[NTLUG:Discuss] Re: Novell SuSe DVD's

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Fri, 2004-09-10 at 11:03, Stephen Davidson wrote:
> Hi Guys.
> Having messed around with both the SuSE CD's & DVD's, I can answer what
> is going on.
> The DVDs have the exact same data as the CDs, just in a different
> format.  Pre 9.1, it was basically alot more convenient to use the DVD's
> when installing (everything on the same medium) than the CDs.  With 9.1,
> they are also shipping the 64bit-AMD version of SuSE,

The Fedora Core 1/2 release for x86-64 is also DVD (and available as DVD
for x86).  From the standpoint of Anaconda and the genhdlist utility,
it's just like it was one big disc or centralized HTTP/FTP/NFS-based
repository.

> for any of those lucky enough to have a 64 Bit OS.  (I just ordered one,
> but due to client needs, this one will be running MS, not Linux
> <groan>).

Unfortunately, XP 64-bit Edition isn't 64-bit, it's quite 32-bit.  If
you run a 64-bit app, it will use 32-bit libraries (c/o Win32-on-Win64,
WoW), or the vendor must build and ship its own 64-bit libraries.

It would be a nightmare for Microsoft to even attempt porting the
majority of its Win32 to Win64.  Unlike GNU/Linux, the overwhelming
majority of Win32 libraries are not "64-bit clean."  Yes, even though
AMD x86-64 is x86 compatible, you can_not_ have a 64-bit application
call a 32-bit library in "Long" mode.

WoW is the same workaround Microsoft used for NT 3.1 (Win16-on-Win32),
and has the same, resulting performance hit.  And like NT 3.1 where it
was up to vendors to develop their own libraries for full 32-bit
capability, we have the same again with XP 64-bit Edition.

Hence why 64-bit games like UT2004 run _slower_ under XP 64-bit Edition
than their 32-bit version, but _faster_ under Linux/x86-64.  Check out
AnandTech.COM for the couple of articles that showed this.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                  b.j.smith at ieee.org 
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