f20 - difference between i386 and x86_64 distros

[Powell, Michael]

> -----Original Message-----
> As I have mentioned, my x86_64 install on my Lenovo is a bit of a hack.
> Hopefully things will be better for f21, but meanwhile...
> 
> I am continuing to have problems.  Most recently, Gnome keeps crashing
> even without suspend attempts.
> 
> Soooo, I DO have a drive with f20 i386 installed, and I am seriously
> thinking of falling back to it.  "All" I have to do, is book from it,
> sync my files (mail mostly) from the x86_64 drive, and apply updates.
> 
> But what do I loose running i386 on a 64 bit system?  That is the
> serious question here.

64 bit is more popular which likely means they're more supported and that gap will only continue to grow. The two obvious differences are performance and security. There have been numerous studies that show, for the most part, a machine that has more than 4GiB of RAM will perform better on 64 bit than 32 bit or 32 bit with a PAE kernel. The studies also show that 64 bit is usually more secure due to how ASLR and PIC function better with more memory, but also native NX bit support.

With all that said, you can reach similar performance and security on 32 bit with a 64 bit CPU; it will just require more customization; So, if Fedora 20 64 bit isn't as stable for you as 32 bit, go ahead and switch. In the end it's all about whether you can use the machine or not.