I am learning that PC architecture has a lot to do on why certain Linux Distros won't boot up on certain Motherboards twobits. One of the things to look out for when downloadig a Linux Distro is to see what motherboard architecture that Distro supports.
i386 works on all Mother Boards, 32bit and 64 bit. (Except for older Mac Computers)
PPC is only for the older Mac and Apple Computers.
x86_64 is for 64 bit motherboards. Won't work on 32 bit.
I686 Intel P6 (microarchitecture), as first used in the Pentium Pro and later adapted into the Pentium M and Core architectures
i686
x86_64
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