From owner-freebsd-questions Wed Aug 13 19:18:16 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id TAA15494 for questions-outgoing; Wed, 13 Aug 1997 19:18:16 -0700 (PDT) Received: from shell.monmouth.com (root@shell.monmouth.com [205.164.220.9]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id TAA15465 for ; Wed, 13 Aug 1997 19:17:30 -0700 (PDT) Received: from i4got.lakewood.com (fh-ppp24.monmouth.com [205.164.221.56]) by shell.monmouth.com (8.8.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id WAA17006; Wed, 13 Aug 1997 22:14:51 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from pechter@localhost) by i4got.lakewood.com id WAA18380 (8.8.5/IDA-1.6); Wed, 13 Aug 1997 22:17:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Bill Pechter Message-ID: <199708140217.WAA18380@i4got.lakewood.com> Subject: Re: Cyrix In-Reply-To: <199708140059.TAA17218@nospam.hiwaay.net> from "dkelly@hiwaay.net" at "Aug 13, 97 07:59:42 pm" To: dkelly@hiwaay.net Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997 22:17:05 -0400 (EDT) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Reply-to: pechter@lakewood.com X-Phone-Number: 908-389-3592 X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL31 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > Clayton Webb writes: > > > > I am currenty trying to switch to FreeBSD for my main OS. I do not think > > that the Cyrix processor is compatitable with it. > [snip] > > You didn't say *which* Cyrix CPU you have. Or what mainboard. > > The first generation of Cyrix CPU's claimed to be 486's but fit on 386 MB's > and were riddled with bugs. You could make some work by disabling the > cache. I have an AMD 5x86/133-P75 machine that works well with FreeBSD as > long as the "write-back" cache is disabled in BIOS. "Write-thru" works > fine. Actually WB works until one installs an Adaptec 2940 PCI SCSI card > and actually tries to use it. > The AMD 5x86-133 that fits in my 486 motherboard works even with Write Back enabled and an Adaptec 1542... the Cyrix didnt. Actually, I couldn't get the Cyrix 586's to work on my VLB board and the AMD worked fine. Watch out for the Socket-5 stuff... I had to disable ALL Cache to make it run and it ran like a 386sx25 (I benched it). The problem was not FreeBSD related and it showed up under DOS. I swapped the chip for a 486DX2/66 and it worked fine. The AMD was my next upgrade. I've upgraded the Wife's BSD box with one of those Evergreen AMD based 5x86 133's since it had the regulation and stuff built in. No problem. Runs great. > Modern Cyrix CPU's that fit in Pentium socket-7's are reputed to be > excellent CPU's. > Sounds good. I'm kind of hoping AMD gets the problems worked out. My next box will be either Cyrix or AMD due to price and my dislike for some of Intel's methods. Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Pechter | 17 Meredith Drive Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 | 908-389-3592 pechter@lakewood.com | Save computing history, give an old geek old hardware. This msg brought to you by the letters PDP and the number 11.