Which arch is dominant in 2009?

hook · Last edited by hook on Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:28 pm; edited 1 time in total

I was just wondering the other day how come ARCH="x86" is still considered the main architecture even though pretty much all modern CPU are AMD64 (or Intel64).

So, I'd like to know which is the dominant arch (i.e. ACCEPT_KEYWORDS) being used by Gentoo users in 2009.

P.S. Yes, I searched for similar topics. But whatever's out there is already outdated.
P.P.S. Due to poll limitations, I had to ommit some of the arches. Missing are all the *-fbsd keywords, m68k, s390, sh. So if you use any of those, add a comment.
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szczerb · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 12:19 pm Post subject:

I did vote for amd64 because that's my main system (ma lappy), but then I realised that I have more x86 (2) machines then amd64 (1) - so I guess that I should've answered x86...

Letharion · Veteran Joined: 13 Jun 2005 Posts: 1344 Location: Sweden

Next time I install again I will go with 64-bit. I did once "long" (2005) ago and a lot of stuff didn't work, so I've avoided it since.
I'm still on x86 because I can't switch without a complete reinstall, and that most likely won't happen until I buy a new computer. (Unless I mess things up)

hook · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:08 pm Post subject:

I think it's time for me to comment as well.

I've switched to amd64 (from x86) in 2005 when I got my (now dead) Acer laptop. At times it's been a bumpy ride, but for the past year or so, more or less all problems were solved. Sure, Psyco is not yet ported to amd64, but that's just an optional package anyway. Pretty much everything else works just fine (including Flash and video codecs, which used to be quite a bother in the past).

Actually, the only annoyance on amd64 for me lately is that many packages are keyworded and stabilised a lot slower then on x86. It seems a bit odd to me that amd64 has to have a separate arch team and considered as a second class citizen. This is also the reason why I made this poll - to find out if the "x86 is more common" assumption still stands (I think it doesn't).

Needless to say, when I get my new laptop (aaah, sweet ThinkPad), I'll again use ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64" :]
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NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:15 pm Post subject:

I use ~sparc ~x86 and ~amd64.
I would use ~arm too but I can't get gentoo to build for my iPaq.

Many users with 64 bit amd (alike) CPUs still do 32 bit installs. Thats a feature that will continue for some time as 64 bit installs have few advantages.
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d2_racing · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:28 pm Post subject:

AMD64 will be again very strong, since the CoreI7 that rip a lot of compilation time and if you run with a 64 bits installation, then it's even faster

asturm · Developer Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 8936

For me it's currently amd64 (2) : x86 (2), although from those two x86 systems one is a tiny C7 server, the other one my abandoned, old notebook.

hoacker · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:05 pm Post subject:

amd64 2 : x86 1
It would be 3:0 if I could get the wireless to work with amd64, but no way with this card: No linux driver and no 64bit XP-driver I could use with ndiswrapper.

avx · Advocate Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 2152

amd64(6), x86(4), sparc(1), ppc(1)

Naib · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:53 pm Post subject:

amd64,x86,arch
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hook · Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:26 pm Post subject:

The poll's been up for 4 days so far and already 66 people voted. I know this is not a very good sample statistically, but since it's been put under "Gentoo Chat" and not promoted (that I know of) on any arch-specific forums or channels, I think it's a pretty fair poll.

As it stand today AMD64 is currently the most used ACCEPT_KEYWORDS option used by Gentoo (forum) users — being used by more than 2/3 of users who voted.

If this trend continues, I think it would be worth rethinking why we're still maintaining x86 as the main arch on Gentoo. Or at least why AMD64 isn't better maintained.
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asturm · Developer Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 8936

Hm, where is it behind x86? I don't feel much difference nowadays, but then I'm using ~amd64.

Letharion · Veteran Joined: 13 Jun 2005 Posts: 1344 Location: Sweden

asturm · Developer Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 8936

Agreed. More demand brings more bugzilla entries bring more interest, and things move on from there.

hook · Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:48 pm Post subject:

@genstorm: OK, I admit, ~amd64 is not too far behind ~x86, but in the stable branches there's quite a difference.

NotQuiteSane · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 3:50 am Post subject:

I think i'm the only ~sparc user. but lets see, of machines running some form of unix that i have either direct or root privledges:

6 sparc (7 chips)
1 arm
23 x86 (37 chips)
1 opteron (4 chips)

note that i co-admin a site that has a mix of unix clients.

NQS
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disi · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:21 am Post subject:

I voted for arm, they will bring out new notebooks this year afaik

hook · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:45 am Post subject:

keenblade · Veteran Joined: 03 Oct 2004 Posts: 1087

I use ~amd64. And I am extremely happy with it.
I wanna use ~arm, too, but I don't think gentoo will work on my qtec s200. It would be great get this old pda usable with gentoo.
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krinn · Watchman Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 7470

I don't think that poll would answer anything:
1/ people will generaly use their favorite computer to answer it (because faster, newer cpu... mouse, keyboard... nicer screen... well their best computer, seems logic they just use it more). So they should answer that kind of question with amd64

2/ if you count how many users really have x86 and amd64 that will be different, i have personnaly 5 computers : 4 are x86 and only 1 is amd64 capable, and no i don't use amd64 because i would need cross compiling for that and i don't wish that.
If i was only using that computer i suppose i would have been amd64 too (so i would have been case 1 as nearly everyone with a newer cpu)
So you could guess that 32bits gentoo are really more common, because not all computers could run a 64bits arch, but all X86-64 computers could run a 32bits distro. (i'm not sure for the others 64bits arch so i just use X86-64)

3/ I don't think amd64 is discriminated vs x86, it's just (in my opinion) that they are so close that fixing the 32bits version of a product would fix 95% of the amd64 version. So you need a staff to fix the 5% gap, that should explain a little amd64 team.
Considering that, we could say fixing 100% amd64 would fix 100% 32bits (let's just assume it's the case): yes but fixing 95% of amd64 is still faster than fixing 100% amd64, so they hit stable state faster.

I also have a feeling that thread gave me: "hey drop the x86 so few use it vs amd64, and why not droping sparc while we're at it... and mac and..." and (even more provocating

) "and while optimizing dev time: why not just drop linux so many computers use windows our dev could do even a little task, that will hit a far bigger audience"

dmpogo · Advocate Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 3267 Location: Canada

I have 4 computers - old opteron server, two desktops and a laptop, all amd64, never had anything else since 2005 (oops, my old laptop up to 2007 was Fedora)

muhsinzubeir · l33t Joined: 29 Sep 2007 Posts: 948 Location: /home/muhsin

I have 1 laptop, 1 desktop and 2 servers...all running X86.
I did use amd64 on my desktop as is the only machine that can support it.Unfortunately, I removed amd64 and move to x86 due to personal issues.
Just wanted the desktop to be the same with other boxes...probably gain a little time in maintannce if all boxes are kinda the same ~arc...but probably not true :lol:

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NathanZachary · Moderator Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 2605

For my home computers, I have x86 (9), amd64 (2), so I guess x86 is still my top by a long shot. Even though I have several processors that support 64bit, I don't see that many advantages.
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d2_racing · Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 3:39 pm Post subject:

NathanZachary · Moderator Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 2605

Maybe I will try it again. I know that I installed the AMD64 version of Gentoo on the computer at my parents' house and it did seem to be a lot smoother of a process than in the past. I didn't ever notice until then that some of the kernel options are different for 64bit installations.
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