Re: [SLUG] 64bit Linux

From: Chad Perrin (perrin@apotheon.com)
Date: Tue Jul 20 2004 - 21:58:54 EDT


Felix Boecker wrote:

> Well, I'm at my wit's end and I hope somebody has some answers for me.
>
> I'm trying to install a 64 bit machine (my brother put it together, so I

  don't know the exact specs besides it using an AMD 64bit 3200+ processor

and some dual-BIOS motherboard which *supposedly* is the latest and greatest).
>
> At any rate, I have tried my luck with (and in this order)
>
> 1) Mandrake 10 Beta (couldn't get 10.0 as a free download and not knowing

  if it'd work I didn't feel like spending money on it). But it didn't set up

  the wireless card correctly (an ACX100 based D-Link PCI card) so then I tried
>
> 2) Fedora Core 2 for 64bit which crashed during the initialization of the

  installer during the usb-storage-driver loading. Knowing that FC2 didn't

work too well for me on 32bit, I went back to
>
> 3) SuSE 9.1 Pro (I downloaded 5 CDs off a torrent since my Novell Resource Kit

  hasn't arrived yet). Now, this installed just fine and setting up the wireless

  card was a breeze ... only problem, it installed as i386!! And there are only

  i386 and i586 packages on the CDs. Everything on the web says that 9.1 Pro

supports AMD natively without any extra add-ons and I found x86_64 RPMs on SuSE's

  FTP ... but they aren't on the CD (or on my HDD). Anyone who has the Resource

Kit, are the 64bit RPMs on the install CDs or DVD? (In hopes that I will get mine

  sometime soon to fix this problem) Or how else could I go about installing 9.1

  in native 64bit mode?
>
> 4) Lastly, I tried FC1 which passed the above mentioned problem of FC2 just

  fine but then couldn't find my ATI graphics board (just remembered, ATI 9800

All-In-Wonder Pro) and discontinued the install.
>
> So now I"m back to only having Winblows installed (it's actually a machine for

  my parents, my dad wanted 64bit and I had no say in it) so my parents can

actually do something with their top-of-the-line machine.
>
>>From what I hear, Gentoo would be a perfect distro to install but the ACX

wireless driver might give me a headache (especially since I'd want a stage 1

install). Right now, I'd really prefer the SuSE 9.1 Pro but only if it supports

  64bit natively (the 32bit packages were noticeably slow).
>
> I would greatly appreciate any input. Thanks for all your help.
>
> Felix

You could always try one of the LiveCD Linux distros to see if they find
everything properly -- something like Knoppix or Mepis. They both tend to be
quite good at finding everything and setting it up automagically. I wouldn't
recommend using these things for "serious" workstation use, because of the way
they throw the kitchen sink at your hard drive and don't really give you
installation options, but if it's the only way to get the system to accept Linux
you might give it a shot. With all the niche-Knoppix versions out there, I'd
think you could probably find a 64-bit version.
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