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Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2004 03:31:25 -0600
From: Nikolas Britton <freebsd@nbritton.org>
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cc: FreeBSD <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject: Re: 5.3 on Intel 386 ?
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Rob wrote:

> Scott Long wrote:
>
>> Rob wrote:
>>
>>> Wilko Bulte wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Thu, Nov 25, 2004 at 04:02:28PM +0900, Rob wrote..
>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> I thought 386 support had been removed since 5.X. But
>>>>> http://www.freebsd.org/releases/5.3R/installation-i386.html
>>>>> says:
>>>>>
>>>>>  1.2 Hardware Requirements
>>>>>  FreeBSD for the i386 requires a 486 or better processor to install
>>>>>  and run (although FreeBSD can run on 386 processors with a custom
>>>>>  kernel)....
>>>>>
>>>>> What does this mean?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> One thing you need on the target system (IIRC..) is a FPU. 
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> So?
>>> The hardware requirements state "FreeBSD can run on 386 processors...".
>>
>>
>>
>> The GENERIC kernel that is shipped with FreeBSD will not boot on an 
>> 80386 processor, period.
>>
>>> Can I induce an FPU into my system by customizing my kernel?
>>
>>
>>
>> You'll need an FPU and a custom kernel that is compiled with the
>> CPU_I386 option.
>
>
> I'm not an expert here, but I found this:
>
>    80386SX = 386 w/o FPU
>    80386DX = 386 w/ FPU
>
> Should instead, the "Hardware Requirements" for 5.3 then mention
> this:
>
>   ...(although FreeBSD can run on 80386DX processors...
>
> to be more precise, to avoid confusion/frustration for 80386SX
> owners?
>
>
LMAO, I have a handful of i80386DX, 386SX/387s, even a few 286's + 
mainboards and a crap load of 30pin and 72pin SIMMs if someone want to 
"upgrade", if you can't find an old Pentium I / 486DX4 systems in the 
garbage there's something wrong with you.

But seriously... There's still very good uses for these old timers in 
embedded control systems, routers and such... I WISH the mainboard 
manufacturers would make new mini-ITX, FlexATX, and MicroATX format 
mainboards and chipsets for these old guys, yes really!!!