Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 21:57:39 -0500 From: dkelly@hiwaay.net (David Kelly) To: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>, dennis@etinc.com (dennis) Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: AMD '586 Any opinions? Message-ID: <v02140b19ad9df6ea2e23@[206.104.20.162]>
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At 3:41 PM 4/19/96, Terry Lambert wrote:
>>
>> Good, bad, ugly?
>>
>
>Ugly (no math).
Without an exact part number its hard to make the "no math" (Terry means
"FPU" right?) statement.
Recently AMD bought NexGen so the Nx586 *might* be what Dennis is asking
about. If so, then there has been an FPU version available since the first
of the year. I have a "90 MHz" (real bus speed is 84 MHz) Nx586 w/o FPU
running FreeBSD on an Alaris PCI MB. CPU ID's as a 386, I'm not sure why,
but software that wants a 486 or Pentium can find a way not to run on the
Nx586. Am told most (not all) DOS/Windows software that insist on a 486 or
Pentium can be lied to or patched to bypass the CPU ID and run just fine.
Others have pointed out the NexGen Nx586 isn't pin compatible with
anything. Apparently not even itself as one can not get an upgraded FPU CPU
to swap out the one on the MB. The FPU upgrade is a swap for what appears
to be an identical MB (they only pay $75 for your old MB and CPU). No
telling what timing differences the designers know about.
Performance isn't bad. Earlier this week I did "time make world" on -stable
ctm thru 0074 and got 19852.32 real, 12057.93 user, and 4545.23 sys, for
48MB (fast page w/ parity, not EDO), Adaptec 2940, and 2G Seagate
Barracuda. I don't have access to a "real Pentium" to make comparisons
with.
I've not had any troubles with FreeBSD on my NexGen.
--
David Kelly N4HHE, n4hhe@amsat.org, dkelly@hiwaay.net
=============================================================
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
- Thomas Edison
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