I've actually a couple of questions :-)

In the KDE control centre my machine is refered to as a i686, I was wondering if someone would be so kind as to tell me what this means? :-)

Also I'm running Mandrake 8.2 wich came whith kde 2.2.2 and I've recently downloaded kde 3.0.1 which refers to i586, this has not changed what it says in my kde control centre though (still machine i686)

The new version of kde that I downloaded installed nearly without a hitch and has been running great so far. with the exception of a couple of minor bugs wich i've read is common with Mandrake.

So wich brings me to my second question, was it totaly stupid of me to have instaled kde 3.0.1 wich rpm package's refer to as i586 on my i686 machine?

thanks in advance for any answers or suggestions you may have...

i686 is the architecture of you processor - pentium pro, it is most compatible architecture among ix86 famlies, for instance RH and Mandy can't determine correct architecture during install on some Athlon systems due to not-AMD certified power supply, go figure. The cure to reflect actual architecture is to recompile existing kernel or compile new kernel for your specific processor optimization.

I think it just takes a result from
uname -m
KDE may also refer to architecture it's compiled for.

It will not matter much at all about you having i586 rpms instead of i686. These numbers are just the naming conventions used for intel (and compatible) chips. When intel brought out the pentium chips they used this wizzy word instead of the previous numbers purely because they realised that they could not copyright them. But even though the chip is called a pentium pro (or II or III or IV), it is also a i686. The i586 was the original pentiums and the chips that arrived jsut before the advent of the pentium family.

The goog thing with intel chips is that they are backward compatible so a i686 can run programs written for 386 or 286 computers with little alteration (if any). The only downside with not using the i686 is that there may be some optimizations in the i686 rpms that are not present in the i586 rpms. So the rpms were written for a 586 machine but are compatible with your 686 as well.

Hope that was useful

Alex

WOW! :-) thnx alot, my question was answered and I know just that little bit more :-) thank you all for your replys..

Here's a nice offshoot question:
The Pentium (original) seemed to come in many flavours (Socket 4/5/7). Would all of these be correctly identified as genuine i586? Also, why are the Socket 4 CPUs as rare as hens' teeth? - (I've got a Socket 4 mobo but no damn CPU!)

I guess they will be (only guess, I've got one Pentium). Why not?

they will be the same, the difference between the sockets tend to be only the way that the pins are set out (and which ones there are present) and the voltage that the socket provided. For example the pentium three processor used to come in the new wizzy cartridge style (socket 370) but then intel realised the benefits (and were technically advanced enough) of having the cache on the same die (bit of silicon) as the processor. This meant that they could go back to the ZIF type of socket (now called PGA-370 i think).

Socket 4's (according to my big book that i have now been forced to consult) were used for the pentium 60Mhz and 66Mhz (and the OverDrive processor). It was a 5volt jobby so only these processors would run on it.

Socket 5 was for the next load of processors which run at 3.3v.

Hope that was useful

Alex

P.S. my big book is Upgrading and repairing PCs by Scott Mueller. This is where i learned a lot of my hardware knowledge.

The S4 could only go to 60/66? That's odd... I'm sure that I had mine with a P90 in it... or maybe I'm thinking of the wrong mobo... it was a long time ago (nearly 4 years).

Thanks guys/gals.

well thats according to the big book (and it is never wrong )

the socket 5 went up to 90Mhz though.....

Alex

No, the mobo definitely has Socket 4 written on the... erm, socket. Perhaps I was thinking of the wrong computer! Since it seems that S4 CPUs are as rare as hen's teeth, could any of you put an about figure (in UK sterling, if possible) on their price (2nd hand)? Thanks.