Will my old x86 Gentoo disk boot with new AMD64 processor?

philip · Guru Joined: 10 Jun 2003 Posts: 535 Location: Sweden

My old Gentoo box got the final stab when our house got struck by lightning this summer. The installation and the disk seem to be in good health still. The machine had an old AMD 32 bit processor and a likewise old Soyo Dragon MOBO.

When looking at new MOBOś I see that the only option with AMD processors seem to be 64bit architecture.

My question is; Will my old disk boot (with the Gentoo x86 arch on it), without any reconfiguration once I have put together a a new AMD 64 system, ? I certainly hope I can re-use my old installation since I have a ton of good apps running rock stable on the old drive. If anyone can share some experience I would be greatful.
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/Phil

avieth · Veteran Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Posts: 1945 Location: Canada

It will work, but you might want to do a fresh install to take advantage of the 64-bit capabilities.

SiberianSniper · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:40 pm Post subject:

You should be able to use the same installation as on your old machine, with the possible exception of reconfiguring and recompiling the kernel and modules for compatibility with the new hardware. 32-bit OSs are fine on 64-bit processors.

philip · Guru Joined: 10 Jun 2003 Posts: 535 Location: Sweden

Thank's for advice, they are comforting.

/Ph
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/Phil