i586 kernels [Was: very common kernel modules slow down the boot process]

Alan Cox alan at redhat.com
Tue Apr 8 15:11:43 UTC 2008


> Not to sound *too* negative, but is there a donation fund where I can 
> put $5 so you guys with i586s can upgrade? Good lord.

The 586 aspect isn't a big problem. It needs some trivial kernel differences
which increasingly are being done by run time fixup. The installer is fine
if there is enough memory. I did need to use a respin disk but that was no
big deal. The VIA isn't really a 586 but a 686, it is however hit by a gcc
machine specification bug that isn't really fixable as stuff now relies on the
broken gcc definition of 686.

> I'm sure if you melted down the gold, copper, and steel in the i586 
> computers you guys have you could *easily* afford a Core 2 Quad with 4 
> gigs of DDR2.

Yes but it wouldn't run on under 60 watts, silently including the tft and
disks. The VIA EPIA boxes are very good for that sort of thing and they
save a lot in power costs.

Alan




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