Do I need 64 bit?

[NGIB]

I'm impressed with MX-14 and a huge fan in just a day, Now the question: it's a 32 bit system and all of my hardware is 64 bit - what will I miss out on? I have 3 laptops I use cyclically, a Core I-3, a Core I-5, and a Core I-7 gaming box with 8GB RAM and Nvidia graphics. No, I'm not a gamer, I bought it cheap from a college student when I saw it on Craigslist for $300.

I know this discussion happens often on the PCLinuxOS forums and that was a system I used for over a year. The general concensus was the average user would not even feel the difference for 99% of the stuff done. What's y'alls opinion of running a 32 bit OS on modern fast hardware?

Also, will there be a 64 bit version of MX-14?

[anticapitalista]

The quickest answer is to say that there is no plan for a 64bit MX-14.

[NGIB]

Fair enough, not sure it's necessary anyway...

[Stevo]

There is a speed increase if doing stuff like video transcoding and compiling applications on 64-bit. However, MX 14 should show a really noticable speed increase if installed using btrfs as the file system with LZO compression, but this really needs testing first, and and clear instructions added to the wiki.

I've also seen recommendations to install and use ulatency, but am not sure if this does not just result in the placebo/confirmation effect.

[Adrian]

I have a 7 years old... I can't really tell if I run a 64bit or a 32bit OS. I guess the only improvement I could make to make it faster is to get a SSD, but I don't feel the need to spend extra money for that yet.

[NGIB]

I don't do video transcoding or any coding/compiling anymore so I reckon 32 bit will be just fine for me. Everything is a tradeoff and the overall look, feel, stability and operation of the OS is more important to me than a few nano-seconds. I was actually going to move to SolydX today before I discovered MX-14...

[joany]

My simple answer to, "Do I need 64 bit?" is "No." I've been running 32-bit kernels on my 64-bit dual-core CPU for 8 years. I started using pae kernels about 6 years ago because I wasn't able to access all of my RAM with a non-pae 32-bit kernel. MX-14 comes with a pae kernel OTB and it's blazingly fast on my oldish box.

A 64-bit kernel would definitely make video transcoding faster, but you said you don't do much of that anyway, so I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with MX-14.

[lucky9]

My Netbook is only 32 bit and I don't feel that it's any slower than my Desktop. Of course I'm not going to do any transcoding, etc. on it either.

[seb275]

Still, I would be pleased to install a 64bit version on my i-core7. Since Antix comes with both 32 and 64bit versions, I thought MX14 would have followed the same way. In my opinion, MX14 will not raised in popularity if there is only a 32bit version. Most people want 64bit nowadays for their brand new PCs. And we're still happy to install a blazing 32bit OS on ower good old PCs. So I'd say that both are requiered

[anticapitalista]

The very first public release of antiX (called Spartacus) was released on 09 July 2007.
The first antiX 64 bit (called Luddite) was released on 02 June 2013 i.e almost 6 years later.

So expect a 64 bit MX in 2020 :)