Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2013 11:11:24 -0700 From: Alfred Perlstein <bright@mu.org> To: Paul Schenkeveld <freebsd@psconsult.nl> Cc: FreeBSD Hackers <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>, freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Subject: Re: considering i386 as a tier 1 architecture Message-ID: <515B1F4C.9030001@mu.org> In-Reply-To: <20130402132227.GA73670@psconsult.nl> References: <CAF6rxgnYOwAPnpykTAN-Eu=oeee_uBMt1ud8U4RpyKLO5S257Q@mail.gmail.com> <CAOgwaMt2Qvt8c4YvRLJ23sqpODvb00XgwY7Czr%2BJVALXmK1wLA@mail.gmail.com> <alpine.BSF.2.00.1304011802360.97433@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> <944760435.20130401210118@serebryakov.spb.ru> <alpine.BSF.2.00.1304012031370.98303@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> <8638v9e22j.fsf@ds4.des.no> <CAOgwaMt0to0SnzwqSOuDAk-Yw1mUrooUPVYYXCUSxY7=hgY9SQ@mail.gmail.com> <20130402102220.GA28545@eris.bzerk.org> <20130402132227.GA73670@psconsult.nl>
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As far I can tell it's now April 2nd in all time zones. Can we now end this thread? thank you, -Alfred On 4/2/13 6:22 AM, Paul Schenkeveld wrote: > On Tue, Apr 02, 2013 at 10:22:20AM +0000, Ruben de Groot wrote: >> On Tue, Apr 02, 2013 at 03:10:56AM -0700, Mehmet Erol Sanliturk typed: >>> On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 2:04 AM, Dag-Erling Sm??rgrav <des@des.no> wrote: >>> >>>> Wojciech Puchar <wojtek@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> writes: >>>>> Lev Serebryakov <lev@FreeBSD.org> writes: >>>>>> It is not exact so. Some Atoms on some motherboards with some >>>>>> firmwares are 64-bit CPU. >>>>> don't know of any now in shops that are not >>>> http://soekris.com/products/net5501.html >>>> http://soekris.com/products/net6501.html >>>> >>>> DES >>>> -- >>>> Dag-Erling Sm??rgrav - des@des.no >>>> >>> >>> I am NOT able to understand the merit of these products with respect to >>> their features and PRICES . >> They are extremely stable and robust. >> >>> It is possible to assemble much more cheaper full featured PC like systems >>> ( DDR3 memory , 64-bit capable processors , with a disadvantage about power >>> requirements ) . >> You can also get much bigger portions at MacDonald than what you get in a >> five star restaurant. > Soekris boards are perhaps not five star boards but at least they have > four :) > > Although the thread started as an april fools day prank, it's getting > serious now about the value of having i386 next to amd64. > > I'm using quite a number of net4501/net4801/net5501/net6501 in many > places just because I haven't found anything that can to the same job > with the same reliability at the same low power diet for a reasonable > price. > > For people on a tight budget with lower reliability expectations there > are the PC-engines Alix boards. Except for the net6501, none of these > can run amd64. > > Even though the net6501 can run amd64, I prefer running i386 on them > (and other boards where I do not need >= 4GB of RAM or the large address > space) instead of amd64 just because the system image is so much smaller, > requiring less storage on your filesystem (often a small flash device), > less time to upload changes over the Internet when doing remote upgrades > and they are more efficient with virtual memory. Running amd64 when not > really needed is just a waste of resources. > > There have been discussions in the past whether is would make sense to > run a 32-bit userland on top of a amd64 kernel sou you can have >4GB of > RAM but keep your userland relatively small. There are only few > applications that really benefit from 64 bit address space, others could > well be 32 bit apps. > > Just some random numbers to illustrate my point: > > i386$ size /bin/sh /bin/ls /usr/bin/find /usr/bin/cc > > text data bss dec hex filename > 111533 1048 7460 120041 1d4e9 /bin/sh > 22808 572 396 23776 5ce0 /bin/ls > 33098 760 3392 37250 9182 /usr/bin/find > 314841 9376 18204 342421 53995 /usr/bin/cc > > amd64$ size /bin/sh /bin/ls /usr/bin/find /usr/bin/cc > > text data bss dec hex filename > 129371 1992 10272 141635 22943 /bin/sh > 26255 1144 536 27935 6d1f /bin/ls > 43464 1352 4680 49496 c158 /usr/bin/find > 383330 15296 58664 457290 6fa4a /usr/bin/cc > > Kind regards, > > Paul Schenkeveld > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >
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