[kwlug-disc] upgrading hardware/64bit OS

[Chris Irwin]

On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 11:09, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
>> Upgrade her hardware to a new processor with lots of RAM, then upgrade the
>> OS to take advantage of the RAM, then virtualbox will run faster?

Virtualbox may run faster if your CPU supports (and virtualbox is
using) virtualization extensions (vt-x on intel, amd-v on AMD).

> I can't say for sure. Perhaps.
>
> The part that concerns me is how you can upgrade from 32 to 64 without a
> reinstall.

I remember reading about some folks running a 64-bit kernel with a
32-bit userspace. This gave them the memory (etc) benefits, but
regular 32-bit compatibility (and limitations on the application
side).

I doubt any distros provide a 64-bit kernel for their 32-bit releases, though.

-- 
Chris Irwin
<chris at chrisirwin.ca>