Changing the default 32-bit x86 arch for Fedora 12 (#2)

[Gerd Hoffmann]

On 06/17/09 21:17, Jeff Spaleta wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 9:52 AM, Bill Nottingham<notting at redhat.com>  wrote:
>> - Atom is the only currently produced 32-bit x86 chip of note; optimize
>>   for what's currently available
>
> Just as an aside, can we do anything to help people identify whether
> their hardware is 64bit capable?

Not sure it is still that way, but at least a while back suse had such a 
check in the install iso boot loader, poping up a window saying somehing 
along the lines "cool (64bit) computer, do you really want to cripple it 
with 32bit software?".  That was the box with a two-sided dvd though 
(one side 32 other 64bit).  In *that* case it makes alot of sense, you 
just have to flip the dvd and it also avoids installing 32bit by accident.

For fedora you probably want to know *before* downloading stuff ...

Idea #1:
   Can preupgrade handle a i386->x86_64 switch?  If so a check could
   be added and offer going from F10/32bit to F11/64bit.

Idea #2:
   netinst iso for both 32 and 64bit, then have the bootloader check
   cpuid and offer either 32bit (32bit hardware) or 64bit+32bit with
   64bit being default (64bit hardware).

cheers,
   Gerd