i486 and i586 distributives - what is the difference?

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glestwid
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i486 and i586 distributives - what is the difference?

Post#1 by glestwid » 07 May 2019, 20:04

Hi,

I see Porteus ISOs separated on i486 and i586 folders. I wonder what the difference is in both options.

donald
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i486 and i586 distributives - what is the difference?

Post#2 by donald » 08 May 2019, 03:08

Linux and other operating systems refers to different Intel CPU generations as i386, i486, i586 and i686.
i386 refers to the 80386 processor family,
i486 refers to the 80486 processor family,
i586 refers to Intel Pentium or Pentium MMX processors, and i686 refers to all
Pentium Pro and later processors.

It make it possible to more precisely indicate the minimum set of supported instructions:
i386 , i486 , i586 , i686 , for example,
to distinguish between variants of binary distribution packages

i386 binaries won't have any 486 or later specific optimizations/improvements, and so on.

burdi01
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i486 and i586 distributives - what is the difference?

Post#3 by burdi01 » 08 May 2019, 08:40

To muddle the waters even more "i386" is/was also used by some vendors as generic term for 32-bit.
:D

techashes
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i486 and i586 distributives - what is the difference?

Post#4 by techashes » 08 Apr 2022, 06:19

Pasting this from a different thread, as I have had similar confusion...!!!
Two quotes.
via author of this comment:
Starting out in Porteus 3.2.2 (A Guide) (Post by yldouright #63403)

(Found via:
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=site%3A ... +i486+i586
)

Select the .iso appropriate for your hardware. If you are unfamiliar with your hardware, enter your bios, write down what you see and use your search engine to learn what you have.
yldouright wrote:
19 Mar 2018, 22:25
Something I haven't noted in any install guide is a pre-installation analysis. I sort of hint at it in Part 1 of my Mate Install guide linked here but a genuine preamble of which distro best matches your system is missing so here it is:

The Porteus distros are now in three major categories; x86_64, i586 and i486. Fairly straightforward right? Not exactly. If your system has a 64 bit capable processor and at least 1GB of RAM, you can use any of the x86_64 distros and get good results but if your RAM is less, you may want to consider an alternative. You can recompile your kernel to get an exact match but that's not a newbie thing so what can we do to make life better?

Consider 32 bit software uses less memory and is generally smaller than its 64bit counterpart. This will result in a faster system if your memory can't fit all the running apps. RAM access is multiples faster than disk especially if you have a slow disk and this results in a snappier system. This is a likely scenario if you are using older hardware. Another thing to consider is the bus on which your drive is on. If you have IDE, the newer kernels may not make the best use of them. I have happily installed Porteus 3.1 on many a ubiquitous Dell, 64bit capable P4, with IDE disks sans issues. I can't say the same thing with attempts of x86_64 distros. Let's have short look at common hardware and distros:

i486DX4 (133MHz, <256MB of RAM, IDE bus) - no question here, you're stuck with i486 Porteus 3.1 and tweaking up your software.

Pentium Pro/P2 (400MHz, <512MB of RAM, IDE bus) - the i586 distros are perfectly suited here but things start to get a little more complicated below.

P3 (600MHz, <512MB RAM, IDE bus) - technically, the P3 is a 32bit i686 but there are next generation SSE sets missing from it so I would stick with i586 distros but what if you have a 1st gen Celeron? Here the reduced cache of that CPU may benefit from the simpler i486 builds.

P3 (Coppermine Celeron, 512MB RAM, IDE bus) - the same issue exists here, the cache is smaller than a full fledged P3 but it's fully associative and a real i686. You need a 32bit distro but the i586 doesn't run optimally on it. Here the i486 distros run better on the Celeron than the i586 builds. I'd love to try a 32bit i686 distro on these systems but they are no longer supported on the mirrors I've seen. If someone knows better, please link them here.

P4 (<2.4GHz, 512MHz RAM and IDE bus) - I haven't had recent successes with Porteus on these platforms because I have no 32bit i686 builds to try. The i486 builds ran like a champ on them but the Porteus 3.1 limitations apply. Most egregious of these was the difficulty running the fabulous Firefox Quantum.

P4 (>2.4GHz, 512MB RAM and SATA bus) - these processors are x86_64 capable and the 64bit builds run fine on them IF they have an SATA bus. If you have an IDE disk subsystem, you might experience the same headache as with the 32bit P4 systems with constant disk thrashing and slow access times.


I haven't any Porteus experience with non intel platforms so if you do, feel free to add to my reported experience here.
Starting out in Porteus 3.2.2 (A Guide) (Post by yldouright #63403)

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