OK

Linux marcel-122-CK-NF68 3.8.0-25-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 6 20:47:30 UTC 2013 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

marcel@marcel-122-CK-NF68:~/games/pioneer-201306.21-linux64$ ldd pioneer

    not a dynamic executable

I am, of course, clueless, but I discovered a bug in my updated Hometowns mod. :prankster:

Linux marcel-122-CK-NF68 3.8.0-25-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 6 20:47:30 UTC 2013 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

You're running a 32-bit Linux. On 32-bit, the architecture fields are "i686". On 64-bit they're "x86_64".

robn@pyro:~$ uname -a
Linux pyro 3.8-trunk-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.8.5-1~experimental.1 x86_64 GNU/Linux

marcel@marcel-122-CK-NF68:~/games/pioneer-201306.21-linux64$ ldd pioneer
    not a dynamic executable

Yep, your 32-bit Linux has no idea what to do with a 64-bit executable.

OK

Linux marcel-122-CK-NF68 3.8.0-25-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 6 20:47:30 UTC 2013 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

As stated Marcel, you are running 32 bit Ubuntu. It doesn't matter that your hardware may be 64 bit, if you install the 32 bit Ubuntu OS, then everything effectively becomes 32 bit.

Thanks! I was certain that I downloaded the 64 bit version. How embarrassing. I must display a red-faced smiley now. 😳

I wonder if it's worth starting over, but if I can run Pioneer and QBasic I'm happy.

I wonder if it's worth starting over, but if I can run Pioneer and QBasic I'm happy.

That depends on whether you're working on heavy packages which might take advantage of the extra functions. For most purposes 32 bit is fine. I switched to 64 bit because I found that my favourite programs never made latest feature / experimental versions available on 32 bit anymore, and I really wanted to play with those new features. I also found the 32 bit started failing because the devs were actually compiling on 64 machines, just with output set as pretend 32 bit.

So would Pioneer generate planets faster, and would I get a performance boost in Blender?

IMO Blender is marginally better as 64 Bit. It can push things like sculpting and cycles further as well although some of that is of course GPU dependant.

I recall reading an article on Phoronix that benchmarked 32-bit vs 64-bit builds of Ubuntu and regularly found the 64-bit build to be faster. 

It makes sense since 32-bit mode doesn't have access to the AMD64 (aka x86_64 - lol@Intel) instruction set and can't assume there will be some of the later SSE instruction support.

...what I'm trying to say is that it might be worth upgrading, by reinstalling, to a 64-bit build if your CPU supports it 🙂

Just make sure you backup your home directory, save any data you might have managed to squirrel away elsewhere so you don't lose anything.

By default GCC will only use x87 floating-point on i386, while on x86_64 it will use SSE. Most people probably take the defaults.

That 'AMD64 (aka x86_64 - lol@Intel)' thing confused me when I was looking at which Ubuntu to download. I assumed it wasn't for me and my Intel processor. :scratchhead: I just skimmed a couple of Wikipedia articles to get the general idea. Thanks for your feedback everyone.

Doh! Sorry Marcel 😀

Ok, sorry to bother you guys again, but I installed the 64 bit 13.04, downloaded the 64 bit Linux Pioneer and it doesn't run. The 32 bit version doesn't run either. The permissions are set to execute file as program and Ubuntu says it's x86_64. Here's the ldd thing.

marcel@marcel-122-CK-NF68:~/games/pioneer-201306.21-linux64$ ldd ./pioneer

    linux-vdso.so.1 =>  (0x00007fff53bab000)

    libfreetype.so.6 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfreetype.so.6 (0x00007f4b81e76000)

    libGL.so.1 => /usr/lib/nvidia-310/libGL.so.1 (0x00007f4b81b53000)

    libGLU.so.1 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLU.so.1 (0x00007f4b818d3000)

    libSDL_image-1.2.so.0 => not found

    libSDL-1.2.so.0 => not found

    libsigc-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsigc-2.0.so.0 (0x00007f4b816cd000)

    libvorbisfile.so.3 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libvorbisfile.so.3 (0x00007f4b814c5000)

    libvorbis.so.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libvorbis.so.0 (0x00007f4b81298000)

    libogg.so.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libogg.so.0 (0x00007f4b81090000)

    libpng12.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpng12.so.0 (0x00007f4b80e6a000)

    libz.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0x00007f4b80c53000)

    libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00007f4b8094f000)

    libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007f4b8064a000)

    libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007f4b80434000)

    libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f4b8006b000)

    libpthread.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007f4b7fe4e000)

    libnvidia-tls.so.310.44 => /usr/lib/nvidia-310/tls/libnvidia-tls.so.310.44 (0x00007f4b7fc4b000)

    libnvidia-glcore.so.310.44 => /usr/lib/nvidia-310/libnvidia-glcore.so.310.44 (0x00007f4b7d757000)

    libX11.so.6 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6 (0x00007f4b7d41d000)

    libXext.so.6 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXext.so.6 (0x00007f4b7d20b000)

    libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f4b7d006000)

    /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f4b82129000)

    libxcb.so.1 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1 (0x00007f4b7cde8000)

    libXau.so.6 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXau.so.6 (0x00007f4b7cbe3000)

    libXdmcp.so.6 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXdmcp.so.6 (0x00007f4b7c9dd000)

So I need to install libSDL?

 libSDL_image-1.2.so.0 => not found
    libSDL-1.2.so.0 => not found

You want to install packages libsdl1.2debian and libsdl-image1.2.

That did it! The Eagle has landed (in Eugene). Thanks robn!