I'm trying to decide on which OS I want to upgrade to.

What is the difference between:

i386
i586
X86
X86_64 etc?

I have a Pen III 450mhz with 328 meg RAM

Where would I fall in these catagories?

Thanks,
Toby

Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I686

With a P3 you can use i368, i468, i586, i686. The x86 is generically used to refer to any of those.

x86_64 is for 64-bit processor - that's not you.

It refers to what processor class you have, Linux requires at least an i386 class to run. Here's a basic break down

i386 = 386sx/dx and clones
i486 = 486sx/dx and clones
i586 = pentium (the original) and clones
i686 = pentium pro, pentium II, celeron, and clones
x86_64 = 64-bit processors

beyond 686 it doesn't really matter much, 786 I believe is xeon and pentium 4, not sure where pentium 3 falls, but like I said it doesn't matter.

For the most part linux programs will require i386 or i686, with the few i486/i586's thrown in there. So really as long as you have a 386 or better you can run linux.

keep in mind that the chain is one way, if you have a 486 you cant run 586 or 686 programs, and 32 bit processors won't run the x86_64 programs either.

Wow, hope i didn't throw too much out there, let me know if you need more help/simplification or anything.

Nope that answered my question.

Thanks for all the help I got from all of you! I am rapidly becoming addicted to Linux.

I hope to be free from Micro$oft soon and forever!!!!

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Genral, since it's a generic hardware-type of question, and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.