I am very seriously considering downgrading my Ubuntu Hardy 64 bit
Linux installs to 32 bit, now that I have discovered that 32 bit can
use more than 4 GB of RAM.

My question is how hard is it to do. Ideally, I would love to just
replace packages and reboot, or something like that, without a full
reinstall.

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On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:56:01 -0500, Ignoramus20788 wrote:

> I am very seriously considering downgrading my Ubuntu Hardy 64 bit Linux
> installs to 32 bit, now that I have discovered that 32 bit can use more
> than 4 GB of RAM.
>
> My question is how hard is it to do. Ideally, I would love to just
> replace packages and reboot, or something like that, without a full
> reinstall.

It's a completely new install.

Why would you want to downgrade? If you have 4G or more you are better
off with the 64 bit version.

On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:56:01 -0500, Ignoramus20788 wrote:

> My question is how hard is it to do. Ideally, I would love to just
> replace packages and reboot, or something like that, without a full
> reinstall.

I believe that the question you should ask yourself is this: what exactly
do you gain with that move?


Rui Maciel

On 2008-07-17, Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:56:01 -0500, Ignoramus20788 wrote:
>
>> My question is how hard is it to do. Ideally, I would love to just
>> replace packages and reboot, or something like that, without a full
>> reinstall.
>
> I believe that the question you should ask yourself is this: what exactly
> do you gain with that move?

Java and stuff like that would work better on my desktop.

I have a 64 bit server that periodically freezes.

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On 2008-07-17, Ignoramus20788 <ignoramus20788@NOSPAM.20788.invalid> wrote:
> On 2008-07-17, Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:56:01 -0500, Ignoramus20788 wrote:
>>
>>> My question is how hard is it to do. Ideally, I would love to just
>>> replace packages and reboot, or something like that, without a full
>>> reinstall.
>>
>> I believe that the question you should ask yourself is this: what exactly
>> do you gain with that move?
>
> Java and stuff like that would work better on my desktop.
>
> I have a 64 bit server that periodically freezes.

Like anything else... you have 3rd party support issues.

If you have no proprietary binaries, I don't see it as a big deal
either way though. The possibility that I might need some binary only
32-bit library or plugin is what keeps most of my machines 32-bit.

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Ignoramus20788 wrote:
> I am very seriously considering downgrading my Ubuntu Hardy 64 bit
> Linux installs to 32 bit, now that I have discovered that 32 bit can
> use more than 4 GB of RAM.
>
> My question is how hard is it to do. Ideally, I would love to just
> replace packages and reboot, or something like that, without a full
> reinstall.
>

You probably wouldn't be able to just install different packages, not
without breaking a lot of things anyway, if it is at all possible.

And since you've just discovered that 32bit can indeed support more than
4GB RAM, make sure that your specific CPU model does support PAE, or
it'll be a waste of time and you won't be able to use all of your RAM.

"Ignoramus20788" <ignoramus20788@NOSPAM.20788.invalid> wrote in message
news:KbednSU8b--gDuLVnZ2dnUVZ_qHinZ2d@giganews.com...
> On 2008-07-17, Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:56:01 -0500, Ignoramus20788 wrote:
>>
>>> My question is how hard is it to do. Ideally, I would love to just
>>> replace packages and reboot, or something like that, without a full
>>> reinstall.
>>
>> I believe that the question you should ask yourself is this: what exactly
>> do you gain with that move?
>
> Java and stuff like that would work better on my desktop.
>
> I have a 64 bit server that periodically freezes.

I suspect that if you tried anything other than a full re-install
you'd wind up chasing down so many issues that you'd wish
you had done a full re-install. Unless someone can tell you
that they did it successfully and here's how, I wouldn't even
consider it.

However, you might consider whether it's possible to replace
your unsuccessful 64 bit packages with alternatives. If your
Java requirements aren't too demanding, you might get by
with an open source Java package.

It's ironic isn't it that Sun, which has been selling 64 bit
computers since before Linux was available that way, has
problems with 64 bit Java? - Assuming Sun's Java really
is the cause of your crashes, something that can be very
hard to establish for sure.

Alan

In article <487f5398$0$11801$a729d347@news.telepac.pt>,
Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> wrote:
> I believe that the question you should ask yourself is this: what exactly
> do you gain with that move?

Efficiency.

I've got a 64-bit system at work running 32-but Ubuntu, because when I
ran 64-bit Ubuntu, I didn't have enough memory for some of my scripts to
run. Perl scripts that read log files, parse them, and build data
structures representing the logs, tend to use 50-100% more memory on
64-bit systems.

--
--Tim Smith

* Tim Smith peremptorily fired off this memo:

> In article <487f5398$0$11801$a729d347@news.telepac.pt>,
> Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I believe that the question you should ask yourself is this: what exactly
>> do you gain with that move?
>
> Efficiency.
>
> I've got a 64-bit system at work running 32-but Ubuntu, because when I
> ran 64-bit Ubuntu, I didn't have enough memory for some of my scripts to
> run. Perl scripts that read log files, parse them, and build data
> structures representing the logs, tend to use 50-100% more memory on
> 64-bit systems.

No one knows how to write a good tape-sort these days <sigh>.

--
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Please, don't drink and derive.
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Linonut wrote:
> * Tim Smith peremptorily fired off this memo:
>
>> In article <487f5398$0$11801$a729d347@news.telepac.pt>,
>> Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I believe that the question you should ask yourself is this: what exactly
>>> do you gain with that move?
>> Efficiency.
>>
>> I've got a 64-bit system at work running 32-but Ubuntu, because when I
>> ran 64-bit Ubuntu, I didn't have enough memory for some of my scripts to
>> run. Perl scripts that read log files, parse them, and build data
>> structures representing the logs, tend to use 50-100% more memory on
>> 64-bit systems.
>
> No one knows how to write a good tape-sort these days <sigh>.
>
:-)