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
