Sempron on Linux

So, I've got a Sempron 3400+ from AMD and I want to setup Gentoo. Now, Gentoo I can do, but I have no idea what processor family the Sempron's fall under in Linux. AMD's site only mentions it as a 64-bit processor able to handle 32-bit applications with no problems; the problem is, the stickers for this don't have the AMD 64(in the corner) logo that I would expect to find and Debian (whilst probing) just marks it as a generic 686.

So, my three questions are, for Gentoo, should I stick with i686 or goto amd64; for my kernel, what family should I mark this under and finally, are there any good optimizations I should keep in mind in the future?

I've seen some flaky 64-bit packages so I suggest sticking with i686. As for the family... 15 I think. It really depends and you should be able to probe more information from the CPU. Suggestion: Pop in Ubuntu or another live distro and check the CPU type and abilities.

The Sempron will do 64-bit.

I'll call it i686 until I get a bit more ballsy. Thanks, Aron. Nice V, btw.

How did the install go?

2006.1 had some notable flakage and the GUI install is still strongly not recommended. I kept chocking on a mislabeled (keyword-ed) X package on half the installs. The system I ended up installing was a handful of extra packages away from being a stage2. And, to make things even more horrific...NetHack was masked and Gentoo is the only distro that has issues with Firefox 2 and NetHack is still masked and I've blown half a week catching up at userfriendly.org .

I had forgotten all the stuff you don't have to know about when you use many other distributions. I had to learn how to update my network configuration, and I'm expected to get weened off of rp-pppoe. The thing I miss most is the graphical package manager. Believe, just in case of the 1 in a 1000 chance, I've tried emerge *synaptic*.

One thing I do like about gentoo, is that even the errors have useful documentation. When something fails, it tells you what environment variable to use and re-emerge what and everything. I like it. The documentation is a bit different than the older style manpages in style, though, for the gentoo-specific stuff (obviously), as I've read entire paragraphs without any real sense what the hell it said. And I've read documentation that looks likes source code! This is why developers should do the documentation in source and have someone else do the non-developer documentation.

The gentoo community is helpful, though, like any group, there are the few with an odd level of arrogance. I've filed one or two pointless errors (as I'm not going to touch the install CD ever again, if I get my way), but at least they've helped me even when I've not really helped them any.

From what I've seen, this system can handle 64bit quite well, so, if I ever go on vacation, I'll emerge system with the correct processor group set.

I hate my graphics card, though. It's exactly the kind of hardware I hate: The kind that needs system resources to run well (think WinModem, but with 2% processor and variable chunks of RAM instead).

Otherwise, things are hunky-dory.


Also note: Hunky-dory is in my spellcheck dictionary.