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New Mandrake Linux works on Opteron

Headshot of Stephen Shankland
Headshot of Stephen Shankland
Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
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  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
Stephen Shankland

MandrakeSoft has released a new Linux version that runs on AMD's yet-to-be-released Opteron processors, the company will announce Friday. AMD plans to release its Opteron server processor on April 22.

Opteron, as well as a desktop processor coming later called Athlon 64, has 64-bit features that let the chip directly address large amounts of memory. To take advantage of the feature, software must be rewritten; AMD has been working with Linux companies to build that support into the operating system. MandrakeSoft rivals Red Hat and SuSE both plan Opteron support, as does Microsoft.