[CentOS] CentOS 2.1 on i586

Tue Oct 17 01:48:06 UTC 2006
John Newbigin <jnewbigin at ict.swin.edu.au>

I just want to summarise the status of CentOS-2.

The install onto i386 issue is anaconda.  It probably is a 1 line python 
fix.  Rebuilding anacona won't help though because CentOS-2 no longer 
fits onto 2 CDs.  This means that you can't (easily) build an install 
set of CD's.

CentOS-2 will run on i386, you just can't install it.  If you want it, 
swap the hard disk into an i686 to do the install.

Installing CentOS-2 onto new hardware is also problematic.  Updating the 
installer is not possible so the recommended procedure to install for 
new hardware is again, swap the hard disk, this time into an older i686 
box to do the install.

John.

John Newbigin wrote:

> Although i386 kernel & glibc are provided, you can not install onto 
> anything less than i686.  You will have to attach the disk to something 
> newer to do the install, downgrade the kernel, libc & openssl and then 
> you should be able to stick the disk back into the 586.
> 
> Be aware that there may be some i686 instructions in the i386 packages. 
>  This is due to packaging and compiler bugs but they are treated as 
> WONTFIX by RH because their minimum supported arch is i686.  You should 
> be OK, just don't bet the house on it.
> 
> John.
> 
> Aleksandar Milivojevic wrote:
> 
>> I've just attempted to reinstall my ancient laptop that has Pentium 
>> MMX processor.  Since it is ancient, I've decided to go with CentOS 
>> 2.1. Got stuck, installer claims I need at least i686.  Hmmm...  I 
>> know that 3.8 and 4.4 work without a glitch on i586, so this came as 
>> surprise.  I even thing original RHEL2.1 might had support for i586 
>> too (but I might be wrong).
>>
>> Anyhow, what happened with i586 in CentOS 2.1?
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>>
>>
>>
> 
> 


-- 
John Newbigin
Computer Systems Officer
Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia
http://www.ict.swin.edu.au/staff/jnewbigin