Q I installed CentOS 4.3 on my Pentium III, Windows 98 computer and it worked great. It says I need a Pentium CPU. I also have an AMD FX-53 with Windows XP and Fedora 5. I would like to replace my Fedora 5 with CentOS 4.3 on this computer also, but am afraid to try. Would it be OK to try to install CentOS on my AMD computer? If not, is there a way to do it with some third-party software or will there be an AMD version in the future?
A That should really say "Pentium-class CPU" That is, anything compatible with an i586 processor. Pentium is Intel's trademark, but AMD CPUs are compatible. You can run CentOS on your FX-53, but you wouldn't be getting the most out of the chip. The FX-53 is a 64-bit processor, but would switch to 32-bit mode to run the supplied version of CentOS. That will still be faster than most 32-bit CPUs, and it will be fine for trying out CentOS to see whether you like it, but if you want the best performance, you would be better off with the 64-bit version of CentOS, available for download from www.centos.org.