In the future...

[emorrp1]

Ok, fair enough, afaik Mint does not modify the kernel. You could indeed install the mintTools etc. on top of any distribution, but that wouldn't exactly be Mint anymore. If you want to do that then I recommend getting the code directly from github (or the Helena alpha repo), as the latest versions are much more independent of each other, ready for Helena, but also making it easier to install on other distros. Oh and it'd be easier to install on a debian-based distro than one that uses rpms, but either way it's just python, so they don't need compiling or anything.

[linuxviolin]

Yes, I've tried distros like gNewSense, but they come short in the functionality and especially, the UI.

Well, of course you must make compromises. If you use a "free" distro like gNewSense you lose some functionnality... It's a choice!

Maybe I could just install the free Mint packages on one of those distros? Would that require a distro-upgrade to a more recent version of Ubuntu, do you figure?

gNewSense is based on Ubuntu, less the proprietary stuff, and Mint also, so you should be able to install the Mint tools as you want.

[haruspexed]

i dont know whats the problem with skype in 64bit is?

using it every day with mint 7 x64... same with all my other apps (firefox, songbird, pidgin, oo, ...)

i have not seen 1 app that has no 64bit version out there i miss...

adobeflashplugin in 64bit is crap like it is in 32bit. i dont need to commit security suicide with installing adobe software.

fact is, software should be optimized not for 1 cpu, it should be optimized for multiple cpu.
most software doesnt need > 8gb ram (maybe my boinc client...)

64 bit is no future, it is present, but i am fine with the situation like it is now, 32 before 64, just if the 64bit version will be optimized!

^^

[linuxviolin]

I come back here. For some "fools" (do not take it badly, it's a joke) who are desperate to 64 bit and for some additional information you can read the last Distrowatch Weekly at http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20091207#qa

32-bit versus 64-bit computing

Shave-and-a-haircut, two bits asks: I'm considering going from 32-bit to 64-bit but I'm worried about driver availability, codecs and browser plugins. Should I be? Also, is there really a big performance benefit?

DistroWatch answers: When looking at the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of the x86 architecture, x86_64 is really more of an extension to the previous 32-bit processors than a separate system. For all practical purposes, it's backward compatible. This is good because it means if you've purchased a 64-bit machine, you can choose whether to run a 32-bit or 64-bit operating system on your hardware.

The main benefit of running a 64-bit operating system is that it allows applications to access more memory. If you have an application which would like to access more than 4 GB of RAM, then a 64-bit system is for you. Some operations, such as heavy number crunching may also be slightly faster. On the other hand, there are some drawbacks to 64-bit systems. The pointers in 64-bit code take up more space, causing 64-bit executable files to be larger than the 32-bit variants. Larger executables mean programs may take longer loading.

Problems with codecs and plugins are pretty much a thing of the past. Most organizations have developed 64-bit flavors of their software and the large distributions have made a lot of progress over the years making sure things work smoothly. So there aren't really any barriers preventing someone from making the switch. However, for most Linux desktop users there isn't really any reason to move to 64-bit, yet. You're unlikely to find any Linux applications which need that much memory and I have yet to see any noticeable performance improvement when running a desktop on a 64-bit operating system.

Finally, I'd recommend taking a look at your distribution's forum. There may be a section specifically for people using 64-bit systems. Reading through these posts, or asking some questions about migrating, will give you a better idea if moving to the 64-bit version of your distribution will be worth it for you.

[deleted]

In my case, I needed 64 bit for development purposes.
Sure with PAE, you can access more than 4 gigs of ram, etc, but as a C developer, dereferencing int* make a difference.
That's reason I made the leap;)
-H