Can I run 32 bit programmes on a 64 bit Sabayon?

[HardyH]

Hello, this is my very first posting here.
I used to be a debian user for quite a long time, but now that debian has broken the possibility to run 32 bit applications on a 64 bit system I am thinking about switching to a different distro.
Sabayon looked very promising. liked the SabayonX MATE live DVD very much, so I wonder if 32 bit applications that don't come from any distribution own repository ( Viewers for Virtual WOrlds like OSGrid or Second Life, that are neither available as installable packages nor in 64 bit) can be run under a 64 bit sabayon by using some kind of 32 bit compatibility packages ( they are called overlays in Sabayon?)
This is essential for my decision for or against Sabayon, so any info is highly appreciated.
Thanks a lot in advance
Hardy

[micia]

Hi, welcome to the Sabayon Linux forums

Given the fact that Sabayon offers skype in the repositories which is indeed a 32 bit only application, I'd say it definitely can.
Every 32bit compatibility library in Sabayon repositories is prefixed with emul-linux-x86.
http://packages.sabayon.org/quicksearch?q=emul-linux-x86&x=0&y=0

[HardyH]

Well, that makes me slightly optimistic, what's the difference between gentoo and sabayon packages?

[micia]

In Gentoo you compile directly from sources, Sabayon provides precompiled binaries. You basically skip the compile phase, other than that the packages are the same, in fact Sabayon is 100% Gentoo compatible.
Read the wiki to know more about the main differences, there are also many topics about this in the forum.
https://wiki.sabayon.org/index.php?title=Entropy

Anyway the differences exist only at a package manager or distribution level, the actual "data" in the packages is the same, you can also avoid having all build-time dependencies installed, since you skip the build phase entirely.

[HardyH]

Sooo,
Tried to install both Sabayon X MATE 64 bit and Sabayon X Gnome 64 bit, ran into installer bugs, tried them in a VM, ran into problems with recognition of the vm hdd.
I liked the live version very much, but it seems i am too stupid to install Sabayon.....
Hardy

Edit:
Seems, I am not alone: [urlhttp://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/sabayon-86/sabayon-installer-crashes-with-bug-4175432701/][/url]

[Fitzcarraldo]

HardyH, I find it usually helps to create and format the partitions before you run the Installer. Normally I do that by using GParted (GParted is not on the MATE LiveDVD but it's on the GNOME LiveDVD so you can use that to do it, or alternatively the excellent SystemRescueCd LiveCD has GParted).