which kernel?

j1alu · 05-12-2009, 01:49 PM

on two different sid-installations i got different kernels installed by usual upgrades.
2.6.29-2-686; which seems to be the actual one for sid
and
2.6.26-2-686
2.6.26-2-486

till now i allways used the 686-kernel.
whats the difference between 686 and 486 or how may i find out which one(486 or 686) to take?
thanks a lot for a help

radiodee1 · 05-12-2009, 03:13 PM

If I were choosing between the 686 and the 486, I would use the 686 always. I googled "386 vs 686" and came up with this on the Debian User Forum:

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.p...=12323&start=0

To quote, in 2007 'Zen-Owl' said

Quote:

As far as I understand, an i486 kernel is optimized for all Intel Pentium processors and AMD processors, i686 is optimized for Pentium 4's and AMD Athlon.

wolfperkins · 05-12-2009, 03:21 PM

The 486 package targets an older hardware platform. The 686 platform came out with Pentium II intel compatible chipsets. The 486 would be compatible with more hardware but would not be optimized if you run linux on recent hardware. You might have to run the 486 kernel for some AMD processors too.

j1alu · 05-12-2009, 03:23 PM

ok, thanks.
just another question: with which command would i find out which processor i got
(intel)

the trooper · 05-12-2009, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j1alu

ok, thanks.
just another question: with which command would i find out which processor i got
(intel)

cat /proc/cpuinfo

JimBass · 05-12-2009, 03:28 PM

Try:

Code:

cat /proc/cpuinfo

Peace,
JimBass

j1alu · 05-12-2009, 03:37 PM

good, thanks.
i get this:

Quote:

processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 22
model name : Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 420 @ 1.60GHz
stepping : 1
cpu MHz : 1595.627
cache size : 512 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm pbe lm constant_tsc up arch_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips : 3194.52
clflush size : 64
power management:

but cannot read which sort of Pentium that is (2 or 4 ...).
greetings

JimBass · 05-12-2009, 03:40 PM

That's a 4. Pentium 2 is pretty old at this point, the processors in the second generation were between 100-450 mhz or so, its been years since I've seen one.

Peace,
JimBass

j1alu · 05-12-2009, 03:42 PM

ok, thanks a lot.
greetings