[sf-lug] Error message: wrong architecture ... 32 bit to 64 bit?

[Michael Paoli]

It *is* possible, for at least certain distributions
to "upgrade"/sidegrade, from 32 bit to 64 bit, but that is
*not* recommended for the faint of heart - really thus far only
for the rather/quite skilled at system administration (unless you
really don't mind seriously breaking the system).

In future (e.g. 6 months to 2 years down the line) it might
become a straightforward (nearly) "push button" operation ...
but as far as I'm aware it's not there yet (but not as horribly
hairy, nasty, and dangerous as it was some fair number of years
earlier).

references/excerpts:
http://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=system:32-bit_to_64-bit

> From: "Daniel Gimpelevich" <daniel at gimpelevich.san-francisco.ca.us>
> Subject: Re: [sf-lug] Error message: wrong architecture
> Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2015 16:53:20 -0700

> On Tue, 2015-03-10 at 16:24 -0700, Christian Einfeldt wrote:
>> Hi,
>
>> I am concerned that I have installed the incorrect Ubuntu distro on my
>> Zareason ultralap 440.  When I went to Ubuntu to download the .iso, it
>> gave me this iso to install:
>>
>> ubuntu-14.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso
> [snip]
>> Then when I do uname -m here is what I get
>
>> cje at laptopfizz:~$ uname -m
>> i686
>
>> Do I have the wrong type of Ubuntu?  Do I need to get a different
>> version of Ubuntu 14.04?  How do I get Google Chrome on this machine?
>> I want to use Chrome in addition to Chromium and Firefox. Thanks!
>
> Bottom line: If uname says i686, then you did not install from
> ubuntu-14.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso, but confused one disc for another. If
> the computer will never hold more than 2GB of RAM, then just get the
> 32-bit package. Otherwise, time to weigh the costs and benefits of
> reinstalling.