\begin{itemize}
   \item
   \index{architectures}
   \index{platforms}

   We will try and be as platform-independent as possible.  However, we
   will consider the \textbf{x86} architecture explicitly from time to
   time and we will not concentrate on \textbf{Linux} on \textbf{IA64,
      Alpha, SPARC, PPC, ARM}, etc., very much.

   \item

   There are at least three reasons to consider the \textbf{x86}
   architecture explicitly:

   \begin{itemize}
      \item

      There are parts of the \textbf{Linux} kernel which must be
      platform-dependent, and to understand what is going on some
      specificity will be needed.

      \item

      You are probably working on an are \textbf{x86} machine right now.

      \item

      Many people developing for \textbf{Linux} are concentrating on
      this platform.

   \end{itemize}

   \item

   We will try to make any platform-dependence explicit. All
   solutions have been tested on a variety of 64-bit
   \textbf{x86}-based architectures (as well as some
   \textbf{ARM} variants), and \textbf{Linux} distributions.

\end{itemize}
