There are several different types of computer which Ubuntu is compatible with. The type of computer you have is determined by its processor architecture; this is a technical term which just refers to what type of processor the computer has.
PC (Intel x86)
This works on most common "IBM compatible" PC systems. If Microsoft Windows will run on your machine, then this CD should also work, although many newer systems may gain a slight performance increase if they use the 64-bit CD below. Most computers are of this type.
Systems with the following processors need this CD:
AMD processors
- Geode (GX, LX, NX)
- K5
- K6
- K7
- Athlon
- Duron
- Sempron (Socket A and Paris core)
Intel processors
- i386/i486 systems (although these may not be powerful enough to run the CD)
- Pentium I
- Pentium II
- Pentium III
- Pentium 4 (most models)
- Celeron
- Celeron M (most models)
- Mobile Pentium 4
- Pentium M (some models)
- Core Solo and Core Duo (not Core 2)
64-bit PC (AMD64)
Many new "IBM Compatible" PC systems have begun to use 64-bit components, and if the operating system (like Ubuntu) makes use of these capabilities then a slight performance increase can be gained. PCs which can run a 64-bit version of Microsoft Windows should be supported by this CD. If you are unsure whether your PC system has these capabilities then you can use the "x86" CD above, as this will work on 64-bit systems as well.
AMD processors that support AMD64
- Phenom
- Athlon 64
- Athlon 64 FX
- Athlon 64 X2
- Athlon X2
- Turion 64
- Turion 64 X2
- Opteron
- Sempron (Palermo, Manila, and Sparta cores only)
- Mobile Sempron (Keene cores only)
Intel processors that support Intel 64
- Core 2 Extreme
- Core 2 Quad
- Core 2 Duo
- Pentium D
- Pentium Extreme Edition
- Celeron with a Conroe-L core (220, 420, 430, and 440 only)
- Celeron D (Cedar Mill-512 cores and Prescott-256 cores for models 326, 331, 336, 341, 346, 351, and 355)
- Celeron M (Merom-L and Merom-1024 cores only)
- Pentium 4 (Prescott, Prescott 2M, and Cedar Mill cores only, excluding Mobile Pentium 4 HT)
- Xeon (Nocona and Irwindale cores only)
- Xeon MP (Potomac and Cranford cores only)
- Dual-Core Xeon
- Quad-Core Xeon
You can use a tool like CPU-Z (for Windows) to find out if your processor supports AMD64 or EM64T.
Mac (PowerPC)
Many older Apple Mac computers use PowerPC processors. They usually have names like "G3", "G4" or "G5". You should use the Ubuntu PowerPC CD if you have one of these computers. This CD should also work for other PowerPC systems which offer support for Ubuntu, such as the PegasOS. This will not work for the new Intel-based Apple Macs.