No subject

been largely completed a long time ago as a result of the x86-64.org
community project.  NetBSD and SuSE in particular have made several press
releases saying that they are ready to make distributions when the hardware
is available.  I suspect that other brands like Red Hat and Mandrake will
follow not soon after because the amount of work necessary really isn't all
that much beyond their x86 port.  They however may charge more money for it
like $495 Red Hat Advanced Server.

I could see the Debian guys quickly making an experimental port too, again
because it isn't that much work.

> Should I build a system (I have every intention of doing so, funds
> providing, which could be an issue as I'm a student), I would be willing
> to help out on any project to make a distribution for the x86-64.  The
> x86-64 has the advantage that it can run the old IA-32 code at full
> speed, which means you could install a normal distribution and go from
> there compiling natively, not needing to cross compile.  I know a fair
> amount about building Linux systems (and in the next few weeks I'll
> learn more I'm sure as I help someone learn Linux from the ground up,
> showing them what's "under the hood" by building a working system
> completely from source), and would be happy to donate some of my time
> (even if all I have is a lousy cross compiler on an IA-32 system!).
>
> --MonMotha

I wouldn't worry too much about distributions.  They will be there at
launch.

I am wondering why you are interested in specifically the Sledgehammer
x86-64.  It is some incredibly awesome technology and powerful hardware, but
the benefits aren't too great for the usual desktop/workstation user.  The
main benefit of 64bit would be for massive databases and massive servers
that need more than 4GB of RAM per process, and much larger filesystems.
You have such a need? =)

Well, the awesome thing about this is that by late 2003, the ATHLON line of
processors will be 64bit Clawhammers.  I see myself buying during 2004 a
64bit 2.0GHz mobile Athlon laptop computer with 1GB DDR SDRAM...