hey I just downloaded and ripped the opensuse 11.1 dvd and the only option I get is i386 to install now I'm running i586 on a vm? so what do these terms mean and whats the difference? thanks for all your help
P.S I have a intel centrino duo 1.60 ghz

Hi TB,
Google is still your friend:
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/sus..._64-stand.html
10 seconds got the answer.
cheers,
jdk

right but from what I'm reading the i386's are for the dinosaurs is there a way to upgrade once I've installed or am I stuck with the i386? also it would seem that since the i386 was made to run on an older machine it wouldn't have many of the features of the i586 version am I right or wrong? and also I wonder why that's the only option that I have for installation

I'm not sure how things work on opensuse but on Debian you certainly can do that. kernels, or linux-images as they're called in debian-speak are not part of a normal upgrade. You have to specifically upgrade them yourself and you are free to stipulate which type of linux-image you want (i686 versus i386 for example). You can keep the old kernel so if things go pear-shaped you're not in trouble; just go back to the old one.
cheers,
jdk

200

Essentially, they are instruction sets. Newer instruction sets are backward compatible with older ones, but they have extensions. If you are forced to use an older instruction set you will have all of the features of your Operating System, most things will run exactly the same, but a few - very few - will run noticeably more slowly. The only things that I can think of at the moment that you are likely to notice running more slowly would be the Gimp 9that's the kind of thing that could use the SSE instruction set extensions), but I am sure there are others that I am overlooking - fps games, if you had any of those.