[ale] 386 or no 386?

[Matt Balaun]

On Mon, 3 Dec 2001, Stephen Turner wrote:
> umm so what is newer computers like amd-k6 2 and
> pentium 2 and 4s and the like listed as? ie are they
> 386 architecture or power pc or what? im um.. somewhat
> new but not totally ive tinkerd around with linux for
> a bit just not too sure about this... any input is
> greatly appreciated

If you mean with regard to what distribution of linux you should be 
installing, then i386 would be appropriate for 386, 486, Pentium (1-4), 
AMD and Cyrix CPUs.  PowerPC would be if you were installing linux on a 
Mac.  Some distributions, like Mandrake, put out pentium-optimized 
versions meant to be installed on any 586-level CPU (Pentium 1-4, AMD 
K6 or better, etc...).  These distributions won't run on 386's and 486's 
unless you get a version compiled for such.

Now, if you mean with regard to what level of optimisation to choose when 
compiling a new kernel, that should be in the kernel documentation.

Hope this helps,

Matt Balaun


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