Choosing a distro type for debian

Izi · 11 Aug 2011 at 19:01

I want to install debian in a VM (VMware player) and I am not sure which version I should install from: http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/#stable

amd64, armel, ia64 etc - which one do I need for an Intel powered machine? I thought it was ia64 for a 64bit intel machine but not sure as it doesn't seem to be playing ball in VM. Its just a blank screen.

Izi · 11 Aug 2011 at 19:13

amd64 seems to work - can't anyone explain this for me?

cb_linus · 11 Aug 2011 at 19:28

Pretty sure amd64 is a generic term for both amd and intel 64bit chips. Found this after a few searches:

http://wiki.debian.org/DebianAMD64Faq said:
"AMD64" is the name chosen by AMD for their 64-bit extension to the Intel x86 instruction set. Before release, it was called "x86-64" or "x86_64", and some distributions still use these names. Intel refers to its AMD64 implementation as "Intel64" previously named "EM64T". The architecture is AMD64-compatible and Debian AMD64 will run on AMD and Intel processors with 64-bit support. Because of the technology paternity, Debian uses the name "AMD64".

My understanding, though I'm happy to be educated, is that amd got there first (or possibly had the most succesful start) on the 64bit market

Izi · 11 Aug 2011 at 19:35

cb_linus said:
Pretty sure amd64 is a generic term for both amd and intel 64bit chips. Found this after a few searches:

My understanding, though I'm happy to be educated, is that amd got there first (or possibly had the most succesful start) on the 64bit market

Thanks for that.

BigglesPiP · 15 Aug 2011 at 20:16

indeed the two archs you can run in VMWare on your PC are:

i386 (sometimes the software packages may say i586 or i686) - this is for your 32 bit x86 based PC.
amd64 (some like Redhad say x86_64) - this is your standard 64 bit x86 based PC, be it Intel or AMD.

Some things you cannot run are:
ia-64 - Intel Itanium 64 bit, a slightly successful RISC arch
ppc - IBM Power PC, the most successful RISC arch, this is an IBM P-series (or SystemP), or an old Power Mac.
SPARK - Sun box, would otherwise run Solaris.
ARM - Your phone, probably.

There are ARM and PPC emulators for X-series though.