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Re: Bug#198158: architecture i386 isn't i386 anymore



On Fri, 20 Jun 2003 17:20:13 +0200, Mathieu Roy wrote:

> If so, are you kidding? The Pentium classic (i586) was still available
> in 1997.

It is still available even today. Not sure where to get a mainboard for
this beast, but just a week ago I saw it on a price list.

> I know a lot of person who use a Pentium classic as mini-server, with is
> really enough to run a local network.
> 
> Also P MMX seems meaningless to me. MMX was, I think, introduced in
> Pentium Pro (which is still a i586 according to uname)

Really? Seems wrong to me.

> and nowadays computers still got MMX (so what is the meaning of P MMX?
> PPro? PII? PIII? PIV?).

MMX was introduced with the Pentium/MMX (P55C) processor. That's a Pentium
(i586) with MMX bolted on. PPro (P6, i686) doesn't have MMX (being
introduced before the Pentium MMX). PII united the two designs. It
features a PPro core _and_ MMX. So I guess the meaning of P MMX is pretty
clear. It refers to the classic Pentium with MMX.

> Skipping 386 for 486 seems acceptable because nowadays, a distro
> requires more HD space and RAM than it's possible to add with usual 386
> motherboards,

You could always burn a CD-ROM for /usr :-)

> but dropping all Pentiums until Pentium II generation
> seems completely foolish. I hope I misunderstood your message.

I'd drop the sub-pentiums (i.e. 386 and 486) entirely. Not that my vote
would count...

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