The following information might help you decide whether to install 32-bit or 64-bit Linux on a 64-bit-capable processor.

• EM64T/AMD64 processors can run either version of Linux equally well.

• A 64-bit distribution allows each process to address more than 4 gigabytes of RAM.Larger address space is the biggest advantage of a 64-bit distribution. It is typically useful only for certain engineering/scientific computational work and when you are running multiple virtual machines.

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An operating system is the low-level software that schedules tasks, allocates storage, and handles the interfaces to peripheral hardware, such as printers, disk drives, the screen, keyboard, and mouse. An operating system has two main parts: the kernel and the system programs. The kernel allocates machine resources—including memory, disk space, and CPU cycles—to all other programs that run on the computer. The system programs include device drivers, libraries, utility programs, sh...