How do I force the install on the AMD machine to be suitable for the PII machine, ie --arch=i586 ?
A PentiumII certainly qualifies as i686, so forcing i586 is not needed. ["$ grep flags /proc/cpuinfo" containing "cmov" and "cx8" means i686.] By default you may get an operating system kernel that is specialized for 'athlon'. If so, then after the install finishes use rpm to --install the i686 kernel. Boot i686, then rpm --erase the athlon kernel. The kernel is the only .rpm that is specialized for athlon over i686. [glibc is specialized for i686 over i386.] --