I just put together a new machine for a friend. Sempron 3100 on ASUS
K8V-MX. It was a rush job, because the computer she was using died. (Same
one I wrote about recently that was having lockup problems - pretty sure
now that it was the power supply. The last time she tried to turn it on, a
big spark came out the back, and that was the end of it. Memory and vid
card still test good.)
So now that she has a shiny new 64-bit system, I'm wondering whether to go
with 64-bit OS or stick to 32. I haven't had much time to research it, but
I understand that there are some problems with Macromedia Flash and Java,
which she needs.
Some of the reading I've done suggests that you can install the 32-bit
version of Firefox with the plugins to get around this. Anyone know if
it's really as easy as that? Are there any problems with running 32-bit
software on a 64-bit OS? Any particular bugginess with 64 that I should
know about in advance? She runs KDE desktop and uses Gimp a lot.
Oh, one other glitch I ran into - I tried to do the network install, but
the boot cd doesn't have the kernel modules for the LAN chip. I was
instructed to go to the install cd and make a "modules 3" floppy. There is
no modules 3 image on the cd or on the ftp site, but there are images for
"bootdisk1, bootdisk2, etc." Do I have to make the whole set and install
from floppy, or is there a way to find out which disk has the right module
and just use that with the cd? Or could I just put an older card in it for
the install and then change the network card setup afterward? I'm thinking
the latter would be easier than finding five or six blank floppy disks to use.
Thanks,
Greg
