J.Venning said:
Well, I'm in the process of downloading it, but I may not install it.
The Linux I ordered is the SuSE 9.1 + Fedora 3 - DVD.
Hm, Suse 9.1 is old. The most recent version is 9.2. You can install
that directly via internet:
http://www.novell.com/de-de/products/linuxprofessional/downloads/suse_linux/index.html
(in german, but you can switch the language on that site)
Fedora also can be downloaded from the net.
I would very much like
to make use of the full potential of the machine I bought,
I understand. But the increase in performance when switching to 64bit
software will not be that big. Somebody posted that link, where XP64 is
compared to XP:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/x86-64-rc1.html
I will be in the States in June, and hopefully a commercial version
will be available in the market by then.
I personally would wait a bit longer. Even at the time, XP64 is
released to market, there won't be sufficient apps and drivers
available. That will take some time, and possibly some hardware
manufacturers will refuse to develop 64bit drivers for existing
products, so there is possibility that you will be forced to replace
some hardware due to the lack of working drivers.
And that is the reason why I will not switch to XP64. I would at least
have to replace my scanner, my ISDN modem, my TV card, my CD burning
software. And buying these things new, that's not cheap.
I may have to buy a new keyboard and mouse,
Stick with PS/2, that works always.
not to mention a new scanner.
Then never think about buying Artec, they won't even support XP SP2.
And HP's drivers are bloated. And if you also want to stick with linux,
then check
www.sane-project.org in order to find a supported scanner.
greets,
Michael