Recommendations for 64bit Linux OS

harney

Hi all

I am in the process of replacing my dead'ish shuttle pc with something a bit shinier and newer (Advice on new PC thread) Mini-ITX pc.

An i5 2500K system is currently sitting in Germany waiting to join the 16GB of ram currently sitting on my shelf.

I have been using Linux Mint for the last 3-4 years and while waiting for a new system I installed the latest version on a core 2 duo laptop and it hasn't handled it particularly well. I am not sure if it is the new interface Mint is using, or if the laptop just sucks.

So, to the question............... What recommendations do you comrades in arms have towards a version of Linux that will be on an OK processor and have 16GB of ram? I assume I should go with a 64bit OS due to the memory?

The majority of the time will be spent doing very basic things - browsing, and streaming things back to my PS3. I will also be using vmware or virtualbox to for some training which will require running a private network with about 3 - 4 windows servers running and being scanned exploited etc.

So, any ideas?

Khannie

If you like mint and you're used to it I think you should try it. Not sure why it didn't work well on the core2duo you have, but I am forgiving.

Definitely need to go 64bit. Are you planning to run 3-4 VM's concurrently? Might get a bit sluggish.

Johnboy1951

I assume I should go with a 64bit OS due to the memory?

I would not go 64bit for that reason.
Use a pae kernel in a 32 bit OS and have access to 64GBs of RAM ...... if you have it!

harney

Thanks for the info guys, although I am now confused about 64bit or not

I think I'll go that way anyway. I am reluctant to move away from apt-get as my install / update mechanism which means Mint/Ubuntu/Debian. I was never a fan of Ubuntu for some reason, which is why I am alwasy suprised that I liked Mint so much. I was also using the Debian version of Mint for a while until my pc died, and while it was fine the update mechanism was a bit of a nightmare. I still smile when I think of one of the updates that ran - I remember seeing the updates stating they were removing the Nvidia drivers and thinking it was odd. On next boot in I was staring at a terminal window and all I could say was ah, I did see that then

Looking at sata drives there appear to be a few around the 3TB size that should keep me in space for some time, and seem to be happier with a 64 bit OS so that adds weight to the idea.

As for running multiple virtual machines, when I do that (between 3 and 5, depending on how the system handles everything) I will only have them up to represent a network running some services and will be connecting via a laptop so it should not be the end of the world, I hope.

croo

I've been using 64bit ubuntu (and centos) for years without issue now. % or 6 years ago there might have been issues with the likes of flash. But it's been a very long time since I noticed and issues.

jonathan11

Plus one on the Centos.
Its good for server type work, web server etc.
Not sure how it is for personal use.