[NTLUG:Discuss] Re: OT: $30 ThinNet system

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Fri, 2004-09-10 at 16:16, Jeff wrote:
> Just thought I would throw out, I stopped by at lunch today and got 2 of 
> these.  They said they've been going fast and they only have about 12 
> left if anyone is still interested in them.

Oh, not a big deal.  Just thought I'd throw that nugget out.
Over half of the Linux systems shipped today are only i486 ISA.

People quickly forget that there are plenty of Pentium II/III-"class"
embedded systems out there that are only i486 ISA compatible.

Hence why shipping a distribution that requires a Pentium/i586 (not to
mention Pentium-optimized binaries are _slower_ on Intel's own modern
CPUs), or Pentium Pro/i686 is not ideal.

I rather like Red Hat's approach, i486 ISA requirement, i686 ISA
optimized.  i686 optimizations mean it runs slower on an i486 ISA, but
not as bad as i586 -- the latter also runs slower on i686 ISA CPUs too.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                  b.j.smith at ieee.org 
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