config mandrake 9.1 for i686
 

I have a AMD K7. As I understand it linux is released as I386 which means it is optimized for a 386 machine.

Can anyone tell me how to configure or upgrade it to I686 for an P4 or a K7 machine so that I can use the full potential of my PC.

What is your question ?

What you are trying to install is a CPU or a graphic card?
Explain better, and you'll receive much more responses.

mandrake is designed for i586 processors and above. It should have no problem optimizing itself to fit your hardware.

If you boot into X (the GUI) Open up a new terminal (by pressing ctrl, alt and F2 / 3 / 4 / 5 or F6) and read the first line at the top of the terminal.

On a i686 machine (like my athalon) it will say Mandrake Linux <version> <codename> on a <processor spec> (in my case i686).

I think he wants to recompile everything with different architecture settings.
You need a source based distro mate, not package based like Mandrake. Try getting used to how linux works (eg the command line, the init system, the X init system) and then try maybe Slackware or Gentoo with their various levels of precompiled-ness. :)

It shouldn't matter with AMD processors, but with INTEL processors I can see you need optimizations.

Uninstall all multimedia programs that Mandrake installs. Then compile the programs for your processor. Usually these programs gets the most benifits of optimizations. Using programs like Open Office, gimp, konsole, kooka, web browsers, etc would not see any improvements.