Hi Guys!

Just a thought :}

What would I have to do if I wanted to recompile
Slack 8.1 completely to match my CPU? I do have
the entire source here ... I just didn't quite understand
what's up with that i386-Slackware-Linux that's passed
to the compiler by the SlackBuild scripts.

Cheers,
Tink

i386 is your cpu architecture. pretty much any 32bit CPU newer than a 286 is considered to be a 386 or 686.

having your kernel compiled for 386 support is just fine.

Gidday Syncro...

I know that stuff compiled for i386 will run
on a PII, PIV or Athlon ... what I meant is
that I want the whole system (not just my kernels,
which of course always have been tailored to my
systems) to be optimized for the appropriate CPU.
Binutils, Bash, gcc ... you name it :}

Cheers,
Tink

Well than start a LFS or get sources from Slack's site and recompile everything, but i dont think you will get a BIG performance hit.
It's just too much trouble for little gain IMO.
I think i read somewhere that Patrick on purpose keeps all programs optimized for 386 for all those low-end computers, so they can deal with programs better, but if you have a better than a 386 theres nothing to worry about, some programs might run a millisecond slower, but nothing that you can really perceive.
Someone correct me if im wrong plz
-NSKL

You could use the Linux From Scratch as a model for how to do it using
Slack sources. . . I agree with NSKL, it isn't really going to affect your
performance. Most of those apps weren't optimized for your CPU when
they were written, so compiling them with the generic optimizations from
the compiler isn't going to help much, and may cause compile problems if
you try to optimize too much. . .