Changing the default 32-bit x86 arch for Fedora 12

[Bill McGonigle]

On 06/15/2009 03:34 PM, Krzysztof Halasa wrote:
> I wonder if a switch like that makes a difference for owners of "newer"
> CPUs. Aren't they/we already using x86-64, leaving i386 for old
> hardware and netbooks?

Many third-party vendors are just/still getting their stuff working on 
64-bit, so, sadly, no.  The poor saps who have to run non-free software, 
especially.

But things are much better today than they were even just a year ago, 
and these are future discussions.  It seems likely that a year hence 
everybody [for most values of 'every'] will be up to speed, which is 
about when F11 will be EOL.

My brand new eeePC 1000he is only a 32-bit Atom, though, so as much as 
I'd like to support old gear, I'd like it to be fast on my netbook too. 
  But I agree with the statisticians in the room who are calling for data.

One thing that might seem counter-intuitive is that people tune for old 
hardware as well as new.  I have a project on a Via C7 that I run a 
gentoo-based distro on because I can tweak compilation for that 
hardware, and I've seen 40% gains in some areas.  On a Core2Quad, I run 
Fedora and don't look back, as I have CPU to spare and haven't seen a 
benefit in tuning for it.

-Bill

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