[gentoo-user] OT: Gentoo on an AMD 64bit portable

[gentoo-user] OT: Gentoo on an AMD 64bit portable

[James]

Hello,

I've seen snipits of various issues related to running gentoo on a 64 bit
amd processor. In particular, I'd like to get a 'low power'
chip such as the Turion in a portable. One of my concerns is whether to use
32 bit or 64 bit Gentoo on a 64 bit AMD portable. Is there
a document I can read somewhere that explains the merits
and problems on how to set up Gentoo on a 64 bit machine?
If not can somebody explain the caveats of 64 bit (amd) gentoo?
I do not wish to be on the 'bleeding edge' of 64 bit AMD issues,
but, I'd like to access the power. I'm running a variety of
32 bit stable gentoo systems now, with relative ease.


Another problem I run into is that I must have a 9 pin serial port
(you know with a 16x50+ chip). I use my portables to talk to 
a wide variety of industrial equipment that all use standard 9 pin
serial ports. I know that there are pci cards to give mult serial ports
and usb-serial converter devices, but I have never used any of them
so I need recommendations on alternative serial (rs232C) hardware.

This limits me pretty much to Clevo based portables, unless
somebody else can point me to a 64 bit AMD portable with
9 pin serials ports, or a hardware alternative that is robust.


Any information/recommendations on 64 bit amd portables in most
welcome.

James



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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Gentoo on an AMD 64bit portable

[James Ausmus]

On 6/16/06, James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've seen snipits of various issues related to running gentoo on a 64 bit
> amd processor. In particular, I'd like to get a 'low power'
> chip such as the Turion in a portable. One of my concerns is whether to use
> 32 bit or 64 bit Gentoo on a 64 bit AMD portable. Is there
> a document I can read somewhere that explains the merits
> and problems on how to set up Gentoo on a 64 bit machine?
> If not can somebody explain the caveats of 64 bit (amd) gentoo?
> I do not wish to be on the 'bleeding edge' of 64 bit AMD issues,
> but, I'd like to access the power. I'm running a variety of
> 32 bit stable gentoo systems now, with relative ease.
>
>
> Another problem I run into is that I must have a 9 pin serial port
> (you know with a 16x50+ chip). I use my portables to talk to
> a wide variety of industrial equipment that all use standard 9 pin
> serial ports. I know that there are pci cards to give mult serial ports
> and usb-serial converter devices, but I have never used any of them
> so I need recommendations on alternative serial (rs232C) hardware.
>
> This limits me pretty much to Clevo based portables, unless
> somebody else can point me to a 64 bit AMD portable with
> 9 pin serials ports, or a hardware alternative that is robust.
>
>
> Any information/recommendations on 64 bit amd portables in most
> welcome.
>

I've been *extremely* happy with my xtremenotebooks.com system - it's
based on a Clevo (as is the Alienware equivalent), and it was about a
$1000 cheaper than the Alienware equivalent. I went with the desktop
replacement strategy - AMD 64X2 4400+, GeForce 7800 Go GTX, etc - but
xtremenotebooks.com also has Turion64-based systems for the more
mobility minded - i.e. those that don't want to lug around a 14 lb
"portable". ;)

I've been running full 64-bit on the system, and it's been *really*
straightforward - I haven't found a *single* show-stopper (now that
the RaLink rt2500 wireless driver is SMP-compatible, that is) - the
only real minor annoyances I've had are that Flash won't work in the
64-bit (i.e. self-compiled) Firefox - darn, I sure miss all those
"Punch the Monkey and win an iPod!" ads (however, I'm told this can be
gotten around via either some clever 32-bit Flash plugin + 64-bit
Konqueror sleight of hand, or by using the 32-bit firefox-bin instead
of the self-compiled), and the fact that, oddly enough, win32codecs
don't want to work in a 64-bit system either (which can be gotten
around via the mplayer-bin package - another pre-compiled 32-bit
version).

And, of course, the most important thing - I can't stop just wallowing
gleefully in my friends and relatives envious looks when I walk up
with a laptop that is more powerful than their most powerful gaming
and server systems... :)  (With only *slightly* less battery life than
a good desktop with no UPS... <grin> (Actually, I can get about 2
hours if I'm careful)).

The ACPI functionality all seems to work quite well, saving
suspend/hibernate, which I haven't really pursued due to my usage of
the proprietary NVidia drivers + the fact that the rt2500 driver
doesn't seem to play well with power management, but I would bet that
if you unloaded both those modules and did a suspend or a hibernate,
it would go well for you.

So, overall, as far as Gentoo + AMD64 goes, my experience has pretty
much been no different than Gentoo + x86 - a good one!

HTH-

James


> James
>
>
>
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[gentoo-user] Re: OT: Gentoo on an AMD 64bit portable

[James]

James Ausmus <james.ausmus <at> gmail.com> writes:


> > Any information/recommendations on 64 bit amd portables in most
> > welcome.

> I've been *extremely* happy with my xtremenotebooks.com system - it's
> based on a Clevo (as is the Alienware equivalent), and it was about a
> $1000 cheaper than the Alienware equivalent. 

Can you send me the exact model and options, and the price you paid?
Which model clevo is it based on, D900K? Any specifics you want to share
with me publically or privately, would be wonderful.

http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=productdetail&model=5988

The aforemention url is a prostar based on the latest Clevo. How does
it compare to your portable (price/features).



James




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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OT: Gentoo on an AMD 64bit portable

[James Ausmus]

On 6/16/06, James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> James Ausmus <james.ausmus <at> gmail.com> writes:
>
>
> > > Any information/recommendations on 64 bit amd portables in most
> > > welcome.
>
> > I've been *extremely* happy with my xtremenotebooks.com system - it's
> > based on a Clevo (as is the Alienware equivalent), and it was about a
> > $1000 cheaper than the Alienware equivalent.
>
> Can you send me the exact model and options, and the price you paid?
> Which model clevo is it based on, D900K? Any specifics you want to share
> with me publically or privately, would be wonderful.
>
> http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=productdetail&model=5988
>
> The aforemention url is a prostar based on the latest Clevo. How does
> it compare to your portable (price/features).

http://www.xtremenotebooks.com/index.php?section=specs&model_id=1077

Same system as your link, ~$200 cheaper - no OS. :)

My specific laptop is the Nova 906V -
http://www.xtremenotebooks.com/index.php?section=catagory&include_type=14_inch
(First one on the page)

There are a couple of key differences - Turion64 vs. Athlon 64X2, Dual
7800's vs. single 7800, 19" vs. 17" are the key ones that I see.

After customization, I ended up paying about $3500 for mine, but the
prices have a dropped $100-200 since I bought mine.


OK, exact model & options on mine-

"FUSION" base system

1920x1200 screen w/ 3-year Accident Protection warranty
nVidia GeForce 7800 Go GTX w/ 256MB Memory (didn't release the 7900
until a few weeks after I'd bought mine... bummer... :(   )
Athlon 64X2 4400+ CPU (Lowest one that had a full 1MB cache per core)
1GB Ram
80GB SATA-150 5400 RPM drive
No 2nd HDD
Base CD/RW + DVD Drive
No 2nd Optical drive
XP Pro SP2 (I dual-boot - do some Windows development in my job, plus
I enjoy gaming...)
3-year Xtreme Warranty (don't remember if I got on-site or mail-in -
probably mail-in)
EZLock (EZ-90)

All that + shipping ran me about $3500 - looks like it's down to about
$3100 + shipping these days...


HTH-

James

>
>
>
> James
>
>
>
>
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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Gentoo on an AMD 64bit portable

[Vladimir G. Ivanovic]

On Fri, 2006-06-16 at 20:34 +0000, James wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I've seen snipits of various issues related to running gentoo on a 64 bit
> amd processor. In particular, I'd like to get a 'low power'
> chip such as the Turion in a portable. 

I have a Turion MT-32 laptop (ABS Mayhem F-15 A40 which is actually an
MSI-1011 and only sold by NewEgg for $900.)

> One of my concerns is whether to use
> 32 bit or 64 bit Gentoo on a 64 bit AMD portable. Is there
> a document I can read somewhere that explains the merits
> and problems on how to set up Gentoo on a 64 bit machine?
> If not can somebody explain the caveats of 64 bit (amd) gentoo?
> I do not wish to be on the 'bleeding edge' of 64 bit AMD issues,
> but, I'd like to access the power. I'm running a variety of
> 32 bit stable gentoo systems now, with relative ease.

I've basically had no problems running a 64-bit system other than the
well-known mplayer & flash-type problems, except when I go and try to
compile open source applications. Many make fundamental assumptions
about data layouts and sizes that are simply not true for 64-bit
systems.

BTW, I have had ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~amd64" for months now without any
serious problems, although I do run into the occasional (non-essential)
package which won't compile. They are usually fixed (or a patch
provided) in a reasonable amount of time.

I'd unhesitantly run a 64-bit system on an AMD64 system again.

--- Vladimir

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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: Gentoo on an AMD 64bit portable

[Richard Fish]

On 6/16/06, James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> and usb-serial converter devices, but I have never used any of them
> so I need recommendations on alternative serial (rs232C) hardware.

I have a USB to RS232 converter that I used to connect to a router.
It works great.  So I wouldn't worry about finding a laptop with a
built-in serial port.

If you want to know the exact make/model of my converter, I can let
you know on Saturday when I get back home.

-Richard
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