On Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 12:31 PM, Parshwa Murdia <b330bkn at gmail.com> wrote: > On Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 5:02 PM, Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote: > >> > i386 is for older technology PCs. The x86_64 is for newer PCs > > How can I know that I have to use i386 or x86_64, my machine is not very new > though. > > >> >> The x86_64 release takes two DVDs, but the second DVD just has >> OpenOffice language packs. > > It would be great if you get me the direct link like amongst > http://ftp.iitm.ac.in/centos/5.5/isos/i386/ which one? Further, without > knowledge only, it took only one CD when I downloaded Fedora, here more than > one CD is there? We cannot do it later by using some command like yum. > Please elaborate. x86_64 is the common set of configurations and libraries for 64-bit computers. You should be able to look up the model number of your computer, or the motherboard and BIOS at boot time. Or you can grab a live CD, such as the CentOS 5.4 or Ubuntu live CD, and boot with the 64-bit live CD to determine if it's compatible with your system. If you can, use 64-bit operating systems. There are some lingering compatibility issues, but you can make much more full use of your hardware with a 64-bit operating system, and virtualize a 32-bit operating sytem if you need it. You cannot do the reverse. There are other architectures, which a home PC is unlikely to have. These include ARM (common in some fascinating netbooks and smartphones) and sparc (no longer in production, Sun computers got bought).