[ILUG] Suggestions for best 64 bit Linux distro?

[Paul Biggar]

On 6/22/05, Braun Brelin <bbrelin at openapp.biz> wrote:
> Anyone have a good suggestion for a 64 bit Linux distro?
> I'm looking for a distro that has good support for multimedia apps...

The thread seems to have wandered off topic, so I'll just answer the
question with my short story of the search for the same.

Starting with the rule 'not fedora', and 'not anything else rpm
related', there was the choice between debian and gentoo (I didn't
notice there was an ubuntu x86_64). I wasn't considering BSDs either.

Debian x86_64 wasn't an official release, so I didn't think I could
expect the full support that I thought I'd get with gentoo, and which
I'm happy to say, I have gotten with gentoo. Some high points and
low-points:

High:
- Very good documentation. Really really good.
- Most of portage (that I've used) has been available for ~amd64,
though a lot of it is masked (ie testing).
- They treat amd64 as a first class architecture, unlike debian.

Low points:
- Some codecs don't work in 64 bit.
- Portage is source based, as I'm sure you're aware. So you don't get
to use a package when you need it. You have to wait 3 hours.
- Not everything works. You'll occasionally (ie more than you'd like
to) update or install a new package only for ebuild to fail. I've
never seen this happen in debian (i386)
- The initial install is not simple, and it is long (though it is well
documented).
- Use flags suck ass. They're inconsistant across ebuilds; flags that
you think would be supported by some packages aren't; and there aren't
any decent tools to play with them (ufed? kill me).

You can get around some of these problems by running a debian chroot.
But that's twice the install, and you need to use debootstrap, which
is also not trivial.


Is there a speed difference? Maybe, but I don't notice it. Anyhow, you
spend so long installing packages in the background that your system
will probably run slower, on average.

All in all, when debian etch comes out, and has full amd64 support, I
will probably switch.

Hope this helps,
Paul


-- 
Paul Biggar
paul.biggar at gmail.com