What is better to install for Core duos & FC6 either i686 or x86_64?

[Phil Meyer]

Thomas Fischer wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I would like a frank opinion and what are the plus or minus of
> installing either the i686 version or x86_64 version of FC6 on an Intel
> Core (or Core2) Duo platform?
> I've read different articles that say that using the x86_64 version
> comes with a fair bit of downsides including lack of support for lots of
> software...
>
> I plan to use this installation as a Desktop machine for every day work.
>
> Thanks for your inputs...
>
>   
intel and Microsoft would like you to believe that 64 bit computing is 
not necessary for the desktop.

Most major software companies believe this.

Therefore, you will come up short on some proprietary applications such 
as flash and java plugins.

There are also issues with some video codecs being able to work.

So you have to ask yourself how important are these things to you?

My personal home system is 64bit and I don't care about flash, and 
seldom surf sites that need the java plugin.

That system runs games under cedega just fine.
It can play any media I want it to.
It can rip DVDs and CDs just fine.

These are the things I use it for, casually, and for more work oriented 
stuff it does very fine at compiles, web services, database services, 
mail services, and so forth.

For the work oriented stuff, I tested 32bit vs 64bit on my application 
mix on the same hardware and found that my system likes 64bit better.

However, it has been an experience getting some things to work and my 
personal history with UNIX and then Linux is older than many who read 
this list.

Do I recommend 64bit FC for a casual user Desktop oriented system?  NO.

Do I recommend 64bit FC for 64bit AMD CPUs for more production type 
servers?  Hell YES!

Would I recommend 64bit on Core Duo and Core2 Duo based systems at all?  
Rarely, maybe.  Especially since intel used a 32bit OS for their 
published SPEC benchmarks on these CPUs.  That just makes me scratch my 
head and wonder ...