Linux of 64-bit

[ChrisLudwig]

What’s the best GUI based Linux for 64-bit PC processors such as the AMD Athlon64?

 

[poorboy]

I think SuSE was the one to go for, last I heard. Seems a bit pricey at $119, IMHO, but comes with installation support too. Mandrake is another contender, and appears to retail for $100 without support. You can DIY of course (Debian, Gentoo, Fedora), but it's nice to have the CDs and installation help a phone call away.

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

 

[HolyGrenade]

Man! its bad how the free OS can be so expensive. These vendors should have more options for general consumers.

<b><font color=red>"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."</font color=red><font color=blue> - Benjamin Franklin</font color=blue></b>

 

[silverpig]

They do. You can get both SuSE and Mandrake for free, but you don't get any documentation on paper, and no support.

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

 

[poorboy]

Still cheaper than 64 bit Windows isn't it? ;-)

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by poorboy on 02/04/04 04:03 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[HolyGrenade]

No I was reading an article in Information Age about linux commercialisation. *wooh thats a long word*. It was talking about a lot of companies just concentrating on business releases with lots of good but expensive support. The free releases/downloads are very good for you and me, but not the joe average public. I'm talking bout something like a £20 - £30 pound box that has three months installation support or something for the average joe.

Do SuSE have a usable free version? I thought they just had a liveEval CD or something. Oh and SuSE apparently, from time to time, kinda forget to release the sourcecode for some of the open source tools they modify.

I used like their distro though. Quite user friendly.



<b><font color=red>"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."</font color=red><font color=blue> - Benjamin Franklin</font color=blue></b>

 

[poorboy]

You can do a SuSE FTP install for free. IIRC, SuSE didn't release their in-house written YAST tools, although I think that may have changed now - I haven't looked at it for while...

They also have a 39.95 USD "SuSE Linux 9.0 Personal" (x86) boxed set for sale. Comes with 60 days installation support.

Mandrake has a similarly priced "Discover 9.2" boxed set with 30 days email support.

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

 

[silverpig]

Oh yeah for sure. I'm no expert on enterprise versions of linux, but some versions of redhat will cost you $2000.

The only way to get suse for free is to do an ftp install (only good if you have broadband). Other than that I think the isos may be available on suprnova, but you can't get the disks without paying the small charge for the retail version.

All distros I know of are like that though; they are all free to download, but then there's a ~$30 retail version that comes with manuals and what not. That's how I got started actually, was the retail box version of Mandrake 7.0.

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

 

[HolyGrenade]

Probably just me just getting paranoid about all these companies forgetting the individual users after tasting moola from their big corporate buddies.

I'm still waiting for my stupid mini-itx mobo.

Then It'll be Vector Linux + Kernel2.6 + (maybe) xfce. My permanent linux system. 8)


<b><font color=red>"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."</font color=red><font color=blue> - Benjamin Franklin</font color=blue></b>

 

[Guy]

Linux was never the OS for the average joe. If you don't have the skills you use windows or you buy a mac. Linux is getting big in the server market not the desktop market.

 

[HolyGrenade]

I don't see why it can't be. After a quite easy suse installation I had openoffice gimp and all sorts of other software. The computer was ready to go.

It still may be a bad thing for the average people to run at home where if something goes wrong they'll be screwed. But then again, with windows nowadays, you can get screwed pretty badly when something goes wrong.

In corporate environements I see linux as one of the best options. With one exception I see nothing wrong with linux being their desktop OS. Especially as they would have an onsite IT guy. Now, the exception I'm talking about is many people are still hooked on MSOffice. They can't get used to open/staroffice.

Once their fear of not having the paperclip helping them is dealt with, Linux becomes the best OS for the office environment.


<b><font color=red>"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."</font color=red><font color=blue> - Benjamin Franklin</font color=blue></b>

 

[Guy]

We are talking about people who are so stupid or inexperienced they think their optical drive is a cup holder. They can bearly install windows. These people are not ready for linux, only a small demographic grew up using computers and have the skills needed to operate linux.

 

[poorboy]

I'm with HolyGrenade on this one.

In an office environment, all 90% of users have to do is log on and launch MSOffice, Outlook, IE, and their business specific apps. The OS doesn't matter at all to the average secretary.

We're using Win2K on the desktop because our custom apps need Windows, but web and email is Mozilla and our office suite is OpenOffice.org. A change-over to Linux wouldn't be a problem at all if our payroll and financials software was ported to Linux.

The inexperienced users have just as much trouble with Windows as they do with anything else, IMO.


<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

 

[flamethrower205]

Well here's the difference from my experience. Windows gets to be much more high level simply because it is not open source. I mean u have the registry, system tools, etc. Something doesn't work u gotta wait for a new driver, that's about it. Linux on the other hand u can get messy with and actually code stuff. So in a sense there is more trouble with Linux cause u gotta be smart about the programming...

The one and only "Monstrous BULLgarian!"

 

[HolyGrenade]

um.. surry... but, why exactly do you have to "get messy with and actually code stuff".

I would have thought you'd wait for the patch or new version to be available, just like in windows.

Of course _IF_ you are a programmer, and _IF_ you wish to tinker with the code, you can. Doesn't mean you have to do that to sort problems in linux.


<b><font color=red>"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."</font color=red><font color=blue> - Benjamin Franklin</font color=blue></b>

 

[ChrisLudwig]

Actually, I’d have to disagree with theory of Linux not being suited for the masses.

I find most major distributions of Linux very intuitive.
In many ways, it’s easier than Windows. Also if I was more of a stupid user, I think I’d have an easier time learning Linux. My Windows knowledge just causes more problems than good, since I’m so used to doing things the MS way.

 

[TKS]

Turbo Linux has a release toward 64Bit Procs as well
<A HREF="http://www.turbolinux.com/products/tl8a/" target="_new">http://www.turbolinux.com/products/tl8a/</A>

99 bucks with support...69 bucks without. I feel that's a decent price for it. I ran turbolinux 7 for quite a while and think that the installer is great, the hardware detection rocks, and that they have a competitive OS there...You'd be hard pressed to find a better OS than that.

Also, Mandrake has a 64bit distor, Gentoo does as well, and I believe Solaris' new OS supports it as well.

So that gives you quite a bit of distros for linux. As far as the best GUI driven? I'd say TurboLinux and Mandrake are your best bet (in that order).

----------
<b>It is always brave to say what everyone thinks. </b> <i>Georges Duhamel</i>

TKS

 

[LaughnCynic]

Hmmm... Just an FYI. <A HREF="http://fedora.redhat.com/" target="_new">Fedora Core 1</A> is available for x86-64 (AMD64) now too.



--
Life Sucks! Then You DIE!!!

 

[TKS]

Fedora however is mostly 64-bit with support for
32-bit bins...some applications e.g. openoffice don't apparently yet compile for x86_64.


----------
<b>It is always brave to say what everyone thinks. </b> <i>Georges Duhamel</i>

TKS

 

[LaughnCynic]

TKS: some applications e.g. openoffice don't apparently yet compile for x86_64.

Well, it's currently transition time and will be for quite a while IMO.

The beauty of the x86-64 architecture is of course that it runs 32bit x86 code very well so the transition is less 'bumpy'. So with x86-64 ready linux distrabutions like Fedora you can take advantage of the strengths of the 64bit x86-64 stuff that's available now and still use existing 32bit code without any big hassles.

--
Life Sucks! Then You DIE!!!

 

[Sarissi]

I want to disabuse people that 'free' in the GPL means free as in free beer. The GPL clearly states 'Free as in Freedom, not Free as in beer.' Try reading the GPL sometime!!!!

Oh, SuSE 9.2 Pro will come with 7 CDROMS in 32 bit, 1 DVD in 32 bit, and 1 DVD in 64 bit version. Those DVDROMS are double sided.

Mandrake Linux User (Windows too). I build PCs, one part at a time. {grin}

 

[maalth]

Try Gentoo Linux. They have a stable support tree for the AMD 64 processor. Also, they have forums for any questions you may have.