From owner-freebsd-hardware Wed Feb 24 13:26:32 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Received: from gw.caamora.com.au (jonath5.lnk.telstra.net [139.130.41.237]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2D16811389 for ; Wed, 24 Feb 1999 13:20:28 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jon@gw.caamora.com.au) Received: (from jon@localhost) by gw.caamora.com.au (8.8.8/8.8.8) id OAA10144; Wed, 24 Feb 1999 14:14:26 +1100 (EST) (envelope-from jon) Message-ID: <19990224141425.B9876@caamora.com.au> Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 14:14:25 +1100 From: jonathan michaels To: Chuck Robey Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cyrix 686 type processor Mail-Followup-To: Chuck Robey , freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG References: <19990224001412.C8361@caamora.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.91.1i In-Reply-To: ; from Chuck Robey on Tue, Feb 23, 1999 at 11:16:25AM -0500 X-Operating-System: FreeBSD gw.caamora.com.au 2.2.7-RELEASE i386 X-Mood: i'm alive, if it counts Organisation: Caamora, PO Box 144, Rosebery NSW 1445 Australia Sender: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Tue, Feb 23, 1999 at 11:16:25AM -0500, Chuck Robey wrote: > On Wed, 24 Feb 1999, jonathan michaels wrote: > > > > FreeBSD supports, so far, only the Intel APIC design, which is the only > > > really having support by motherboards, so this isn't a really > > > unreasonable decision. If you have a processor other than Intel, and > > > it supports SMP, then it's using the OpenAPIC, and you're SOL as far as > > > using it for FreeBSD smp. > > > > i here teh k7's (amd ?) are going to be intel smp compatible, but no one is > > talking price, yet. > > > > as regards other issues .. are teh amd;s and teh cyrix's ok to be used in > > single processor mode .. i mean are thier any gotchas about using them and can > > freebsd get around teh quirks. > > > > i'm asking this question because i've never really used non intel parts, and > > most of teh people i deal with are intel onlies as well, thiers isn't a wealth > > of non-intel experience around these parts. > > The only problems I've heard of are for SMP. For single processor smp, is something i'm interested in but not for the 'production' mail server and webpage hosting machine. > boards, the problems are entirely different. There aren't any absolute > gotchas, but obviously, performance differs. They are not simple i have a fairly simple philosophy to performance bottle necks, divide teh task and add another processor to the backplane, or add anther machine to the ethernet segment .. not an ideal solution from teh purists perspective, but its kept me going for nearly 15 years .. so far .. knock, knock, head, hollow wood sounds .. grin. > commodity items. If you're worried about performance, read Tom's > Hardware page (pointers from the freebsd home page). If you're just i once went thier and found it a mess .. my apologies to teh author, but, i have poor eyes (neurological damage), i use lynx browser and teh site is not specifically desigend to be 'read' by a text browser, this may have change in teh last 6 moths or so .. this was my experience, of teh site. > trying to save money, nearly all of them work to *some* degree. are teh only real 'problems' in teh maths co-processor code, i've looked at teh lint'd version of kernel sources and see lots of stuff about the maths co-processor. > > If you're looking for a simple performance answer here, sorry, there > isn't one. performance has little if anyting to do with my line of reasoning, reliability, repeatable results and stability are far more important, and these days cost is becoming a significant criteria .. now that intel has seeminly junked teh pentium pro, and replaced it with some not as good technology. ppro was too expensive to produce in 'quantity' and teh production line was 'fussy' anout thngs like quality control and quality of input materials, etc etc etc ... and so on what i am looking for is teh pentium pro 'performance edge', but not the intel pentium p3 price tag. ooops .. sorry i may have gotten a little carried away. anyway thank you fro yor reply regards jonathan -- =============================================================================== Jonathan Michaels PO Box 144, Rosebery, NSW 1445 Australia =========================================================== To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message