I have a brand new athlon 64 machine and installed suse 10 32 bit on it.
While installing I got a message “nice computer but… you are installing 32 bit system on 64 bit machine”
It is supposed to be a file server, cheap graphics, slow processor, but I'd like to test houdini on it anyway.
In download section there is only houdini 64 for debian, can I install it on suse 64?
Is it worth installing 64 bit OS on such machine? It has 1 gig of ram and doesn't need more.

czesc Peliosis

I had similar doubs a few weeks ago and after severals tests and lookings around I decided to stay with 32bit OS in my 64bit machine. I'm not a very expert on technical details but it's usually said that defferences beteen 32/64bit in terms of speed/effectivity are none, in terms of stability are for 32bit's advantage. The only advantage of 64bit for now I heard is memory handling - ability to work with more then 2Gigs of Ram, big files handling etc. Maybe for server these are more important issues, but for workstations propably not. Unless you don't want to have APEXX4 with 8 cores and 16Gig of ram .


cheers,
Symek.

I'll admit to being a little confused at having a 64 bit system that you deck out to have poor memory and cpu(??). You would have gotten a much better deal going with 32 bit - if it was going to be a server, even better going with dual 32 bit cpus. When the crunch is on, you *will* notice the difference the extra cpu makes when it's getting hammered.

Anyway, you can run the 32 bit version of Houdini on most 64 bit OS's - it's so early nowadays almost all distros pack backup 32 bit libraries. I'm doing exactly that on my 64 bit workstation. It won't hurt running a 32 bit OS, though, but you might notice things being slightly snappier with 64(not much, though). Most of the downside with 64 bit nowadays is that the drivers are still playing catchup. Given you're running cheap graphics, I assume you won't be pushing that(I'm guessing you'll be running hscript?).

Cheers,

J.C.

Thanks for your replies, I'm staying with 32
I've got enough hassle with this linux thing, just installed new suse 10.1 and my wifi stopped working.
It's a fileserver (say NAS) only and It's main purpose is to hold all my data in one place, not spread on several external drives and a few workstations which is a real workflow killer.
Suse is great but being a linux newbie for a year ( I made my first steps with your help J.C. ) I'm a bit tired of “constant fighting state” it provides

Thanks

ps
Najlepszego SYmek (it's just “all the best”)