I have a AMD64 processor and want to use Slackware on it; however, I'm aware Slack is 32-bit with x86, but also the AMD64 is x86_64, so my question is would I have problems running Slack in 32bit with my processor. I'm not looking for 64 bit optimization(I'd use Fedora, Mandrake, Gentoo or Debian if I were).

"I'm not looking for 64 bit optimization"

Then why on earth did you buy one? That makes no sense.

But anyway. Theres no reason why it wont install and run just fine. But there is good reason to believe that half your hardware will just crap out on the 32 bit version of the software because it wants 64 bit drivers, not 32 bit.

So its sort of a, yeah, you got a good reason to try, but... Your likely to end up with a whole lotta crap you could have avoided by starting with Gentoo x86_64 or Suse 9.0 64.

It will run fine. You do not need 64 bit drivers to run anything. It is a 32 bit processor too.

Slackware is working on my box. I had some initial problems, but that had more to do with NVidia bleeding-edgeness than it did with 64-bits.

I have Windows for playing games on a separate hd.

"It will run fine. You do not need 64 bit drivers to run anything. It is a 32 bit processor too"

Sure IRIGHTI,
Mind doing me a favor? Go read the 3 other forums where people can't get 32 bit distro's to work, but have no problems with 64 bit compiled versions. And explain to them that its just their imagination, and their computers didn't actually not work when they used a 32 bit linux distro on it.

No need to get nasty.

You can look on this forum and find plenty of people that can't get their 32 bit distros working on an old 32 bit processor. That doesn't mean anything.

I just said it is a 32 bit processor as well. No more.

Hey, I have a AMD 64 FX ... I'm on slackware 9.1 .. what i did to make slackware 9.1 64bit is frist you need somw sources from the cd .. the slackware tools soruce...etc. you need two computers to do this mind you, frist install slackware 9.1 on one of the computers (min install is fine since we have to recompile everything anyways) now when thats done make a user and cd to /usr/src and use lynx to get the lastest Linux Kernel source .... compile that with the CPU set as the AMD "Hammer" (64bit AMD cpus) and setup your hardware and kernel the way you want it ... now reboot and now the kernel will use your 64bit CPU as a 64bit CPU... now pop out the harddrive and mount it under linux on another machine that has a 64bit CPU and a distro that is 64bit ... and then follow the LFS (Linux From scratch) compile guide to setup a working compile chain for slack ... now once you have that done pop the harddrive back in the other machine and compile away!

Actually Caeda, IRIGHTI is right. While the Intel 64bit CPUs only have 32bit emulation, all AMD 64bit CPUs also have full 32bit support. This means that you _should_ be able to run any 32bit compiled applications, kernels or distros, without any problems.

because the A64's still whip most processors ass. A grunty processor indeed.

Ok.. Narooze, IRIGHTI,
I get the fact that, Yes, the Athlon 64 does run all 32 bit applications just as if it were a 32 bit, only faster, due to its backwards emulation compatability.

What I am trying to get through to both of you, and to the original poster is.
There have been 3 threads on eMachines Athlon64 notebooks in the last month or so. I have, in addition to posting on one of the threads, actually worked on, used, and helped to install linux upon an additional eMachines 64 notebook that a friend bought.

Ok, are you with me so far? Good.

When a 32 bit linux os was installed, (tried Suse, Debian, Slackware, and Gentoo). The notebook installed just fine, and booted just fine... HOWEVER.
There was NO sound, NO 3d support for the graphics card, NO networking, NO acpi related features running.

When we switched to Gentoo 2004.0 and compiled for Athlon 64... everything started just fine. Sound, networking, acpi, 3d. All working, just by switching to the proper OS for the system.

Have you fully absorbed and understood this information yet?
Yes, sure, you can preach all day and I agree. A 64bit amd cpu will run 32 bit compiled software just fine. The thing that I keep trying to force into your heads, though, is that, for some systems, and some motherboards. The hardware built into the board, will not work properly without that extra 64 bit code. Perhaps its an oddity in linux, or just in the way the hardware communicates, but it wants 64 bits as the core os.

Perhaps the operative word is SOME systems, SOME motherboards. On my AMD64 desktop, everything is working except sound, and THAT was working under Knoppix 3.3 (presumably 32-bit). Linux is frequently YMMV.