On 19/05/13 12:33 AM, Philip Jenkins wrote:
Thanks for the replies. I do have a Win 7-64 machine with 4GB RAM as my
main PC; I've just never used the 32 bit version and wanted to see if I
needed to avoid it.
I'd only use the 32 bit version on a machine with < 4GB RAM. The amount
of RAM you have would normally be the main factor determining whether
you use 32 or 64 bit. Less than about 3GB (exact value varies from
system to system), and 32 bit may result in slightly less RAM usage. At
worst, you're no worse off, and you do have compatibility with
applications and hardware that uses only 32 bit driver (or other kernel
mode) code. Once you start getting over that 3 GB RAM, then the extra
addressing capability of the 64 bit OSs comes into play, and you need
the 64 bit version to fully utilise your available RAM (there are
exceptions, mainly 32 bit Windows Server and Linux PAE kernels, but for
end user Windows versions, the previous applies).
I've run 64 bit Windows Vista and 7 with no issues, except the obvious
ones, such as:
Software or hardware that only comes with 32 bit drivers (64 bit OS
needs 64 bit drivers).
Unsigned drivers - 64 bit Windows is normally anal retentive about
driver signing, but there is a workaround.
Old 16 bit software or installers - 16 bit software does not run under
64 bit Windows. Workaround here is to use a virtual machine - VMware,
VirtualBox, etc.
Linux is definitely a viable alternative. A lot of ham software these
days has Linux equivalents, packet is built right into the network
stack, and a lot of Windows software will happily run under
WINE/Crossover .
--
73 de Tony VK3JED
http://vkradio.com
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