Re: Switching kernel config from x86_64 to i686
On Sun, Oct 28, 2007 at 07:17:29PM -0400, Frederick N. Brier wrote:
> I made the mistake of taking a default or selecting the wrong kernel (my
> machine is an AMD X2). So I now have a 64 bit kernel (x86_64), which I
> have read is "transitional". Since so many packages are only 32 bit, my
> life has gotten complex trying to make everything work and with
> contemplations of 32 bit UMLs (which apparently have their own issues).
> So... I would like to switch my system to a plain old i686 optimized 32
> bit version of Debian.
What do you mean "transitional"? What exactly are you using for a
kernle? It should be amd64 Current stable Etch kernel uname -a:
Linux titan 2.6.18-5-amd64 #1 SMP Tue Oct 2 20:37:02 UTC 2007 x86_64 GNU/linux
The _only_ thing you can't do on Etch amd64 directly is flash player for
the browsers since there is no such thing as an amd64 flash player. In
Etch, you need to put the browser and flash in an i386 chroot (which
isn't that much of a deal); on Lenny there's a wrapper to make that
un-necessary.
What do you mean by "so many packages are only 32 bit?"
If you have 32-bit apps (other than flash), they will likely work
directly if you install the 32-bit libs since amd64 can run 32-bit apps
concurrently.
>
> What is the easiest way to do this? I really do not want to reinstall.
> I setup a software RAID, have installed a large number of packages,
> copied a bunch of data onto the drives, done a fair bit of
> configuration, even built 64 bit versions of the Digium drivers. I am
> guessing I need to rebuild the kernel as 32 bit (any URLs to doc on how
> to do this would be wonderful). Do I need to do anything else to
> install 32 bit versions of all the packages? Or am I screwed? I have
> primarily used aptitude for package management, except for Asterisk,
> which I checked out of Subversion and built. Is there an easy way to
> install 32 bit versions of all the packages? Or make sure that a 32 bit
> compatible version is installed? Thank you for any help.
If you installed amd64 and want i386 then you have to reinstall.
Doug.
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