[LAU] Audio Distribution Proposal...

[Joel Roth]

On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 10:58:01AM -0700, Mark Knecht wrote:
> WRT to the original audio distribution proposal I want to throw out an
> idea that Linus and some of the other high-end kernel developers have
> been discussing on the LKML, and it rings true as possibly important
> for folks like us doing audio work. The comment was that distribution
> packagers haven't accepted the idea of providing a 64-bit kernel with
> a 32-bit tool set. The idea, as I understand it, is that with a 64-bit
> kernel you get the potential advantages of using all the features of
> your newer 64-bit processor - newer hardware flags, more memory. On
> the other hand 32-bit apps might work better in virtualized
> environments and, in my experience, would provide more backward
> compatibility with older audio and Windows stuff. Linus and others
> seem to think it's a a good thing to do, but no one is doing it yet.
> I'm not qualified to say what's good or bad about it.

A significant advantage of the 64-bit kernel
is that the processor can make use of more registers.

In addition to ease of virtualization, an advantage of
32-bit userland, is that code is smaller, so that cache is
used more efficiently.

-- 
Joel Roth