Unless you've got some sort of compelling reason to run a 64-bit OS, I'd
stick with 32-bit. I've heard most of the compat issues have been ironed
out, but I always seem to hear about something or the other not working.
Like what?
I've been running 64-bit Linux on various machines for over 5 years with
no problems to speak of.
If you have >860MB of RAM you should run 64-bit just because you will get
a performance boost. And if this is the x86_64 architecture you talk of
when you say "64-bit" you'll also probably get a boost due to the extra
registers available.
It is true that if you use binary drivers (like nvidia, nidswrapper,
etc), want to run proprietary plugins (like the flash plugin) or run other
proprietary software you might have issues. If you tend to run mostly
free software you should be fine.
It is true that my primary machine is PowerPC running Linux, so I am used
to not depending on any of the above-mentioned things.
Vince
