[Kernel] Athlon64, k7 or k8?
 

Hi!

I'm currently running under 2.6.11 precompiled kernel in i386 mode. It worls perfectly fine, but I'm curious and I've tried to test the precompiled k7 version...

BTW, I've got a ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nforce4) with an AMD Athlon64 3500+. I've noticed later that it's not the perfect hardware settings for Linux, but now I can't change :rolleyes:

So, i've tried the "k7" version, assuming that if Athlon64 is a "k8", it should handle "k7"... But it seems like it doesn't work, I get a "Can't open /dev/psaux" at X launch even if the psmouse and mousedev modules are loaded... So i resigned... for the k7 part! :)

Then I tried k8! But the k8 exists only under amd64 flag compilation. I'm a crazy man and I've tried it even though! But there I can't even get to the X server... few modules totally screwed up, like alsa and the nvidia module compilation (which doesn't handle the amd64 flag).

So it brings me to 2 questions:
1) Is it normal that the "k7" mode doesn't work?
2) What are the "amd64" kernels doing in the ix86 repository if it's not handled?

amd64 is k8. A lot of this is experimental at this stage. The architecture of the k8 is completely different to k7 and therefore kernel designed for k7 won't work for k8. amd64 is in the x86 stable, i.e. it is a pc architecture.

Thanks, but i still have a misunderstanding here... Is it possible to have a amd64 compiled kernel on a x86 distribution?

X86 is an architecture or family of processors originally developed by Intel on which the IBM PC was built aka a personal computer. This description merely separates it from the Apple Mac and Sun type architecture. Since the amd64 (K8) is 64 bit kernels have been developed specifically for it. Also bear in mind that it may not be the processor that is the problem but you are also using an NForce based motherboard which also requires special drivers for onboard NForce functions.

Cool, thanks a lot for these informations!