Hi

I wanna buy an Intel Core 2 Duo, and as far as I know that uses the Intel 64 instruction set.
This has probably been discussed here before, but I also have some specific questions.

First of all, does Intel 64 have the same operating modes as AMD64? Or, what I really wanna know, is it 100% possible to use a normal 32-bit OS?
But this is only important in case something else doesn't work.

Now, if I decide to install a 64-bit kernel, will I be able to run applications that were built for AMD64? (And will I be able to run applications that were built for x86 / to build applications for x86 in a 64-bit OS? Cause some applications may only be compilable for x86, and I don't want to restrict myself to 64-bit enabled software)

And what about drivers? I guess it won't be possible to use 32-bit drivers, will it? If not, does anyone know if there are 64-bit Linux drivers for the following hardware;

- Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
- ATI Mobility Radeon X1450 (with TV-Out support)
- Everything having to do with the chipset Intel 94 PM Express
- Some hybrid TV-Tuner for DVB-T that I do not know the name of

I've read that MPlayer's win32codecs aren't supported. What if MPlayer is compiled for x86?

I hope someone has some answers for me,
TIA

Both Intel and AMD processors are backwards compatible. They are designed to run 32-bit code and this includes the OS. When you ask about using code compiled for AMD64, I assume you mean optimized for the AMD64 instruction set. The key word is optimized. It'll still run on an Intel platform, it just won't be optimized. You likely won't notice. In any event, unless you compile it yourself, it's not likely to be optimized for a specific processor.

From everything else you ask, it sounds as if a multilib distro would best suit your needs. Gentoo is one or you could roll your own and use Cross Linux from Scratch. This way you could use both 32- and 64-bit applications without a chroot jail. For those applications that don't have complete 64-bit support, such as mplayer, you use the 32-bit version (you won't notice a difference). For everything else, use 64-bit.

As far as the drivers, I don't have any of that hardware, so I don't know. I'm also not going to research that for you, but there's a really neat site www.google.com that might help.