't found any applications that I need that aren't available in 64 bit versions. (Adobe actually does you a favor by not having a 64 bit version of acrobat reader. It gets you away from their crap software There are open source PDF readers, that work better than adobe reader.)

I haven't run into any issues on my systems here that are a result of running 64 bit. I am actually having fewer issues on 64 bit than I am on 32 bit.

Edit:

In the event that you need to run a specific application that isn't available in 64 bit, you can install and run 32 bit applications on a 64 bit OS.

[nonamedotc]

My experience has been the same as DBelton's. I have not run into problems yet. As far as I know, most 32-bit applications will work on 64-bit OS once you provide the proper 32-bit libraries needed - which is usually not a problem to the extent I have seen.

[hadrons123]

@OP I dont think you can install 32bit fedora on your system unless you downgrade your RAM.
Last time I tried I couldn't boot a 32bit F16 CD image on a 4GB RAM system.

[Gareth Jones]

Originally Posted by Nikhil Parmar

Few people say that there are many problems associated with a 64 bit OS. Eg All apps available for 32 bit are not available for 64 bit. Is it true for FEDORA too..?

That's never really been true with FOSS/Linux software, aside from a few closed-source drivers and plug-ins (e.g. Flash). These are pretty much all available as 64-bit versions now.

There are probably some closed-source whole-programs that aren't 64-bit yet, but a properly installed 64-bit system can run 32-bit executables anyway.

Windows (where closed-source and non-portable code is endemic) had a much rougher ride to 64-bit than Linux.

EDIT: I also agree: install 64-bit unless you have a specific technical need for 32-bit.

[tomihasa]

Originally Posted by hadrons123

@OP I dont think you can install 32bit fedora on your system unless you downgrade your RAM.
Last time I tried I couldn't boot a 32bit F16 CD image on a 4GB RAM system.

I was able to install Fedora Desktop Edition 32-bit to my PC, but I was wondering why it doesn't recognize I have 8 GB RAM and not 3.5 GB.

[calvinallred]

I was able to install Fedora Desktop Edition 32-bit to my PC, but I was wondering why it doesn't recognize I have 8 GB RAM and not 3.5 GB

You need PAE support. Try installing the ~.PAE kernel.

yum install kernel-PAE.i686

Note that using a 32-bit OS with more memory than even 2 GB will have performance issues. If you have over 4 GB I would highly recommend using a 64-bit OS.