Installed as 32bit...Can I change to x64?

[Nos4ah2]

I'm a semi-competent newbie. When I first installed Kubuntu to my laptop I had partitioned 2 drives - my root drive and a home drive. After searching forums for information on best practices for installation, I saw a lot of messages stating that 64bit installations may occasionally run into compatibility issues. Because I was a scared newb I opted for the 32bit installation.

Since then I've decided I'd like to take the plunge and see what this Core2Duo is really capable of. I really want to get up and running with the 64bit platform, but I'm not sure of the best way to make the change. I know that since all my home stuff is on another partition I could technically blow away the root and reinstall from scratch, but I'm not sure if this is the best method.

I'm currently running a dual boot configuration with Kubuntu and Vista (on a 3rd partition) and I'd like to make sure that I don't kill the Vista installation. I'm running 8.04 with both KDE 3.5.9 and KDE 4.1. (I've also considered installing 8.10 but I'm not sure if I'm willing to part completely with 3.5).

So I'm here looking for opinions and suggestions. Please tell me your thoughts!

Thanks!

[Nos4ah2]

Re: Installed as 32bit...Can I change to x64?

So I just found this.... http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3092260.0

It states that I'll need to install from scratch. So another question remains - will any of the data related to settings, applications, etc in my /home directory still be valid? Or should I just backup the crap on my home partition as well and only keep my important documents, images, mp3s, etc?

And what about 8.10? Does anyone think it's ready for primetime? I've been using 4.1 Remix for awhile and it seems pretty stable and I don't have much functionality missing. I've been hanging on to 3.5.9 just in case but I'm not sure if it's really necessary at this point.

[dibl]

Re: Installed as 32bit...Can I change to x64?

Your data is fine, if the /home directory is on a different partition.

However, I'm not so sure about all the settings in the hidden folders there -- I think I'd err on the side of caution and get my data backed up somewhere else, and re-format that partition too.

Your Core 2 Duo will be very happy with the 64-bit version.

If you're comfortable with KDE 3.5.9, you probably should stick with 8.04. I'm running 8.10, which seems to run fine, but the KDE 4.1 that comes with it has two problems:

(a) some important parts of it don't work yet (like Adept Manager and Kate), and
(b) the parts that do work are very, very different than KDE 3.5.9.

So, there's your two cents' worth of advice.

[Troberg]

Re: Installed as 32bit...Can I change to x64?

Make a backup, just to be safe. Never perform major changes in any OS without a backup. It shouldn't be a problem, but one can never have one backup too many.

The settings are probably usable, as they are, as far as I've checked, stored as text. Given how fast and simple an install is, there is little to lose by trying to transfer them, at worst you lose 15 minutes while you do a new install.

[dibl]

Re: Installed as 32bit...Can I change to x64?

I was thinking about packages like Firefox (with flash and Java ...), GoogleEarth, msttcorefonts, and other "external" packages, which might put information in the settings files that is architecture-specific. I dunno -- the time spent installing the OS is very small, but the time spent configuring everything afterwards is days, for me. So I go for the high-confidence process, to raise my chances that I won't waste any time going back for re-dos.

[Tecumseh]

Re: Installed as 32bit...Can I change to x64?

I have had some problems with the hidden folders in the homedir. Granted it was using several distributions, mixing debian, kubuntu 8.04 and 8.04 kde4 remix was not a good idea (3 seperate installs sharing 1 homepartition).

In my current setup I have worked around that. I still have all my data on the partition previously used for /home but now I have it mounted under /media/home. With the installation I don't designate a homedrive but leave it on the root partition. After the installation I (re)move the created directory's in my homedir and create symlinks to the corresponding folders under /media/home. This way I have all my data accessible but don't have any issue's with conflicting program settings.

A bit of advise for others that want to set this up with their own system:

• It might not be a bright idea with a multi-user environment, it gets you into a lot of work to do this for every user.
• Make sure you keep the same username, userid and groupid for every installation
• Mail is a bit of a pain, I still haven't got it completely figured out because I don't have the imap mailserver setup correctly yet on my homeserver.

[Troberg]

Re: Installed as 32bit...Can I change to x64?

I dunno -- the time spent installing the OS is very small, but the time spent configuring everything afterwards is days, for me.

Well, that's exactly why I would try the quick pah first.

Recently, I installed four laptops, complete with my favourite settings and software, in less than an hour. Basically, what I did was this:

* Install Kubuntu
* Set up Samba
* apt-get install the software I wanted
* Copy a home directory from a machine I've configured earlier

That's all, no problems. Granted, that was 32-bit to 32-bit, but it was so quick that I wouldn't hesitate to try it on the off chance that I wouldn't have to do a lot of manual configuring.

[Nos4ah2]

Re: Installed as 32bit...Can I change to x64?

Thanks for the replies! I like the thrill of the bleeding edge so I think I'm going to wait a little bit and take the plunge on one of the 8.10 betas, and do 64bit at the same time.