[Discuss] Are you using a 64bit distro?

[A Gilmore]

stephen hawkes wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'll be upgrading at the end of the month to a new laptop. Along with deciding how I'll migrate (at this point it looks like I'll just be tar'ing my home folder, as a full new install would be best), I have to decide on 64 bit VS 32 bit.
> 
> My distro of choice for laptops is Ubuntu, so I'll be going with the newest release of that. It looks like codecs and such are not a huge problem (like they were when I first had a 64 bit desktop), but I'm not sure if I want to bother with the hassles of setting up and running 32 bit applications for which there are no 64 bit counterparts. 32 bit would be painless, I don't need the extra addressable mem space and I doubt I would notice any performance benefits in daily usage, however if running a 64 bit distro has been mainly painless for some of you, then I see no good reason to not go with it.
> 
> What do you guys/gals think and what are you running?
> 
> Also can anyone recommend a good source for a cheap mini-pci wireless card that has native drivers (intel, atmel or what have you). I expect I will want to toss the broadcom POS in the Dell out the window. I'm running a broadcom card on my current laptop with the native driver (not ndis wrapper), but it looks like the current broadcom abomination will not work with the OS driver. I would really like to avoid the ndis wrapper as it has bit me in the behind before (kernel locks, poor reliability etc).
> 
> Thanks,
> Stephen
> 

I use 64 bit Ubuntu, and when I install the latest version some weekend 
I'll be going back to 32.  It works great for the most part but codecs 
are a pain.  After spending sometime getting it all working again (still 
with some unresolved issues), it broke again during an update.

It's not that is awfully difficult to get working, it's more of a 
personal attitude that 'working' on something that is simply 
entertainment isn't the best use of my time.

- Adrien