From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Thu May 24 17:19:32 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F3B5E16A46D for ; Thu, 24 May 2007 17:19:31 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from brooks@lor.one-eyed-alien.net) Received: from lor.one-eyed-alien.net (grnl-static-02-0046.dsl.iowatelecom.net [69.66.56.110]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AFBFF13C455 for ; Thu, 24 May 2007 17:19:31 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from brooks@lor.one-eyed-alien.net) Received: from lor.one-eyed-alien.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lor.one-eyed-alien.net (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id l4OHJUdd000533; Thu, 24 May 2007 12:19:30 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from brooks@lor.one-eyed-alien.net) Received: (from brooks@localhost) by lor.one-eyed-alien.net (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) id l4OHJUni000532; Thu, 24 May 2007 12:19:30 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from brooks) Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 12:19:30 -0500 From: Brooks Davis To: johnea Message-ID: <20070524171930.GA348@lor.one-eyed-alien.net> References: <4655C238.7000809@johnea.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="sdtB3X0nJg68CQEu" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <4655C238.7000809@johnea.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.15 (2007-04-06) X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-3.0 (lor.one-eyed-alien.net [127.0.0.1]); Thu, 24 May 2007 12:19:30 -0500 (CDT) Cc: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Subject: Re: i386? X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 17:19:32 -0000 --sdtB3X0nJg68CQEu Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Thu, May 24, 2007 at 09:50:00AM -0700, johnea wrote: >=20 > Hi, >=20 > Don't know if this will make it through your spam filter, or if you'll h= ave=20 > the bandwidth to respond, but here goes. >=20 > Why doesn't the FreeBSD project support a 32bit intel architecture newer= =20 > than 386? FreeBSD does support all x86 platforms newer than the 80386. We do not support the 80386 at all. For historical reasons we call the platform i386. Changing the name would be difficult and largely pointless i386. > Pretty much every PC in operation today is at least 686/athalon. In the desktop and server market, mostly. In the embedded and thin-client market, no. There are plenty of 486 based platforms today that are critical support including the lower end of the Soekris line. > Wouldn't the architechtural improvements to the x86 architecture over th= e=20 > last 10 years provide performance improvements to FreeBDSD? They do and we take advantage of them. We just don't gratuitously exclude the possibility of running on older, but still viable platforms. > Just wondering, couldn't really find a forum to post such a question to. You didn't try hard enough. This thread comes up several times year. -- Brooks --sdtB3X0nJg68CQEu Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFGVckhXY6L6fI4GtQRAnC4AKCtpupMcxgXdj06fuH2z7s5nHZ9hACghWVw IgzTw3/Z+WJyLFtB+bllvVw= =qMkn -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --sdtB3X0nJg68CQEu--