From owner-freebsd-smp Tue Mar 25 12:03:37 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id MAA05243 for smp-outgoing; Tue, 25 Mar 1997 12:03:37 -0800 (PST) Received: from uruk.org (root@ns.uruk.org [198.145.95.253]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id MAA05236 for ; Tue, 25 Mar 1997 12:03:31 -0800 (PST) Received: from uruk.org [127.0.0.1] (erich) by uruk.org with esmtp (Exim 0.53 #1) id E0w9cbg-0007mJ-00; Tue, 25 Mar 1997 12:14:08 -0800 To: Steve Passe cc: schluntz@pinpt.com, freebsd-smp@freefall.freebsd.org Subject: Re: SMP and 3/486's In-reply-to: Your message of "Tue, 25 Mar 1997 12:14:43 MST." <199703251914.MAA27367@Ilsa.StevesCafe.com> Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 12:14:08 -0800 From: Erich Boleyn Message-Id: Sender: owner-smp@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk From: Steve Passe wrote: > Hi, > > Does the SMP kernal in FreeBSD support systems with multiple 386's > > or 486's? I see a lot of talk about P5's and P6's but I have known > > about multi-processor systems using intel chips for a number of > > years, using 386's and 486's. > > no, 386/486 chips just can't do this sort of thing *efficiently*, > the P5/P6 were designed to do SMP. I'm not saying it couldn't be > done, just that it doesn't appear worth the effort to those involved... Well... I really think the reasons that most 386 and 486 machines aren't supported are that: -- there are only a few Intel MPS-compatible (the SMP standard that FreeBSD-SMP supports) SMP 486 machines, and no 386 machines. -- they are old, slow, and generally not manufactured anymore. -- mostly custom hardware, with support for each kind having to be added in and tested separately (there there is likely a common code base). Clearly not worth the effort. -- Erich Stefan Boleyn \_ E-mail (preferred): Mad Genius wanna-be, CyberMuffin \__ (finger me for other stats) Web: http://www.uruk.org/~erich/ Motto: "I'll live forever or die trying"