Would this be a situation where you could install a distribution (with say kernel 2.6.15 --- and because of the 'old' kernel, you would only have the basic nuts and bolts hardware support... then, after installation, you could RPM upgrade to the newer 2.6.18 kernel?

If so - that's not a big deal then, as kernel RPM's are all over the place. I had kernel RPM's for 2.6.18 (for FC5) a day after 2.6.18 came out.


However, if the items supported are so mission critical that the OS won't even install/boot - then that would be a really impossible situation.

Both, or either, depending on how old the distro is. You can see posts in this forum and the Ubuntu forums too.

Robert

I'm not riding the bandwagon but here's a thought or 2.I think that Intel is anywhere from 10 to 30% faster than AMD's top of the line right now from what I am hearing and from what I've read as well. I think it's due to the extremely large cache. But hold on a minute, Intel just came out with these faster CPU's while AMD has been kicking silicone but now for years; it's really not fair to take Intel's newest, baddest technology and compare it to AMD's faded glory. AMD is in the process of releasing some incredible new CPU arcitecture, and when it's released, I venture to say that that once again they will rule the roost.
But when it comes to Value and productivity for your dollars and Cents, AMD takes the crown without much of a struggle at all. If you have an an AMD Motherboard+CPU combo you will discover that Intel is obviously faster in almost every category. But exactly how much are you getting in return for your very pricy upgrade to switch to an Intel platform? I think it's a whole lot of cash for just a 15 to 30 % increase of performance at best which you may or may not even need at all. Plan and be pragmatic. What do you actually do with your box on a day to day basis? Get what you need and save money to spend on another day. You will get the most out of your investment by making wise and intelligent decisions, and you won't be cousin to a great waster of revenue trying to keep up with the Jone's.
In close, I'm not knocking Intel. Yes,I love AMD but I still respect Intel for all the achievements it has given to nano technology since the company first began. But their stuff just costs way too much for what you really get in their products! If saving money and choosing wisely is important, than by all means invest in an AMD Dual Core,Mainboard +CPU combo.

With current availability in processors and mobos, you get what you pay for. You can spend $250 on an AMD cpu and mobo and get a still decent setup or you can spend the same and get a E6300 and cheap board that is only guaranteed to run but nowhere near its capability... it used to be that Intels were getting their butt kicked yet still charging more for their CPUs. The playing field has leveled now and the Intel Core2Duos are the way to go right now unless you only need a running computer, then AMD will work....

I am not a fanboy of either side. When you could get a kickin AMD for less than a sucky Intel, of course I would suggest AMD. Nowadays unless you really have no use for speed and power (or not enough money for it), Intel is the only real solution.
It all depends on what you need put into the system. If you need a decent system with 500 GB hd and $100 sound card on a $600 budget then AMD will work nicely for you. If you take that same $600 and are happy with onboard video/LAN/sound then the C2D is a much better buy for you.

At the end of the day, it's just a cat and mouse game... they will always outdo each other every few months apart. Neither is better (dare I say it), but I lean towards Intel! What happened to Cyrix? Hmmm...

Someone mentioned Cyrix? Man I still have some of their chips put up somewhere in my archived computer parts, etc. The last Cyrix CPu's were running around 400, 433 Mhz when they went the way of the DO DO. After battling it out in Federal courts with Intel over Patent rights, Cyrix merged with National SemiConductor who went bankrupt after a short time after. And from what I heard, National Semi. sold their Cyrix patents to good old VIA. That's about all I know about Cyrix. If they had marketed their product better, perhaps they would have kicked Intel in the groin and became the alpha male of the micro-wafer kingdom. But this really is about a totally different topic,& not the one that is apart of this thread.If anyone's TO, I apologize.

Intel and AMD are not the only two processor MFG's on the planet. But they are the two biggest. No one can keep up with them, so why bother trying? AMD's first stuff was called "Evergreen" -- they were DX2 and DX4 486 upgrade chips for Intel sockets. Then they made a break for it on their own.

Other companies are not so lucky.

Namely - Cyrix.

Currently Cyrix is owned by VIA. They are currently developed in two flavors: [1]100% embedded architecture for various types of controllers and what not, and [2] compatible with Intel socket 370 (Pentium III).

The variety that is P3 compatible is "sort of" embedded. VIA will build Micro ATX or even smaller than that Pentium III compatible motherboards, solder the Cyrix chip right on the board so its non-removeable, and then sell the whole thing for 30 bucks. I say "sort of" embedded, because if you unsoldered the processor and then soldered on an Intel socket 370 recepticle, you would be able to plug in an Intel Pentium III. It's not practical at all, but it is possible. Considering they're showing speeds of between 800 and 1.4 GHz, they're not bad bang for the buck... they compete not-so-directly with AMD's Geode NX embedded processors.

They're great for building cash registers, 100 dollar office stations, etc etc... reportedly have great reliability and very very low power usage / heat dissipation.

Cyrix is still very much alive...
The fastest I have seen from them recently was close to 1.5GHz.. but it is still based on previous technology so they are just out there to provide low cost setups for low cost needs.
Now if they could take some cues from the 2 big boys, we could have a contender (not likely at all)

I never knew that Cyrix went beyond a 433 MHz. Amazing! Now I have a mind to search Ebay just to find one of these embedded Mainboard +CPU combinations you have mentioned here. I would like to build a home made DIY Firewall using Smoot Wall. I have heard it was an excellent choice for that sort of thing. Well, thanks for the tip

i prefer ipcop over smoothwall but thats a good idea...

All the Mini-ITX boards by Via are basically Cyrix, as they bought them.

Look here for some interesting implementations. http://www.mini-itx.com/

Robert

check on newegg... they're 39 bucks I believe last I saw (for the Via Samuel C3 (Cryix) 800 MHz units.

Personally, I prefer the AMD Geode NX, as it has more support for instructions like 3DNow and such, but if you're just building basic stuff - then the Cyrix is great ((and they're super reliable)).

For whatever it's worth, I'm very pleased with my AMD/64 Semperon and A-Bit motherboard.

I happen to run dual-boot Windows and Linux. 64-bit Suse Linux 10.x installed, configured and everything ran with remarkably few issues (and *no* show-stopper problems). Windows XP/64, on the other hand, was a total loser. I ultimately de-installed it, and I'm happily running Windows XP/32. Relatively speaking: of course, TRUE happiness is ignoring MS Windows altogether and just booting to Linux ;-)



PS:
Speaking of Windows and Linux, what are your thoughts about this:
http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/3899

This is totally thread highjacking, but for what its worth I don't think its near as terrible as people make it out to be. Novell has NOT sold thier soul to the devil.

AFAIK nobody mentionned overclockability
If you buy an AMD 3800+ dual core and can push it realtively more than an intel then bang by bucks is getting a bit closer

Personal opinion:
While no processor is a lemon, I would rather buy the less dominant (in shares of the two players so there is still a competition field.
hence I will buy an AMD again

naive question/point:
I thought the amd advantage was that it could natively install
a 32 bits distros on a 64 bits, so one can have an easy life
(ok 64 distros are out and great) but maybe for newbies or whatever reasons starting with 32 bits could be an advantage.

Can you do the same on a C2D?