On Mon, 2006-12-11 at 13:35 +0000, James Wilkinson wrote:
Les wrote:
> I don't know what you are working on Mike, but if it helps, I installed
> to a 433Mhz celeron with the i386 package and when I ran that command I
> got:
> kernel-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6.i586
> kernel-2.6.18-1.2849.fc6.i586
> kernel-devel-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6.i586
> kernel-devel-2.6.18-1.2849.fc6.i586
> kernel-headers-2.6.18-1.2849.fc6.i386
>
> I was sort of expecting them all to say i386??? Maybe someone can help
> us understand what's happening.
i586 will work, but an i686 kernel will work slightly better on a
Celeron.
The basic 32 bit set of instructions that x86 Linux uses were introduced
with the Intel i386 back in 1986. Later Intel processors added extra
instructions to help in specific cases. (Later on, various "multimedia"
instructions were also added, but that's a separate discussion.)
Most user-space programs don't actually need or gain from those extra
instructions. So Fedora compiles most programs using only i386
instructions -- hence the "i386" in most package names.
Some packages (the kernel and glibc, for example) *can* make use of the
extra instructions. So Fedora provides an i686 version of those
packages, which do use the extra instructions. Unfortunately, there are
still some processors which don't support the i686 level of instructions
(Via only recently started supporting them, and AMD K6s are still used).
For these processors, Fedora provides an i586 version. (i586
instructions are still better than just the i386 instruction set in
these cases).
i586 programs will work on later processors, but i586 processors don't
know how to handle i686 instructions. (If they did, they'd be i686
processors).
I'm not sure whether the kernel headers actually contain *any*
instructions -- if they do, they'd be tiny portions of assembler. They
don't use processor-specific instructions, so count as i386.
Thanks, James,
I didn't know that the 686 stuff would run OK on the celeron, thus my
choice of the 386 pkg. Since I see so much about the issues of 64 bit
still being not quite fully implemented, I will probably stay where I am
until 64 bit is fully running (I am assuming that 686 is 64 bit).
I have mucked up my installation a bit already and a reinstall may be
imminent if I can't figure this out today. My ultimate goal is to drive
a dual processor dual core system with 64 bit capability for some
software I had been working on (I need more flops to make it useful). I
really like the opterons and have been following the progress people are
making with those systems. I hope one of them will summarize their work
soon, and the state of the whole system would be helpful. Although I do
know networking pretty well at the microlevel (protocols, packets,
hardware etc.) and programming at a sort of Roads scholar doctorate
level (no degree, but lots of classes and 30 years experience:
microcode to high level languages for real time applications and
component test), I am a bit of a lightweight on system install and
config stuff. So for me, a step by step install guide will get me where
I need to be, and that appears rare. Also I was surprised to find
packages installed in the "lib" directory. I have expected them to be
in a /usr/local directory or something like that. I am a bit of a
structure nut when it comes to systems, although you would not guess it
when you see my computer room (messy is too polite).
Regards,
Les H