G'day all,

What I am wondering today is, I have Kubuntu 7.04 the AMD64 version currently installed on my system. Works great, love it. Problem is that some programs don't like the 64bit architecture yet. I was wondering if it were possible to take a Ubuntu 7.04 DVD install it then use the Kubuntu (AMD64)CD to load KDE on to my system.

Would doing that create any undue problems or concerns? I am just trying to save a week of downloading.

Or do I just roll up my sleeves, dig around and get programs like Opera working? Without taking the windows approach and reinstalling, like I should?

I don't think you can just change architectures like that. AMD64 and i386 are entirely different. I believe binaries compiled for one won't run on the other without a compatibility layer.

I think the solution is generally to create a 32-bit chroot environment for i386 programs to run under. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=24575

Oh well looks like I roll up my sleeves and have a dig around under the hood to see if I can get everything running before I take the MS path and just reinstall. Cheers for that, just wanted to make sure before I did something silly. To tell the truth I didn't even think about the binaries being compiled differently. Oh well maybe a job for another day.

Cheers again.

Look whether there is any ia32-libs in your repositories. That's a compatibility library which allows running 32 bit applications on a 64 bit system. Should be good enough if all you need is firefox, flash and java. If you need more, however, I do recommend either building a chroot or intalling a 32 bit distro instead.