i386 vs SRPMS iso image difference? - newbie question

[Pedro Fernandes Macedo]

David Hunt wrote:

> I have downloaded and installed Fedora using the i386 iso images. That 
> worked very nicely.
> I also downloaded the SRPMS images, but didn't appear to need them. 
> What are the SRPMS images for?
> Can anyone really quickly tell me the difference between the i386 and 
> SRPMS iso images?
>
The SRPMS images contain the source packages . You only need them if you 
need/want to recompile a given program. However , you can always 
download the source rpm for that single program on the net..

> Also, how do I know what kind of processor I've got?
> I am running an Intel Pentium 4 2.66GHz processor. Is that i386, i486, 
> i586, or i686?
> Would it make any difference to try recompiling the kernel for the 
> correct processor type?
> If so, dare I ask how that is done?
>
Pentium 4 is a 686 processor. Probably the kernel you are already 
running is i686 optimized... If not , install the 
kernel-2.4.22-1.2166.nptl.i686.rpm (available on all mirrors in the 
update section). This helps increase performance , but I dont know how 
much  would be the performance gains (I always run optimized kernels , 
so I dont have any base to compare to generic i386 kernels).

Pedro Macedo