

Slicehost now has 32-bit images - simonk
http://www.slicehost.com/articles/2010/3/1/32-bit-images-now-available

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timmorgan
_we have created a 64-bit Slice and kernel with a 32-bit userland_

Does this mean memory consumption will be similar to that of 64-bit images,
since the kernels are the same?

It seems the same amount of memory on Slicehost slices doesn't go quite as far
as that on 32-bit VPSes.

~~~
davidw
No, it doesn't go as far.

<http://journal.dedasys.com/2008/11/24/slicehost-vs-linode>

Which is unfortunate, because their pricing isn't _that_ bad if that's not a
factor. And they seem like good people with good service.

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jrockway
These 32-bit machines use too much memory. I only need a 31-bit address space!
Can you guys please drop everything to support my micro-optimization needs?

~~~
justinsb
I agree ... it's a major pain on EC2 to have separate images that are only
used for the smallest instance sizes. While 32 bit vs 64 bit pointers do save
RAM on these small machines, I think you make a good point in an amusing way,
and you shouldn't be downvoted for that.

~~~
jrockway
I am mostly commenting on the comments on the blog. "You guys have excellent
customer service, so maybe I'll switch back after you make some obscure change
for me that I could make myself, but am too lazy to."

If you want a 32bit userland, just make a directory, debootstrap the i386
userland there, and schroot to it. It's a 30 second operation.

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peterwwillis
_"Unfortunately, the RPM based distro's such as CentOS and Fedora do not have
32-bit ELF support so we are, at this stage, unable to offer equivalent images
for those particular distros."_

Wow. I didn't know Slicehost was on crack.

Can somebody explain to me WTF they mean that RPM-based distros don't have
support for 32-bit ELF files? CentOS and Fedora have been using 32-bit ELF
binaries for _ever_.

~~~
sharms
I suspect what they mean is that Fedora doesn't support running at 64-bit
kernel with a 32-bit userland. The problem starts with the initramfs, and I
suppose slicehost is not in the business of modifying to underlying OS all
that much.

[http://www.mail-archive.com/fedora-
list@redhat.com/msg47714....](http://www.mail-archive.com/fedora-
list@redhat.com/msg47714.html)

~~~
peterwwillis
Modern CentOS distros ship both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries (including 64-bit
kernels). All they should need to do is kick a 64-bit image and remove the
64-bit binaries, and change your yum repo to a 32-bit one only. If the initrd
was an issue they'd just switch to the other arch's initrd or rebuild
kickstart-images with whatever support they need. This is pretty easy stuff.

