Tearing my hair over 64-bit vs. 32-bit [Kubuntu 14.04]

[Silent Observer]

I've fairly recently installed Kubuntu 14.04 64-bit, and received the 14.04.1 update just days later; I've had a number of "security updates" since then. I installed 64-bit because I've been running Mepis 11 64-bit for about the past year (had M11 32-bit as "daily driver" for several months before that, and occasional use for about a year; upgraded when I increased RAM from 2 to 4 GiB) and found everything worked rather well (after installing ia32libs metapackage, which is supposed to be unneeded in Ubuntu 14.04 derivatives and in fact doesn't appear to exist in current Kubuntu/Wheezy repositories); I routinely ran IMVU, There, Nuvera Online, Path of Exile, and even installed and ran Windows Firefox (trying to get Java and up-to-date Flash in the same browser -- Flash worked fine until I tried to get it to update, but Java never did work in Windows Firefox under Wine).

Since installing Kubuntu, I've been trying to get all my stuff working again in the new OS. Skype, check. IMVU, seemed trivial. Nuvera Online I got going after a couple tries. Path of Exile doesn't work right whether I install it with 32-bit or 64-bit Windows support from Wine and on several different Wine versions (under PlayOnLinux); the installer and updater seem fine, but the client never fully launches or is covered with a black rectangle and has no sound (I can't tell which). There client is worse; no way, no how will Wine 1.7.19 (the last version I had on Mepis) or 1.7.23, either 32-bit or 64-bit, let me install the IE7 that's a critical dependency for There via winetricks; I always get an error that the installer has failed due to architecture, 32/64 bits. Same thing happens trying to install IE8 via winetricks (There would work with either IE). Similarly, installing msxml3 fails (another must-have for There), and I haven't even attempted to install Media Player 10 to get the sound plugin There needs to play music boxes in world. And of course there's all the fun I'm having with Pipelight (having to use 64-bit Flash to see the Flash applications, I expected from reading, but complete failure of either 32-bit or 64-bit unity3d to install successfully was unwelcome news; this is a must-have for Yahoo! Games).

Some of this might be Wine issues, but I'm starting to consider reinstalling to 32-bit -- on a Core2Quad 9400 (2.67 GHz, 3 MiB L2 cache), 4 GiB installed RAM, with nVidia GT520 1 GiB RAM on PCI-Express x16, I shouldn't be running into significant hardware limitations, so I don't understand why I'd have to back down to 32-bit to get things to work that worked fine in Mepis (with a 2.6-something kernel and Squeeze repos). I say again, all this stuff (except Pipelight) worked fine in 64-bit Mepis 11...

[millusions]

32 bit is a lot friendlier when it comes to game, thats just my experience and the reason i installed 32 bit.
its funny, but with 32 bit install steam still tries to load a 64bit library, cant remember what it was.
since ive given up on gaming on linux, Left for Dead 2 was painless, wanted to run Natural Selection 2.

[Silent Observer]

32 bit is a lot friendlier when it comes to game, thats just my experience and the reason i installed 32 bit.

Sure, but as I said, this is all stuff that ran fine on 64-bit under Mepis.

[millusions]

I know mate, sorry cant be much help,
I think Linux is not game ready just yet, unless you're willing to spend the time getting it up and running, probably because most linux users/developers arent interested in games.
really had my hopes up with steam for linux, but the experience has been so so
just my five cents.

[Teunis]

A very general observation, present Kubuntu 64-bit is supposed to be multi-arch, meaning it can also handle 32-bit applications.

You do need the ia32 package.

And you're generally best off byt trying the 32-bet version of a package.
An example is Google Earth, few get the 64-bit version working, most do with the 32-bit version.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MultiArch

[GreyGeek]

Have you tried installing playonlinux?

[Silent Observer]

Have you tried installing playonlinux?

Yes, GreyGeek, I've been using PlayOnLinux to install everything that needs Wine except IMVU (which always "just worked" -- I think it's very much a "follows the rules" application under the hood). In fact, since posting above, I've gotten both There and Path of Exile working (well, haven't have a chance to actually play PoE, but it starts and lets me log in, which is probably a strong indicator since it wasn't fully starting before). What solved it for me was, so far as possible, using the POL "install components" wizard (tab in the Configure window) to install any components on its list, rather than winetricks. The other trick is finding the correct Wine version for each application; PoE seems to really, really prefer what POL has listed as "1.5.28 Path of Exile", while There works best with 1.7.19 (no suffix), but worked well with 1.4.1 and 1.6.1 when they were current.

Some components just wouldn't install via winetricks (msxml3, for instance), while all others were dependent on me remembering to export the correct wineprefix; the wizard handles all that for me. There are a couple items that aren't on the components list (and I'm not sure why): most notably, IE7, which performs better than IE8 as an underpin for There (but IE6 won't work), so I had to use winetricks to install that. I tested There pretty extensively; it was crashing a lot last night, but with the change from Wine 1.7.23 to 1.7.19, done this morning, it seems completely stable (as it did with the same version on Mepis 11).

With these two games working correctly, I can eliminate the possible need to reinstall Kubuntu to 32-bit; the only architecture related issue I have is the slightly unreliable x64-flash plugin under pipelight (needed becaus the 32-bit version doesn't display properly on 64-bit video drivers), which I presume will improve as pipelight and Flash Player undergo further development.