I'm using Debian Jessie and wanted to install Tails OS onto a usb stick.
The tails website showed me how to download 'tails-installer' on debian which needs to be run to install the Tails OS.

However, when I try to download the tails .iso from their site, the download keeps failing.
The name of the .iso is:This seems to mean the .iso is for an Intel 32-bit. I've found from reddit that the .iso will also work for an Intel 64-bit.

My problem is I have an amd64 bit processor.
So does this mean Tails only works for people who have Intel processors?

Also, why is the .iso verified by downloading a firefox add-on or downloading OpenPGP? It would be easier for linux users to do a simple checksum operation using the terminal. Why is it necessary to download a third-party app?

The checksum just tells you that the downloaded ISO was (hopefully) not corrupted during the transfer. But it is still possible that it be not a genuine Tail ISO but one provided by one of your enemies, or some public or private spy.

I can only answer this part of your post as I do not run Debian but Slint.

AMD64 and x86-64 are used interchangeably for the 64 bit PC architecture and it does not matter which actual CPU is installed in your computer. The 64 bit version of tails is scheduled to be released June 2017 so the 32 bit version is all there is at the moment. And as you have discovered 32 bit versions will run on a 64 bit processor.

I can only guess that in the eyes of the authors the two download techniques provide suitable security measures to automatically download the ISO file.

How does the download fail? Have you tried the download using the other distribution method versus using the firefox plugin.

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you can use bittorrent.
https://tails.boum.org/torrents/file...6-2.11.torrent
is the link to use, once you installed transmission or some other torrent client.
advantages: torrents are checksum-checked automatically.

and since they have only one version to download, it will most likely be suitable for your machine.
please be aware that tails is not meant to be installed, but always run from the live usb.

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Try one of the other methods if it fails to download via the add-on. Looks like they have BitTorrent and downloading directly (the manual OpenPGP verification link.) I would be surprised if the BitTorrent option didn't at least work.

No, either way it's x86. Likewise "amd64" packages will work on 64-bit Intel processors. It's all the same architecture.

Checksum only verifies that the file was downloaded without errors. The verification is about verifying the identity of who's providing you the download via public-key encryption, since hypothetically another site could offer you their own false MD5 checksum. (Of course at that point, one might be left to wonder how trustworthy this site is itself, but... *shrug*)

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Well, this is very interesting.
What about a sha256sum? I use that to verify the download of a Debian OS.
Is a sha256sum also vulnerable?

The only difference is that the probability of a matching checksum although the local (downloaded) file be not identical to the remote one is then smaller. But it still doesn't tell you who actually uploaded the file to the remote server, in other words whether this is a genuine Tail ISO or not.

For instance see this blog post.

Thank you. Well, in that case I think I'll wait for June 2017.
It would be nice if Tails mentioned this simple but important point on their webpage.
Apart from this minor oversight, I'm sure we can all trust Tails OS.
I'm afraid that's a bullshit answer.
We are told Tails OS offers anonymity - but first we need to download a 3rd party app. You do the math.

I don't use torrents because it's all a bit complicated.
Also, I read somewhere that torrents are spyware. Bingo.

Thank you. That's good to know.

That's weird. When installing debian, you have to choose between the Intel or the AMD .iso.
Tails OS is based on debian.

I see. So checksum verifies errors in software download but it does not verify the 'identity of who's providing you the download'.
I think we all know the 3rd party apps to authenticate the Tails OS is the Govt.

When downloading debian your choosing between architectures (32 or 64 bit) not CPU manufactures. tails only has a 32 bit version.

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1. no it isn't. it's the answer that best fits the facts, whether one agrees with it or not.
2. watch your tongue. why are you insulting people that are trying to help you?

yes, it's all a bit complicated.
but torrents aren't any ware, they're just files being shared. torrent software CAN be spyware, just like every other piece of software.
thankfully we use open source software where a thing like that wouldn't go unnoticed.
in other words: i know of NO linux torrent program that would be spyware.

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With all due respect, trumpforprez, I would suggest that you educate yourself a little more as it would help you in the long run:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amd64
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bittorrent
A quick google, duckduckgo, or look at Wikipedia would tell you what things like AMD64, i386 and the like mean and, also, tell you that torrents do not just contain malware -- that's usually people trying to download the latest blockbuster on Windows and finding they have a .exe file they are supposed to run in order to get it. Even if you're using Windows and download the worst malware out there fro ma torrent you still have to run it in order for it to cause you any issues.

The above said, I do think it odd that Tails isn't available for 64 bit architecture yet as it's not exactly a new thing.

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the 32bit version will work just fine on 64bit architecture.
since tails is supposed to be always run from a usb stick, that way one doesn't have to worry about whether the host computer is 32 or 64bit.

True but since Tails is supposed to run from memory I would expect a 64 bit version to be able to have a larger RAM disk and take advantage of the extra instructions available on the AMD64 architecture.