Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 08:01:13 -0500 (EST) From: Chuck Robey <chuckr@mat.net> To: jonathan michaels <jon@caamora.com.au> Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cyrix 686 type processor Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9902230756310.320-100000@picnic.mat.net> In-Reply-To: <19990223233912.B8361@caamora.com.au>
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On Tue, 23 Feb 1999, jonathan michaels wrote: > all > > hello, > > > i;ve just discovered that i cannot get pentium pro processors, looks like > intel has pulled teh plug on teh ppros now that the p3's are about to hit the > streets .. not being a really good replacement (teh p3) it will have to do > till teh merced's come out. (this bit is my personal opinion) > > my question is .. are their any others out thier, like amd or cyrix, that are > pentium pro compatible enought to run freebsd and stay reliable for a long > time. i am thinking of getting a cyrix 686 type .. any suggestions, do's, > don't's, etc would be apreciated. > > all the numbers and names have confused me most thouroughly. I haven't been following the very latest, but unless there's been some major change, it's restricted to Intel only. The reason why is the design of the APIC interrupt controller, which is used to allow the processors to communicate. There are 2 competing designs, Intel's amd the "OpenAPIC", and Intel wants a large chunk of cash to license their's, so none of the other vendors will do that. 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. ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- Chuck Robey | Interests include any kind of voice or data chuckr@glue.umd.edu | communications topic, C programming, and Unix. 213 Lakeside Drive Apt T-1 | Greenbelt, MD 20770 | I run picnic (FreeBSD-current) (301) 220-2114 | and jaunt (Solaris7). ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
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