From edd at debian.org  Fri Oct 22 16:45:05 2004
From: edd at debian.org (Dirk Eddelbuettel)
Date: Fri Oct 22 16:45:12 2004
Subject: OT: Debian/Ubuntu on amd64 (Re: [Rd] 64 Bit)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0410221205150.4795-100000@gannet.stats>
References: <1F5B2A5E6712B94DA65EA9EBF0A1A3820B0EB8@EMAIL.mpimp-golm.mpg.de>
	<Pine.LNX.4.44.0410221205150.4795-100000@gannet.stats>
Message-ID: <20041022144503.GA18418@sonny.eddelbuettel.com>

On Fri, Oct 22, 2004 at 12:24:56PM +0100, Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
> If you want a prebuilt version you are out of luck except for Debian Linux 
> on Alpha or ia64, from a quick glance.

amd64 as well. It is not "fully official" but almost, see
http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/

I presume you could install using either a beta of the new Debian installer
or a (free) installer cdrom from the brand new Ubuntu Linux distribution
(see http://www.ubuntulinux.org), a fresh derivative backed by Mark
Shuttleworth . I heard good things about it -- cf yesterday's Linux Weekly
News, subscription required, where the following was posted as a reader
comment on (presumably both amd64 and i386):

   Ubuntu is fantastic.
  
   I've been running the AMD64 distribution for a while, and it's stable and
   instantly useful. I just installed it on my Thinkpad T-41 and:
   * the ipw2100 wireless card (GPL driver, binary hotplug loaded firmware)
     worked without any config, and even during the _install_ process.
   * it autoconfigured X wonderfully, GL worked, even to the point of noticing
     I have a synaptics touchpad and setting it up so that scrolling, tap-click,
     tap-drag, etc works.
   * sound just worked, etc.

   Not only that, but the base install is a _fully working_ desktop - every
   application you'll generally want to do work is there. It's very convincing.
   I'm a fan of Debian, but this is just so much less pain with all the
   advantages of a plain Debian system.

After the Ubuntu installation, it should be just a matter of pointing
/etc/apt/sources.list to one of the amd64 archives, and 

   $ apt-get update; apt-get install r-base r-recommended
   
should get you there.

Note that this whole post is made out of thin air as my personal computing
budget has not yet made an allowance for amd64 hardware. Donations are
always welcome (only sort-of kidding here ...)

Dirk

-- 
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
                                                -- Groucho Marx


OT: Debian/Ubuntu on amd64 (Re: [Rd] 64 Bit)
Dirk Eddelbuettel