Moving to TB 64-bit Question

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BruceF
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Joined: November 20th, 2006, 11:54 pm

Moving to TB 64-bit Question

Post by BruceF »

Hopefully this is the correct NG to ask this...

I'll be getting a New PC in the next little while and I'll be going with Win7 64-bit OS. There is a 64-Bit TB app (as well as FireFox) which I'll install.

I'm just curious if there is any issues or considerations I need to know (or deal with) in getting my current TB email folders, etc. to my newer system?

Is is a (relatively) simple case of installing TB, setting it up (for my main email folders/User) and then copying my original folders over? Or is there something else I need to do?

Thanks in advance
Regards,

BruceF
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DanRaisch
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Re: Moving to TB 64-bit Question

Post by DanRaisch »

There are no official 64bit versions of Firefox or Thunderbird issued by Mozilla. There are plans for a 64bit version of Firefox 4 whenever that comes along. Thunderbird version 3 is likely to be released at the end of this year or a little later but will probably not have an official 64bit version then either. There are unofficial sites that provide code for 64bit versions but you have to build the executable yourself.

Then again, it doesn't matter for now because both 32bit Firefox and 32bit Thunderbird run perfectly well under Vista 64bit and are likely to do so in 64bit Win7 as well.

Keep in mind, one of the limitations for adopting 64bit versions of the browser is that there are no 64bit plug-ins available yet for Adobe products like Flash.
BruceF
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Re: Moving to TB 64-bit Question

Post by BruceF »

DanRaisch wrote:There are no official 64bit versions of Firefox or Thunderbird issued by Mozilla. There are plans for a 64bit version of Firefox 4 whenever that comes along. Thunderbird version 3 is likely to be released at the end of this year or a little later but will probably not have an official 64bit version then either. There are unofficial sites that provide code for 64bit versions but you have to build the executable yourself.


Huh... well then I'm mistaken for a 64-bit TB and FF... I saw both of them available for D/L at this site:

http://wiki.mozilla-x86-64.com/Main_Page

DanRaisch wrote:Keep in mind, one of the limitations for adopting 64bit versions of the browser is that there are no 64bit plug-ins available yet for Adobe products like Flash.


Yeah... it's a bit of a drag not having lots of 64-bit support. But I think it's time for me to move on up as 64-bit will eventually be 'the' way to go one day.

Thanks for the reply.
Regards,

BruceF
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DanRaisch
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Re: Moving to TB 64-bit Question

Post by DanRaisch »

That's not the official Mozilla site for Firefox. Also note that:
Mozilla-x86-64 wrote:Official source code is for Windows IA32 only


And Thunderbird 3 is still in beta and the official release is still a couple of months away.
rsx11m
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Re: Moving to TB 64-bit Question

Post by rsx11m »


Correct, these are not official builds. Official releases are only 32-bit for either Windows, Mac OSX, or Linux platform, anything else are "contributed builds" which are not subject the the Mozilla Messaging QA and thus in the responsibility of whoever build those.

It's common for Linux distributions to repackage Mozilla applications and release them in their own repositories. I'm currently using such a 64-bit build, for example, which works great. I have no experience with the Windows 64-bit builds offered on that web site though. It is possible to wrap 32-bit plugins to work with 64-bit applications on Linux, I can't tell if the same is possible with Windows. On the long run, I certainly agree that 32-bit architectures will go extinct as their 16-bit predecessors did (except for applications like phones, etc.).
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tanstaafl
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Re: Moving to TB 64-bit Question

Post by tanstaafl »

There is a Thunderbird -x64 web site at http://wiki.mozilla-x86-64.com/Thunderbird:Download

You should be able to use your existing profile (it stores your mail, settings, address books, add-ons etc.) without having to make any changes when you switch from a 32 bit to 64 bit Thunderbird.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder
BruceF
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Re: Moving to TB 64-bit Question

Post by BruceF »

tanstaafl wrote:There is a Thunderbird -x64 web site at http://wiki.mozilla-x86-64.com/Thunderbird:Download

You should be able to use your existing profile (it stores your mail, settings, address books, add-ons etc.) without having to make any changes when you switch from a 32 bit to 64 bit Thunderbird.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder


Okay... Thanks ALL for the Replies...
Regards,

BruceF
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