From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 5 17:13:06 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 71C731065675 for ; Wed, 5 Mar 2008 17:13:06 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: from smtp-vbr17.xs4all.nl (smtp-vbr17.xs4all.nl [194.109.24.37]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F2AB98FC21 for ; Wed, 5 Mar 2008 17:13:05 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: from slackbox.xs4all.nl (slackbox.xs4all.nl [213.84.242.160]) by smtp-vbr17.xs4all.nl (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id m25HD3sK098109; Wed, 5 Mar 2008 18:13:04 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from rsmith@xs4all.nl) Received: by slackbox.xs4all.nl (Postfix, from userid 1001) id 4AF1EB829; Wed, 5 Mar 2008 18:13:03 +0100 (CET) Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 18:13:03 +0100 From: Roland Smith To: Isaac Mushinsky Message-ID: <20080305171303.GA35180@slackbox.xs4all.nl> Mail-Followup-To: Isaac Mushinsky , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <200803050036.33579.itz@mushinsky.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="Q68bSM7Ycu6FN28Q" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200803050036.33579.itz@mushinsky.net> X-GPG-Fingerprint: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 X-GPG-Key: http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/pubkey.txt X-GPG-Notice: If this message is not signed, don't assume I sent it! User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.17 (2007-11-01) X-Virus-Scanned: by XS4ALL Virus Scanner Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: amd64 or i386 for desktop use? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:13:06 -0000 --Q68bSM7Ycu6FN28Q Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Wed, Mar 05, 2008 at 12:36:33AM -0500, Isaac Mushinsky wrote: > I have new hardware (Abit ip35-pro, Intel Q6600), and was contemplating= =20 > installing FreeBSD/arch, but now realise that I am going to have some=20 > problems. >=20 > My nvidia card will not be of much use (GeForce 8500GT), since nvidia-dri= vers=20 > are not there for amd64, and the open source nv driver does not even supp= ort=20 > XVideo extension for these cards. I can downgrade to a nv 7xxx series car= d,=20 > which works better with the open driver. I do not mind loss of 3D support= ,=20 > but would need basic things like mplayer. Any ATI card up to and including the 9250 (rv280) is fully supported on amd64, 3D and all. (I know because I've got one :-) =20 > 2. Any problems with flash plugin (flash7 for now, I do not mean the=20 > confounded flash9 headache)? I've never been able to get a native flash player to work, but I don't mind doing without. The downloadhelper plugin for firefox can help you download a lot of movies (e.g. youtube) which you then can play with mplayer. All the flash ads I'll gladly do without. > 3. Other casual desktop user problems I should be aware of? Wine is i386 only. > 4. Is it worth it? Perhaps I should stay with i386, but it is a pity > not to be able to use the new machine to its full potential. Practically you don't _need_ amd64 unless you're running out of address space on i386. Me, I'm running amd64 because I can. :-) My desktop has a gig of RAM, and I seldom use more than half of that. Mind you, I'm using a simple window manager not a desktop environment with lots of bells & whistl= es. I suspect binaries on i386 will be somewhat smaller. But amd64 has more registers which might give some speed advantages. I haven't tested it, but = it might be nice to do a speed comparison between i386 and amd64 on identical hardware. I don't think the difference will matter for a common desktop though; the CPU of a desktop is mostly idling anyway. Roland --=20 R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) --Q68bSM7Ycu6FN28Q Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.4 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFHztSfEnfvsMMhpyURAob4AKCOYocajnMdkPkYKij7Cj5ZAwDOUwCfWpwA +lh5STGfuNkcuXUsSvZ9MZY= =Y9zK -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --Q68bSM7Ycu6FN28Q--