Dale E. Martin wrote:
I'm currently debating whether to run the x86 port or the AMD64 port on
this machine, and any working links to help inform me about the options
would be most appreciated!
I recommend making it dual boot with a partition of 32 bit and a
partition of 64 bit, plus whatever other partitions you'd like to have.
Then, if you make your 64 bit kernels all have 32 bit emulation then you
can trivially use the 32 bit side as a chroot under the 64 bit system.
I need to be able to run Sun's JDK, CrossOver
Office, etc.
Those apps don't need wierd kernel extensions so should be able to run
with a 32 bit userspace and a 64 bit kernel with no problems, as needed.
but another big part of what I do is C++ development using
g++, so I'm conflicted I could almost see going 64 bit kernel, 32 bit
userspace, with a 64 bit chroot for C++ development. Is that even
possible?
I sometimes work like that. The biggest problem with that approach is
that some kernel related stuff (binary only drivers etc) doesn't work in
64 bit, so (for example) I can't use my modem when booted that way.
An easier way to look at it is this ...
(1) at boot time, you decide whether you are going to need _any_ 64 bit
apps (in userspace) or _any_ 32 bit only drivers (in kernel space).
(2) the decision from (1) determines which kernel you'll be using.
(3) For a 32 bit kernel, stop now because you have no more choices.
(4) Your init/chroot can now be 32/64 or 64/32 depending on workload,
and your mount- and chroot-config should make either be transparent.
As has been commented elsewhere, the debian package dchroot makes it
easy to write scripts to insist that the embedded command always runs in
a specific environment ... irrespective of which it was called in.
Therefore, there is only really a performance difference to consider
and I suspect you'll learn the answer to that choice ... over time.
