Hi everyone.

I'm looking for a bit of advice. I have just brought an AMD64 cpu, and I would like to know three things regarding Linux.

1. Which distro's are compatible? I already run Fedora C3, Arch, & Ubuntu, so they are the ones I'm most interested with.

2. Do I have to install a specific version of the compatible distro? I mean as in i386, i686, x86, etc.

3. Once I have the distribution installed, how do I know what apps are 64bit compatible? or will 32bit apps work on a 64bit OS installation?

Any links to informative websites on this issue would be very welcome.

Thanks all.

No, just as 16-bit ms-dos will run on a 32-bit machine, so will 32-bit linux versions run on a 64-bit machine. The problem is that you would be wasting the extra power of your new processor by not using a 64-bit optimized distribution.


For the NetBSD (my current OS) it is not a concern because almost everything can be built from source (see http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/amd64/). The upcoming debian AMD-64 port is planned to support legacy 32-bit applications - http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/ - but I am uncertain if that will apply universally to other distros.