f20 - difference between i386 and x86_64 distros

[Matthew Miller]

On Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 11:27:34AM -0800, Richard Vickery wrote:
> Having run i386 since I began using Linux in 1998 and recently switched
> over to x86_64 at the end of 2012 / the middle of 2013, I used to say that
> Linux was a tank, that "you can do back-flips in Linux; you could drop a
> bomb on it and it would keep running". i386 will not crash - it is
> extremely unlikely event. The likelihood of an i386 machine crashing is
> maybe 0.25 percent, in my unscientific opinion.

I think any stability/instability difference is mostly attributable to
something other than 32 vs. 64-bit. There may be some of it, but I don't
think it's the major factor. In fact, as 64-bit has rapidly become more
dominant, it's likely that it recieves more testing.

> Since my switch-over I can't really say that I've gained anything. I don't
> think that I can put the demands on the machine as I used to. The reason I
> switched is to contribute more to this group. This I would lose if I went
> back to i386. Other than that, I can't say that there is anything to lose.

Some amout of greater performance, since the x86_64 architecture has
improvements beyond just more bits.


-- 
Matthew Miller    --   Fedora Project    --    <mattdm at fedoraproject.org>