# Ubuntu on new 64 bit computer



## poppameth (Oct 2, 2008)

Completely possible. Your 64 bit architecture should support the 32 bit version with no issues. That being said, I've been running 64 bit versions of linux on multiple computers for a quite a while now and I've never run into driver availability issues. Unless you have something you know for certain won't work on 64 bit I don't see a reason to go 32.


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## Wildie (Jul 23, 2008)

poppameth said:


> Completely possible. Your 64 bit architecture should support the 32 bit version with no issues. That being said, I've been running 64 bit versions of linux on multiple computers for a quite a while now and I've never run into driver availability issues. Unless you have something you know for certain won't work on 64 bit I don't see a reason to go 32.


 Thanks for the reply poppa! I was just getting started with Ubuntu when my m/b died. I had made a Ubuntu(32) ISO DVD and it would be convienient for me to use this!
I tried installing Ubuntu a couplw of years ago and couldn't get drivers for my HP F335 printer. Thinking back, I did get a driver, but couldn't get it to work. So, I gave up on it, then.
This is why i have a concern about drivers, now!
Its not a great leap for me to get a Ubunu (64) and burn a new ISO, so I'll have a go, at this.


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## poppameth (Oct 2, 2008)

So far I haven't come across any printer that wouldn't work with the default print drivers in Ubuntu. I'm not saying they don't exist, just that they aren't as common as they use to be. HP seems to be especially well supported from my experience. Cannon can be a little trickier sometimes. I've got new HPs and some stuff that is 10 years old and Ubuntu picks them all up so far.


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

I know I'm pretty darn late to the party here, but I figured I'd chime in - drivers have come a long way in Linux, including with printing. There are some manufacturers that still don't go out of their way to support Linux, but they also happen to suck even on Windows (I'm looking at you, Lexmark, which includes those "Dell" printers that are simply rebranded Lexmarks). 

That said, I currently have an Epson all-in-one and love it. The drivers are not open source, though, but they're provided on Epson's web site in .deb and .rpm format. I also have an HP Laserjet, which works out of the box. Just had to reserve a DHCP address for it in the router interface and connect that on Ubuntu via LPD, and bingo bango done.

HP is a company that boasts Linux support. I would absolutely think you'd have a working HP printer in 12.04.

In regard to the 32 vs 64 bit discussion, I have to side with poppameth here. I really see no reason to use 32 bit anymore. I still use it on one of my older machines, but only because that CPU isn't 64 bit capable. I think I've been running 64 bit on my main system for the better part of 4-5 years now.

Good luck!


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## Wildie (Jul 23, 2008)

roasted said:


> I know I'm pretty darn late to the party here, but I figured I'd chime in - drivers have come a long way in Linux, including with printing. There are some manufacturers that still don't go out of their way to support Linux, but they also happen to suck even on Windows (I'm looking at you, Lexmark, which includes those "Dell" printers that are simply rebranded Lexmarks).
> 
> That said, I currently have an Epson all-in-one and love it. The drivers are not open source, though, but they're provided on Epson's web site in .deb and .rpm format. I also have an HP Laserjet, which works out of the box. Just had to reserve a DHCP address for it in the router interface and connect that on Ubuntu via LPD, and bingo bango done.
> 
> ...


_I really see no reason to use 32 bit anymore. I still use it on one of my older machines, but only because that CPU isn't 64 bit capable. I think I've been running 64 bit on my main system for the better part of 4-5 years now._

On my new Win7-64 machine I had to setup the XP virtual machine to work with my old programs. Some dating from 1995 on Win95.
Win7 Pro is required to do this!
For anybody contemplating to run old programs on a virtual machine, make sure that you buy Win7 pro or Ultimate.


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

As an FYI, you can run XP Mode and Virtual Machine on Windows7 Home without any problems. However, the terms of service say you can only download it if you have Win7 Pro.

Download here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx


I stopped messing around with Linux at work for the same reason: printer drivers. Hopefully they've improved. I don't see a reason to go through the hassle of setting up Linux only to limit your environment to the 32bit version, but could understand the frustration of no drivers.


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## Wildie (Jul 23, 2008)

hyunelan2 said:


> As an FYI, you can run XP Mode and Virtual Machine on Windows7 Home without any problems. However, the terms of service say you can only download it if you have Win7 Pro.
> 
> Download here:
> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx
> ...


 Now thats an interesting state of affairs? Wonder why they would allow it to run on Win7 Home and then turn around and saay that you cannot!

I have now put Ubuntu back on the shelf as there are no suitable wifi drivers for wifi cards with the RALINK chips.
Its imperitive that I can use wifi on this machine. At the moment I'm using Win8 customer evaluation OS and it works well!


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

What Ralink chipset were you using that failed on Ubuntu? Sometimes the trick is plugging in via ethernet so you can fire up the hardware driver manager so it can locate proper wifi drivers. Then, download, install, reboot, and the magical wifi works again. Of course, I'm not sure about Ralink in particular, I'm just citing what the common practice was for Broadcom chips. But Broadcom even recently smartened up and open source'd their wifi drivers for Linux, which last I heard were working moderately well.

I personally haven't had any driver issues with printers on Ubuntu, except when it came to Lexmark. That said, I avoid Lexmark at all costs anyway because they're terrible to begin with, so I don't even bother getting choked up on "well that's a bummer I can't run Lexmark gear." That said, a lot of Lexmarks DO work with generic drivers, which often times are more than enough. I've used Linux heavily since 2006. It undoubtedly needed some polish even as recently as 6 years ago, but in today's standards, it works far better today than I would have expected back in 2006. I tend to get bored easily, so the quick revolution from year to year of the platform keeps me decently occupied. 

I work in the public school district system, and we're currently deploying Ubuntu systems to replace the masses of Mac OSX systems that are in the environment, mostly because the Apple/Education relationship that once existed is no longer there since Apple's priorities have been placed elsewhere so they can generate more revenue. My last job, also a school district, was doing the same but they were a Windows shop and transitioning over to Ubuntu in favor of the lower software costs and much broader range of flexibility with the fact they had no licensing to worry about. In both environments, I never had an issue with printing, but we were also using Ricoh, HP, and Konica Minolta multifunctional copiers, which are all decently supported in Linux.

I think it's important to realize that when you purchase a computer at Best Buy, you're purchasing a computer that was designed to work with Windows. When you purchase a Macbook Pro, you're purchasing a computer that was designed to work with OSX. The fact that Linux supports the vast range of what hardware it works on astounds me at times. But unfortunately, a lot of the time it still boils down to the manufacturer supporting them. That said, I'm happy that a lot of the better manufacturers out there DO support Linux. Their support of Linux is why I support them. Ahh, the circle of the IT life.


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

I ran into problems with Ubuntu and a Konica multifunction printer, as well as a large-format Canon machine. The Canon multifunctions we have seemed to work alright. It's been a few years since I've done the experimentation though, and more drivers may be available now.


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

hyunelan2 said:


> I ran into problems with Ubuntu and a Konica multifunction printer, as well as a large-format Canon machine. The Canon multifunctions we have seemed to work alright. It's been a few years since I've done the experimentation though, and more drivers may be available now.


Sorry to hear you had issues. Do you recall what version that may have been? I've been using Konica Minolta for quite a while. I'm not sure of the history between Konica Minolta... was Konica Minolta at one point just Minolta? Reason I ask is I have a Konica Minolta laserjet at home, but it's pretty old. Ubuntu tries to assign a Konica Minolta driver to it, but it fails to work. I looked through the driver list and I found a "Minolta" listing. I selected it, and sure enough, I found my printer listed and the Minolta driver worked. So while Ubuntu is trying to help out and assign a Konica Minolta driver, for some reason the Minolta driver is what works. Just some food for thought for future occurrences.


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## Wildie (Jul 23, 2008)

roasted said:


> What Ralink chipset were you using that failed on Ubuntu? Sometimes the trick is plugging in via ethernet so you can fire up the hardware driver manager so it can locate proper wifi drivers. Then, download, install, reboot, and the magical wifi works again. Of course, I'm not sure about Ralink in particular, I'm just citing what the common practice was for Broadcom chips. But Broadcom even recently smartened up and open source'd their wifi drivers for Linux, which last I heard were working moderately well.
> 
> I personally haven't had any driver issues with printers on Ubuntu, except when it came to Lexmark. That said, I avoid Lexmark at all costs anyway because they're terrible to begin with, so I don't even bother getting choked up on "well that's a bummer I can't run Lexmark gear." That said, a lot of Lexmarks DO work with generic drivers, which often times are more than enough. I've used Linux heavily since 2006. It undoubtedly needed some polish even as recently as 6 years ago, but in today's standards, it works far better today than I would have expected back in 2006. I tend to get bored easily, so the quick revolution from year to year of the platform keeps me decently occupied.
> 
> ...


 I agonized over the driver issue for my wifi card. Tried both Ubuntu 11:10 and 12:04 with the same effect.
There is a program named NDISWRAPPER than can interface Windows drivers with Ubuntu but it wouldn't work with the RALINK chip either.
I found a website that listed which brands were covered and Ralink wasn't included.

The machine that I'm using is one with a replacement MSI m/b and Win8 and Ubuntu run well on it. Its just the driver issue for the wifi on Ubuntu!


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

roasted said:


> Sorry to hear you had issues. Do you recall what version that may have been? I've been using Konica Minolta for quite a while. I'm not sure of the history between Konica Minolta... was Konica Minolta at one point just Minolta? Reason I ask is I have a Konica Minolta laserjet at home, but it's pretty old. Ubuntu tries to assign a Konica Minolta driver to it, but it fails to work. I looked through the driver list and I found a "Minolta" listing. I selected it, and sure enough, I found my printer listed and the Minolta driver worked. So while Ubuntu is trying to help out and assign a Konica Minolta driver, for some reason the Minolta driver is what works. Just some food for thought for future occurrences.


Yes, Konica and Minolta were two separate companies. They merged sometime in the first half of the 2000s. I had a Konica from just before the merger.


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

Wildie said:


> I agonized over the driver issue for my wifi card. Tried both Ubuntu 11:10 and 12:04 with the same effect.
> There is a program named NDISWRAPPER than can interface Windows drivers with Ubuntu but it wouldn't work with the RALINK chip either.
> I found a website that listed which brands were covered and Ralink wasn't included.
> 
> The machine that I'm using is one with a replacement MSI m/b and Win8 and Ubuntu run well on it. Its just the driver issue for the wifi on Ubuntu!


Maybe get a different wireless card? If you really want to use Ubuntu, wireless cards are cheap enough.


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

hyunelan2 said:


> Maybe get a different wireless card? If you really want to use Ubuntu, wireless cards are cheap enough.


I hear ya. I snagged an Intel wireless N card for a matter of 12 bucks shipped, brand new. It's as easy as installing RAM on a computer, which is as difficult as putting a CD in your laptop's optical drive.

The only curve ball is you should open the door to the wireless card first and see what form factor your wireless card is. A quick Google search should show you some different form factors. Then, just search accordingly for which card you want. Intel and Atheros are always safe bets. I almost forgot Ralink existed until this thread.


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## Wildie (Jul 23, 2008)

hyunelan2 said:


> Maybe get a different wireless card? If you really want to use Ubuntu, wireless cards are cheap enough.


 Would you believe that a I bought two different brands and had the same problem. Then, I found out that both use the same Ralink chip.


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## roasted (Jan 23, 2012)

Wildie said:


> Would you believe that a I bought two different brands and had the same problem. Then, I found out that both use the same Ralink chip.


Ralink: The Lexmark of the wifi world.


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