which software architecture should i use?

yccheok · 11-29-2004, 09:18 PM

hi, when i perform "uname -a" in my home machine, i obtain the machine info, processor info and hardware architecture info. their value are either 386 or 686.

i was wondering which information i should folo when i make a decision on which of the software architecture can be used in my machine?

i realize in most of the yum config which i had seen, they are using the "uname -i" information. "uname -i" is the hardware architecture infomation.

my hardware architecture information is 386 but my processor (which is pentium 4) is 686. so, can i still use the 686 arch software?

thank you very much!

-yan cheng

jchance · 11-29-2004, 09:42 PM

I would think you should be able to. The 386, 486, 586, etc when listed with an application is what optimization flags were used in the binary or set in the source.

yccheok · 11-29-2004, 09:44 PM

did you noe the reason why my hardware architecture information is 386 although my processor architecture is 686?

btmiller · 11-29-2004, 09:57 PM

Probably because your kernel was compiled without any of the 486 or Pentium optimizations.

foo_bar_foo · 11-29-2004, 11:34 PM

it is possible for your machine as it is (compatable with the software you have already)
to run programs compiled with -march=pentium4
anything less (older) than that but for intel is ok as well.
http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-3....002d64-Options
just so you know how far back you are going when you use code optimized even for 686
as for what uname -i says mine says "unknown"
-i is short for hardware-platform which seems quite vague when you consider the wide range of platforms linux will run on and what would amount to thousands of names like "Sun Enterprise 3000" on and on
so i think the use of uname -i in the program or script you mention is a mistake and they should use
uname -m would work better. The whole thing is a mess and what it amounts to is your machine running code compiled for a processor 386 from 1985 -- lets see in one month that will be 20 years ago !

yccheok · 11-30-2004, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by foo_bar_foo
it is possible for your machine as it is (compatable with the software you have already)
to run programs compiled with -march=pentium4
anything less (older) than that but for intel is ok as well.
http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-3....002d64-Options
just so you know how far back you are going when you use code optimized even for 686
as for what uname -i says mine says "unknown"
-i is short for hardware-platform which seems quite vague when you consider the wide range of platforms linux will run on and what would amount to thousands of names like "Sun Enterprise 3000" on and on
so i think the use of uname -i in the program or script you mention is a mistake and they should use
uname -m would work better. The whole thing is a mess and what it amounts to is your machine running code compiled for a processor 386 from 1985 -- lets see in one month that will be 20 years ago !

so, for a particular software, when there is a 686 choice and 386 choice, which one will best suit for me in term of stability and speed performance?

thank you very much!

-yan cheng