[linux-audio-user] AMD64 question

[Mark Knecht]

On 6/27/06, Dave Phillips <dlphillips at woh.rr.com> wrote:
> Mark Knecht wrote:
>
> >>   7) Am I correct to assume that this system runs in a 32-bit more as
> >> well as the 64-bit ? How do I determine which mode I'll run in ?
> >
> >
> > No - it will run either 32-bit or 64-bit. However Linux has 32-bit
> > emulation libraries to allow 32-bit binaries to run an a 64-bit
> > system. I run 64-bit but I think if I was to do it again I'd just go
> > 32-bit. 64-bit systems have trouble with many 32-bit Windows media
> > types as win32codec built for 64-bit isn't completely compatible (or
> > just doesn't work) yet. Some of Java isn't as well supported on 64-bit
> > yet. Flash s OK. No clue whether any of that matters to you but it
> > does to me.
>
> Thanks for those notes, Mark. The Java and Flash stuff does matter to
> me. Any comment on WINE and VST support ? Am I best advised then to
> simply run in 32-bit mode most of the time ?

I'm not doing enough with Wine or VST's on Linux latey to comment. I
find the whole wine thing has gotten so complex and (frankly) flakey)
that it hasn't been worth my time. All my VST's have moved back to
windows where 'it just works'. ;-)

Jack/Ardour/Aqualung are very, very stable on 64-bit. No problems there.

Note that I have recently suffered a large number of ogg files on a
1394 ext3 drive getting corrupted. I have no idea why. I started
seeing this when running 2.6.16-rt25. I upgraded to 2.6.17-rt1 and
things got worse. I do not think it's a kernel issue. Possibly the
drive is just having trouble. one the less that's my Linux negative
for the last 14 days...

>
> Btw, if I had to explain it to a very normal user, what benefits should
> she expect from running a 64-bit system ? WRT Linux audio software, what
> applications receive the greatest performance boosts ?

I do not think there is much extra value to running audio apps on
64-bit yet. I'd defer to Paul, Jess & Taybin for real numbers. All I
can say is that it works fin on 64-bit, for me, on this machine,
today. I have a 32-bit Gentoo chroot built up on this same machine,
incase I need to run 32-bit, but for Ardour that hasn't been
necessary.

I should have mentioned that before. Even though I run 64-bit Gentoo
provides a bunch of support for running a complete 32-bit chroot
inside of the 4-bit environment. All the 32-bit stuff (Java, Flash,
win32codecs, etc.) work fine in there. The down side is you have to
keep two Gentoo builds up to date, and keeping one Gentoo build up to
date is a bunch of work so it's not a gret solution for everyone. That
said, if you wanted to run 64-bit and ran into a real problem then it
is a working solution.

>
> > We need to put the universe's karma bit more in balance.
>
> :)
>
> Back to the balance...
>

You're far too generous. Suck a little more your way more often! :) :) :)

Cheers,
Mark