why i386

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tubasoldier · #1 Post by **tubasoldier** » 2006-03-29 09:42

Just a quick thought about architecture. Why is Debian still being compiled for the 386? why not compile it at a higher architecture? I'm sure there is a good reasoning behind it. But I have never found one.

domecq · #2 Post by **domecq** » 2006-03-30 00:21

Have a look at what was discussed here.

anon · #3 Post by **anon** » 2006-04-23 13:36

The argument has to be posed the other way, why drop i386 or make the user install diffrent binaries, why optimize on compile rather than runtime. This page is old but still funny http://www.funroll-loops.org/ (don't take it personally).

Jeroen · #4 Post by **Jeroen** » 2006-04-24 08:06

By the way, Debian is for a very long time already optimized for 686, instead of 386. Of course the name of the architecture remains the same, because it indicates the processor family.

The upcoming Debian release most likely will no longer work on a real 386 (not a 486 or higher), as I understood it.

kink · #5 Post by **kink** » 2006-04-24 20:57

What do you mean by "optimized for 686"?

Jeroen · #6 Post by **Jeroen** » 2006-04-24 20:59

gcc -mcpu=i686