A couple of us went through this on the Mepis Community forum about 32-bit VS 64-bit. A 32-bit OS will run on a 64-bit computer. A 32-bit OS will not be able to access over 4 Gb of memory. It will run slightly faster than the 64-bit version.

The 64-bit utilizes a wider bandwidth of instructions (which is what slows it down.) You can access all the RAM you have whether it is 2 Gb or 32 Gb of memory. Most video drivers for 64-bit systems provide a"better looking" video panel, (I assume that here they are talking about the newer video cards, which do provide better looking video over the older cards.)

jdmeaux1952 wrote:A couple of us went through this on the Mepis Community forum about 32-bit VS 64-bit. A 32-bit OS will run on a 64-bit computer. A 32-bit OS will not be able to access over 4 Gb of memory. It will run slightly faster than the 64-bit version.

Back in the days, when pretty much no one had 4 Gig of Ram anyway, there was the bigmem kernel for that problem. That solution is obsolet with the PAE kernel.
As far i can tell.

SilentObserver wrote: Uh, no.

I like stuff to work. Sid isn't for folks like me.

In that case most distros based on Debian (besides the ones based on stable) are not for you neither. Sid is way more stable than they are.
You either want"stuff to work" or you want bleeding edge (aka rolling). You can't have it both.
Rolling and a big environment like kde and"stuff to work" sounds even more impossible. aptosid or siduction might be an option, but i can't see how they should be more stable than Sid.
But no, you can't have it all.
There are more persons than me who think that Sid is much easier to administer than testing is, btw (not that testing would be hard, Sid is just more simpel).
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(to avoid that problem one could run a mixed testing/unstable system, but i see no advantage over going for sid right away. Many see an advantage, btw).

Thanks for the suggestion, Kropotkin. I'm currently trying to get Kubuntu to start from Grub Legacy (which Mepis uses, and which starts antiX just fine even though antiX natively appears to use a mix of Grub and isolinux), but no dice so far -- I get a kernel panic about 1.3 seconds in whenever I try. I'm reluctant to switch to Grub 2 (which is what Kubuntu installs), because I've never been able to do anything to it when I've had it (I tried Mint 11, which I think was still Ubuntu based then -- rather confusing, because Ubuntu is Debian based!). Do you know whether LMDE uses Grub Legacy or Grub 2 (or will start reliably and without a bunch of rigamarole from Grub Legacy, even if that's not its native boot manager)?

Kubuntu installs Pipelight from a package on their own repos; just install it via Muon or Synaptic (it pulls in the patched version of Wine and installs it in a separate location so as not to break an existing Wine) and activate your Windows plugins -- it was that and the upgrades between major versions that pushed me into trying Kubuntu first. If Kubuntu doesn't work for me (say, if I can't get it to boot from Grub Legacy, even with help from their forum experts), I'll look very hard at LMDE; in fact, I'll do some research on it right away.

Nadir, I get an opposite opinion from folks on the Mepis forum concerning Sid -- essentially, the quote is"they will break. It's not a question of if, but when." For a primary OS on my primary machine, that's not acceptable, and I'm not a Linux guru to be able to fix it myself if I've got an unbootable system due to something no one who isn't a Debian developer has ever seen before. I'm not up to doing my own compiles, and it's been more than twenty years since I've written code beyond a shell script (for which I had to research literally every command). I don't have time to haunt forums and see if a new update is breaking stuff before I install it.

If I'm asking the impossible, maybe I need to just find a way to afford a tablet and bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and switch to Android, because if Linux can't do what I need, it's no better choice than Windows, and I'm not going back to Windows. (and yes, I know Android is based on Linux, but it's a commercial product from a major commercial player, so it's a lot more"ready for prime time" than any Linux distro I can download)

Nadir, I get an opposite opinion from folks on the Mepis forum concerning Sid -- essentially, the quote is"they will break. It's not a question of if, but when."

I wouldn't believe anything i read on the internet, and i sure wouldn't believe anything said in a linux forum.

I don't have time to haunt forums and see if a new update is breaking stuff before I install it

apt-get install apt-listbugs

If you can't handle Sid you can't handle any other rolling distro neither
(which is the impression i got from most of those distros. Tons of fanboys who can't solve the most basic problems and chat about hearsay. Anyone could learn it, if he wanted to, but the distros and their communities doesn't seem to ask for it, but stand in the way of doing so. Ubuntu, Crunchbang, Mint, take what you want. for chat they are ok, though).

I got no idea whats the deal with bleeding edge anyway. Most people (and mainly the ones who are not able to solve problems coming with bleeding edge) won't see the difference between different software versions anyway.

because if Linux can't do what I need, it's no better choice than Windows,

Linux can do what you need. You can't do what you need (or rather want).
I wouldn't say it"is better" anyway. People who say such constantly should look for higher goals than being better than windows.

If I'm asking the impossible, maybe I need to just find a way to afford a tablet and bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and switch to Android, because if Linux can't do what I need, it's no better choice than Windows, and I'm not going back to Windows. (and yes, I know Android is based on Linux, but it's a commercial product from a major commercial player, so it's a lot more"ready for prime time" than any Linux distro I can download)

Alrighty then. Being A chromebook owner myself. I'd be interested on your take on just that.

And here I am. Researching on how to easily get my Chrome book to run Linux off of a external sd card with out
pulling it apart, Pulling a screw., And jumpering contacts. Plus sacrifice my cat on a full moon dancing naked
chugging tequila singing the safety dance song.

Oh, and have the touchpad work by speaking in tongues.

Gotta love those commercial products from a major player. They make things so easy to customize and work with. __{{emoticon}}__

Don't get wrong though. I like the dual core cleron processors and 4 gig of ram. But why the hell lock me out of the bios?
I'm a grown man. I can handle it? It is almost like a rest home laptop. Careful rokytnji. You'll shoot your eye out.

rokytnji wrote: Alrighty then. Being A chromebook owner myself. I'd be interested on your take on just that.

And here I am. Researching on how to easily get my Chrome book to run Linux off of a external sd card with out
pulling it apart, Pulling a screw., And jumpering contacts. Plus sacrifice my cat on a full moon dancing naked
chugging tequila singing the safety dance song.

Not sure if you are serious and not really comfortable with Android devises, but you might check this:

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(or search google-store or however it is called these days for"linux").

It isn't really"dual-boot", as far i can tell, but (as far it's me) better than nothing.

Don't get wrong though. I like the dual core cleron processors and 4 gig of ram. But why the hell lock me out of the bios?
I'm a grown man. I can handle it? It is almost like a rest home laptop. Careful rokytnji. You'll shoot your eye out.

Indeed a weird OS, from what i have seen.
I seem to recall there is a version for PC's, so no need to spend money.

Indeed a weird OS, from what i have seen.

ChromeOS is not AndroidOS. 2 different play stores for starters.

The Hardware vendor lockout is what is putting my panties in a wad.
Developer Mode. Yada Yada Yada. Works on C720. No worky on C710. Crouton. The list goes on
with web pages of stuff to filter through. Hence why I am being careful anymore.

I wonder if these


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are hardware user locked out also. These new netbooks and gear are making UEFI bios look like childs play.
Laptops are going the way of the bic lighter. Great when they work. But throw away when done.

Tablets and phones need rooting and unlocking


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So I am interested in how a member can expect to just waltz their way through the briar patch without
learning new tricks and rethinking what they think they know.
Things are just moving sooooooo fast and I don't know 1/2 the things I wished I knew.

Tech and new Hardware is just leaving me behind.
Looking at some posts. I am not the only one.

AndroidOS is not ChromeOS. Confusing, I know.

what's even more confusing is that the newer chrome os in development is getting a more android like UI and the ability to run android apps.

I really like my chromebook, but it's an appliance that replaces a tablet for me.

Tech and new Hardware is just leaving me behind.

Tell me about it.

So yes, i didn't know chromebooks are not android (like said, i barely know such devices).
But there seem to be LinuxKits for chromebooks too, say this:
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But there seem to be LinuxKits for chromebooks too, say this:
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Lets play tag


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Funny thing is nadir. Back when I bookmarked that link. It had this warning on that webpage.

Crouton is currently broken on both the dev and beta channels of ChromeOS, and will probably be broken on the stable channel with the next update. There are efforts underway to rescue it, but Google's development policies make it problematic for future compatibility. The foolproof way is to just install to a flash drive. A mini-USB drive works well for this. The problem with using an SD card is that the card sticks halfway out of the chromebooks. Why they made that decision, instead of having the card entirely inside the laptop is something that completely escapes me.

It is not on that site now. Now you know why I am being careful and tip toeing through the tulips. One day they say one thing.
Another day they say another. So I choose to use caution and wait since bricking the netbook is not a option for me.

bricking the netbook is not a option for me

That doesn't sound very free. I wouldn't get myself such devices (wee bit like average joe who doesn't dare to run the Windows updates fearing they might"break something").
Well: it probably has a use for you, so it's none of my business (generous of me, huh?).

I don't value hardware very high. I find it in the garbage or buy the most cheap i can find. To me it is just stuff lying around, if it breaks, i don't care. I don't say:"that's the way to go", just telling where i am coming from (of course i understand people who want a certain device, say a smartphone 3 times as expensive as my laptop, it is just that i ain't got the feeling"it is valuable stuff". Someone said somewhere"my precious ... my precious ... where is my precious __{{emoticon}}__ ). And i hate google with passion.

Thanks, nadir, for you vote of confidence, that I can learn it. I'm not at all sure I want to, though. Maybe I'm in the wrong demographic, but to me, installing operating systems and trying to make them work when they don't want to isn't a hobby; my computer is a tool I use for some of my other hobbies, and I'm running Linux because I can't afford to keep spending $500 or so a year upgrading my hardware and OS, or just buy a new computer (similar outlay per year) and get stuck with whatever MS says the manufacturer is allowed to preload on it this week. The newest computer I use is the one I'm typing on; it had a motherboard replaced almost six years ago and a CPU upgrade just over a year ago. The next one is, IIRC, twelve years old (Athlon XP 2000+, 1.8 GHz single core, 1 GiB RAM and an AGP video card), and the one after that is my ca. 1997 laptop (Pentium II 300 MHz, 288 MiB RAM, 16 GB"redneck SSD" incorporating a Compact Flash camera memory card).

I run Linux because it doesn't force me to replace all three of these computers. I don't run it because I enjoy being bewildered by a command structure that makes DOS look like it was reading my mind; I don't run it because I enjoy having to fix stuff every weekend; I don't run it because I want to install something completely new and about as familiar as the interior of an Apollo capsule every couple years: I run it because it's the only way I can afford to use computers as tools. Anything I can do to lower the amount of time I spend fixing my tools, compared to using them, is a good thing. Spending all my waking hours learning to keep a Sid-based system working (not just doing what I need, but bootable) is not.

At present, it's looking very much as if Kubuntu is the right choice. It's got the KDE environment that I like as much as any I've ever used, Windows (3.0 to 7), Linux (ten or so flavors sampled over the past nine years), or Mac (various versions used casually over the past twenty years). It allows upgrades instead of complete reinstalls when the current version gets too long in the tooth to get the job done, and it's a minor split from Ubuntu (same under the hood, just a different"skin"), one of the most popular forms of Linux there is -- big development system, lots of users and lots of support available.

Now if I can just get it to boot...

9 years of Linux and 20 years of the BSD-clone Mac and still not able to use the command line? Just wow.

I can't remember when was the last time i had to fix anything in Sid. Must be months or even years ago."apt-get update";"apt-get upgrade" and"apt-get dist-upgrade" and that's about all i do.

I ran Windows7 on Pentim 4's and it ran well, btw (depends how much time one wants to invest to get it running well. If all one wants is to"use the tools" and can't spend a single minute on figuring out how the OS works it might be problematic. Less time for posting long and mainly chat posts in forums and more time for getting the head into something? Might be an option).

Thanks for explaining Kubuntu to me, though. I never heard of it before.

Never heard of Kubuntu??? Just wow.
(haha, I couldn't resist)

Conversely, although I began"using" nix regularly back around '91
(ISP granted telnet account to each user, I kept a .plan file, used pine mailreader, thought zshell was oh-so-cool...)
and continued"using" it daily (remote webserver admin in the workplace, gameserver remote admin afterhours) throughout '96 -- 2006
...KDE3.51 was in use by the time I realized that linux systems optionally provided a"desktop environment".

FWIW, no, I'm still not a commandline wiz.
Also, in the absence of synaptic package manager GUI... I doubt I'd have the patience, wouldn't bother to attempt dependency wrangling via commandline nor via an ncurses GUI.

There is no need for dependency wrangling on debian (and probably on other binary distributions neither).

I am running Unix since Jesus was a baby, btw (that is: a minimum of the time both of you do it, and when speaking of computers it is a micromal time of the time both of you).
Looks like Linux is more and more used by gui folks (which refuse to take the few hours it takes to learn the 20 commands you need daily and else get the head into --help and man and info. They miss the best part of Nix like systems, but then: what does it matter? As long there is enough time to chat bout why one uses the GUI and since when and which distro to use and which environment and which icons look nice).