20 Dec
2005
20 Dec
'05
3:30 a.m.
Kevin Krieser k_krieser@sbcglobal.net wrote:
This is kind of an issue on the LKML right now. Not 486's, but trying to support large workloads on 32 bit computers
when
people can go to 64 bit CPUs, for example, where many of
the
limitations go away.
In reality, the i686 was introduced in 1994. Almost everyone implements the i686. And i686 has a _lot_ of benefits. Anything superscalar is almost always i686 compatible (or close to it).
i586 is clearly genuine Pentium only, at least performance-wise, and has hacks that run _poorly_ on newer i686 processors. Pentium had a lot of bugs, because it was Intel's first x86 superscalar atempt.
i486 is definitely the "next step down" -- and it's a damn big step. ;->
--
Bryan J. Smith b.j.smith@ieee.org http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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"On the basis of the American view, which may be right, the
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