From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1Qkl9u-0003xA-Vw for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sat, 23 Jul 2011 22:58:59 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id B491121C193; Sat, 23 Jul 2011 22:58:49 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-iy0-f181.google.com (mail-iy0-f181.google.com [209.85.210.181]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4CB0321C024 for ; Sat, 23 Jul 2011 22:57:54 +0000 (UTC) Received: by iyf40 with SMTP id 40so3942953iyf.40 for ; Sat, 23 Jul 2011 15:57:53 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to:subject:references :in-reply-to:x-enigmail-version:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; bh=HD+wGp07Hb6XwgrSzID1B+XUo7nICJla9YKSnmXBKQs=; b=TTfDwc+roFzbKdnaab0+OAQQJTRCJ63w8kUPJQonk0Gt3c5OWiJOi0yfSFJUqjeCNI a+DvzaRMEt9yhyrjm3E527MYHtnlVznQinWWas8eYAPolI8tCiYYD0W5Qv8J8iTgEJDt /Jh2ufJYMkV76S5MzFk9XG0NPa+JPAxedbF+Q= Received: by 10.231.32.138 with SMTP id c10mr341570ibd.23.1311461872633; Sat, 23 Jul 2011 15:57:52 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [192.168.2.11] (bas1-hamilton02-1176464554.dsl.bell.ca [70.31.108.170]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id v16sm2319106ibf.25.2011.07.23.15.57.51 (version=SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Sat, 23 Jul 2011 15:57:51 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <4E2B5206.7070407@gmail.com> Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:58:14 -0400 From: CJoeB User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.17) Gecko/20110602 Lightning/1.0b2 Thunderbird/3.1.10 Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo, new computer, still a bit confused References: <4E2A297D.4070709@gmail.com> <4E2ACC80.3060908@gmail.com> <201107231611.22183.michaelkintzios@gmail.com> <1409651.uNA6jy4sKx@nazgul> In-Reply-To: <1409651.uNA6jy4sKx@nazgul> X-Enigmail-Version: 1.1.2 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Archives-Salt: X-Archives-Hash: a402ca8c87a21cd145484a83bb5ec3aa On 07/23/11 18:24, Alan McKinnon wrote: > On Saturday 23 July 2011 16:11:20 Mick did opine thusly: >>> So, if I choose the amd64 iso and Stage 3, it doesn't have to be >>> on an AMD machine? >> Correct, you will use this iso (or systemrescueCD or Knoppix) and a >> Staqe 3 equivalent to build a system on an Intel 64bit CPU. > Just to flesh it out a bit more: > > The name amd64 came about because it's the 64 bit instruction set that = > AMD designed for their 64-bit chips. There was an earlier 64 bit cpu=20 > from Intel, but we don't talk about it anymore (and it has nothing to=20 > do with this topic). > > Anyway, the name is a nod to the company that designed it, and has=20 > nothing to do with the manufacturer of your CPU. Intel later had to=20 > eat humble pie and implement AMD's design just to stay relevant in the = > market, that's why 64 bit Intel chips run on an architecture that=20 > Gentoo calls amd64. > > The 32 bit design is called x86 because that was the general name in=20 > use for 20+ years prior. Most other distros call the amd64 design by=20 > the name x86_64 or similar, Gentoo is the most visible exception. Thanks for this, Alan! And thanks to all for the responses. Honestly, I wasn't so much worried about the hardware breaking. I took the leap and wiped Windows off my laptop and never had any issues. But I've never dealt with 64-bit stuff and I wanted to make sure that I made the right choices. Thanks to the feedback from this list, I am confident that I can. If I run into any problems, this will be the first place I turn! :-) Warranty is not a super huge issue. The computer I got was a super good deal - it came with 1 year warranty, but I never purchased extended warranty. And to be honest, I've had a total of 4 Dell computers and never had any hardware issues at all (touch wood!). My laptop is 4 years old and I've reinstalled Gentoo on it about 3 times - the original install, once because I screwed up the MBR when I hit the "media" button instead of the power button and then recently when I kept getting blocks for KDE packages and KDE had gone to KDE SC. Thanks, again! :-) Colleen --=20 Registered Linux User #411143 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.o= rg