On 07/22/11 23:07, Mark Knecht wrote: > On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 6:53 PM, CJoeB <colleen.bea...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Hi everyone, >> >> >> Because this will be a new computer and I may essentially void the >> warranty if I alter the pre-configuration, I seriously thought about >> leaving the status quo and putting up with Windows 7. >> >> What would you recommend that I used for the iso an stage 3? As a >> reminder my computer is a Dell XPS 8300 with an Intel Core -i7-2600 >> processor. I'm a little confused between the choices x86 (which seems >> to only apply to Pentium 4 systems and only utilizes 32-bit processing), >> amd64 and ia64. >> >> Regards, >> >> Colleen >> >> -- >> >> Registered Linux User #411143 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.org > Hi Colleen, > I'm not sure I understand the warranty issue so take this with a > grain of salt but most of the pre-configured Windows machines I've > received in the last couple of years had some disk space left over > outside of the Windows C drive. I'm sure you could install Gentoo on > one of those and not void anything, assuming you have one. The thing is, I don't want Windows on the computer at all. My laptop is 4 years old and it was booted into Windows once and that was only because I didn't hit the F2 key fast enough to get into the bios to change the boot order. Then, Windows got removed completely.
The computer I am getting is a desktop for home use and everything I need is in Linux. I don't want to have to put up with all the "pain in the ass" stuff Windows puts you through. I have to put up with Windows all day at work and it's like a breath of fresh air when I can come home to my Linux system. > William's comment about running Gentoo in a VM is very valid. I've never installed a virtual machine so wouldn't even know how to go about it. > There really aren't any specific 64-bit things I'm aware of that > you need to choose. It's all pretty generic these days, at least with > the Intel processors. I've not used an AMD processor in a while. Boot > from pretty much any Linux Live CD and then do the stage 3 install and > you should be fine. ia64 isn't TTBOMK knowledge something you need to > pay attention to. All my Intel i5 & i7 machines are amd64 stable with > a few ~amd64 packages. So, if I choose the amd64 iso and Stage 3, it doesn't have to be on an AMD machine? > One note about the Sandy Bridge processor is reight now it does > require a specific CFLAG setting to get everything to build correctly > due to a gcc bug. So how do I know if it's a Sandy Bridge processor? Nothing in the specs that I read says it's anything more than and Intel i-7. > As for any other distro, once you use Gentoo you won't be happy > elsewhere. ;-) Stick with Gentoo, most especially since you have all > the hardware power you need to build code at world class speed. I *have* tried other distros - first Redhat, then Fedora, then Kubuntu and you're right ... I wouldn't be happy with anything but Gentoo! I started my Linux journey in 2000, went to Gentoo in 2004 and have always been happy with it. The question is not really whether I will install Gentoo, but more about choosing the correct iso and Stage 3 because I don't want to get into a pickle that I can't handle. Regards, Colleen -- Registered Linux User #411143 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.org
