Quoting Erik Christiansen (dva...@internode.on.net): > On 20.06.18 12:04, Simon Hobson wrote: > > FWIW, even technical users can lack what some may think is “really > > basic knowledge” - I fell that the most important thing I’ve learned > > over the years is just how much I don’t know ! > > Despite using *nix exclusively for three decades now, linux for around > two, matching a linux distro to my cpu requires more chip knowledge than > I have. I remember grubbing about on the net to try to find out what > sort of beast my: > > $ cat /proc/cpuinfo > processor : 0 > vendor_id : CentaurHauls > cpu family : 6 > model : 13 > model name : VIA C7 Processor 1500MHz > ... > clflush size : 64 > cache_alignment : 64 > address sizes : 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual > > might be. The last line suggested that I needed i386, but line three > hinted vaguely at i686, maybe. The internet was no help when I looked, > some years ago. Taking a stab in the dark, I found that 686-pae runs > fine on it, but how would one know in advance?
That's an i386 clone with some 686 features such as PAE. Obviously, this is pretty obscure data, so you would _not_ know in advance. (The VIA C7 'Esther' core was manufactured for C7 by Centaur Technology, thus the vendor_id string.) How to make an optimal kernel for one: https://blog.laczik.org/centos-6-5-kernel-compile-for-via-c7-cpu/ > The devuan ascii I run on my quad-core celeron host is also i686, as I > figure it's new, and 686 has to be better than anything with lower > numbers, right? Possibly you are fully aware of this, but: Code compiled for generic i386 will run on any i386-family processor whatsoever, but sacrificing some performance and other advantages possible if you use a kernel better tuned to the _specific_ i386-family CPU. Complicating this picture, more and more distros that still ship an i386 flavor have been making the judgement call to use an i686-optimised (Pentium Pro-optimised) kernel for installation and default operation, which then prevents installation on literal 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium-MMX, etc. pre-686 microarchitectures.. Fairly lucid clarification: https://www.redhat.com/archives/rhl-list/2006-October/msg03684.html _______________________________________________ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
