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Michael%S
February 18th, 2010, 06:49 PM
I recently upgraded my hardware and installed 32-bit Karmic (well really Mint 8 ) before realizing I would probably have gotten better performance from the amd64 architecture.
Is it possible to convert an i386 system to amd64?
Is it a good idea? Will there be a lot of problems afterwards? Is it easier to just backup home and etc, install a clean 64-bit system, then restore settings from backup?
If I do convert the system, how do I do it? I thought I might be able to just install a different kernel but I can't find an amd64 kernel in the repositories...

Thanks!

howefield
February 18th, 2010, 06:52 PM
Is it possible to convert an i386 system to amd64?

No, you would need a clean install of the 64 bit system.


Is it a good idea?

I would say so, purely on the fact that having 64 bit capable hardware would mean that I want to run a 64 bit operating system on it. I can, with no issues attributable to the fact that I run 64 bit.

But in real terms, you may not actually notice any performance difference depending on what you are doing with the computer.

RedSingularity
February 18th, 2010, 06:54 PM
You cant upgrade to a 64bit install, you need to do a fresh one. And its a good idea if you have more than 3.1 gigs of RAM.

Michael%S
February 18th, 2010, 10:02 PM
You cant upgrade to a 64bit install, you need to do a fresh one. And its a good idea if you have more than 3.1 gigs of RAM.

Okay. For the time being I only have 2 gig, is there any point in switching?

RedSingularity
February 18th, 2010, 10:21 PM
Personally i think not then. Its too much work to do the complete reinstall if you dont even have the RAM to be recognized by the 64bit install. But its your call.

oldos2er
February 18th, 2010, 10:47 PM
Okay. For the time being I only have 2 gig, is there any point in switching?

Speaking from personal experience, 64-bit Ubuntu runs great on 2GB RAM; you will notice faster performance if you do video encoding and similar tasks.

Sef
February 18th, 2010, 11:00 PM
Speaking from personal experience, 64-bit Ubuntu runs great on 2GB RAM; you will notice faster performance if you do video encoding and similar tasks.

+1. I had a computer that with 2 gb ram, and it did run better with 64-bit. Colors were sharper, and it ran a bit faster.

jpl888
February 18th, 2010, 11:10 PM
While you are reinstalling you might put /home on it's own partition. I find that helps if you want to change distro or reinstall later on. At least you don't have to mess around copying data off and back then.

Michael%S
February 19th, 2010, 01:06 PM
Hadn't thought of that!
Thanks for the advice everyone. I might reinstall some time soon. :)