Does anyone know how well the Intel Core Duo works with Linux Kernel 2.6.15 and higher?

Reason: Laptop I am lookng at comes only with core duo, and I am wary of the new tech (mainly because I don't understand it, but also because I know Linux usually lags by several months of hardware support compared to M$).

Thanks.

Linux has supported multi-processor (multi-core) longer than M$. Enable SMP when compiling the kernel or find a distro that provides an SMP enabled kernel.

Linux works just fine with the Core Duo. You need to use an SMP kernel in order to use both cores.

I don't think there has been an Intel or AMD x86 chip that wasn't supported with Linux on release.

I need to use an "SMP kernel" to use both cores? How do I know if my distro (MEPIS 3.43) has this "SMP" core? Is it a standard feature in most modern Linux OS? Or, would I have to do compiling, command line stuff, etc to get this "SMP" feature?I hope it is standard, because people who are just looking for a windows replacement aren't going to put up with this technical stuff.\

BTW. . .in plain English. . .could someone tell me what "compile" means? Yes, I have looked elsewhere but all I find are technical definitions. Please translate into "n00b - speak" for me.

Thanks.

SMP = Symmetric MultiProcessing. Linux has supported it for quite some time in the mainline kernel thread.

Looking at the Mepis Docs Wiki on the kernel it appears there normal kernel package supports multiple processors.

I've seen distros provide SMP kernels. They usually append SMP to the name of the kernel. So it would be kernel-2.16.13-SMP or something like that. Otherwise you'd have to compile your own. Really not that difficult. My 12-year has done it several times with very little help from Dad.