64-bit distros

Message

michael7 · #1 Post by **michael7** » 2005-05-31 16:41

I've just purchased a new AMD64 box and want to try as many 64-bit distros as I have room for on a second HD. I know of several:

Debian
Kanotix
Fedora Core
Ubuntu
Suse
Mandriva
Red Hat

Are there others?

Guest · #2 Post by **Guest** » 2005-06-01 01:07

IIRC there's also a Gentoo install for AMD64; never tied it myself though. I'm just not a "compile everything" type of guy.

Josh · #3 Post by **Josh** » 2005-06-01 01:08

OOps...that post was me. ^^^^

michael7 · #4 Post by **michael7** » 2005-06-01 02:36

Thanks, Josh. Gentoo is added to the list. I performed a thoroughly unscientific study of three distros and how fast they load and initialize. (I don't have the Debian 64-bit version yet but it's on the way.) I used Mepis (a 32-bit distro), Kanotix 64-bit and Ubuntu 64-bit. Here's how many seconds it took from the GRUB menu to the login screen and from the login screen to full desktop initialization.

Mepis 54-9
Kanotix 33-7
Ubuntu 22-7

This isn't fair to Mepis (it's a solid, easy-to-use distro) but I wanted to compare the 64-bit distros to a 32-bit distro and it was already loaded, so I used it. Obviously, the 64-bit distros are faster. No surprise there, but I am surprised at how much faster they are. (Actually, I may have slowed down Kanotix by altering a config file.)

I'll post the numbers for Debian when the DVDs arrive and I have it installed.