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10-10-2005, 10:36 PM
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#1
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Oct 2005
Posts: 17
Rep:
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whats the difference??
I'm trying to decide on which OS I want to upgrade to.
What is the difference between:
i386
i586
X86
X86_64 etc?
I have a Pen III 450mhz with 328 meg RAM
Where would I fall in these catagories?
Thanks,
Toby
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10-10-2005, 10:56 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Registered: Nov 2004
Location: Texas
Distribution: RHEL, Scientific Linux, Debian, Fedora
Posts: 3,935
Rep: 
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Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I686
With a P3 you can use i368, i468, i586, i686. The x86 is generically used to refer to any of those.
x86_64 is for 64-bit processor - that's not you.
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10-11-2005, 08:16 PM
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#3
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Member
Registered: Feb 2004
Distribution: Arch
Posts: 498
Rep:
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It refers to what processor class you have, Linux requires at least an i386 class to run. Here's a basic break down
i386 = 386sx/dx and clones
i486 = 486sx/dx and clones
i586 = pentium (the original) and clones
i686 = pentium pro, pentium II, celeron, and clones
x86_64 = 64-bit processors
beyond 686 it doesn't really matter much, 786 I believe is xeon and pentium 4, not sure where pentium 3 falls, but like I said it doesn't matter.
For the most part linux programs will require i386 or i686, with the few i486/i586's thrown in there. So really as long as you have a 386 or better you can run linux.
keep in mind that the chain is one way, if you have a 486 you cant run 586 or 686 programs, and 32 bit processors won't run the x86_64 programs either.
Wow, hope i didn't throw too much out there, let me know if you need more help/simplification or anything.
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10-11-2005, 10:12 PM
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#4
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Oct 2005
Posts: 17
Original Poster
Rep:
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Nope that answered my question.
Thanks for all the help I got from all of you! I am rapidly becoming addicted to Linux.
I hope to be free from Micro$oft soon and forever!!!!
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10-11-2005, 11:35 PM
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#5
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Moderator
Registered: Apr 2002
Location: earth
Distribution: slackware by choice, others too :} ... android.
Posts: 23,067
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Moved: This thread is more suitable in Genral, since it's a generic hardware-type of question, and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.
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