core2duo processor
 

dear all,

i would be buying core2duo E6600 processor with ASUS motherboard for the PC at home. i would be installing FC6 onto the PC. do i need to install the normal 32-bit OS or should i be installing the 64-bit version of FC6 ? the question might look dumb, but i would be helpful if anyone would clear my doubts.

thanks in advance,

majalee

Well is the system 64-bit or not (I don't see it in your post, might be because I don't know exactly what kind of processor E6600 is)? If it is not 64-bit, you obviously can't install 64-bit system. If it is, you can install it if you like.

Before buying make sure the hardware works with FC6 (or some other Linux as well); ASUS boards have caused some headache for some users, so if you can't do anything else (nor find information from the web to ensure it works), try making a deal that you can get your money back if the machine doesn't work.

EDIT: there are pros and cons using 64-bit system or not, the first thing that comes into my mind is that some apps that run on 32-bit system refuse to run in 64-bit (Wine is one, but it can be made to run on 64-bit also). Anyway the amount of such programs is (decreasingly) small, so if you have a possibility of installing 64-bit OS then do it; otherwise you're just wasting some machine power :)

I am running the "normal" 32-bit version of Sabayon Linux on a Core 2 Duo (Asus P5LD2 SE Motherboard). Have also tried Debian testing, Ubuntu and the Gentoo live CD on it - all 32-bit.

Check that FC6 supports your onboard NIC (I need the 2.6.18 kernel for mine to be recognized - or the patched 2.6.17 kernel on Ubuntu).

Also you may have problems with nVidia drivers, except the latest, working with Google Earth properly and there are HDA Intel sound problems (see my post elsewhere in these forums.)