Apps :: Question re machines and optimizations



Is anyone out there actually not running dsl on a pentium-class machine, i mean apart from the atticware 486DX crowd?

Sometimes I forget to specify --build=i386, or sometimes it doesn't work, or sometimes ./configure puts march=pentium whether I set it or not.

I suspect the number of non-i686 folk is pretty small?

If so I won't fret too much if my extensions are compiled for i686 - well, I probably won't fret anyway.

Or is gcc-with-libs restricting my choices in any case?
I'd guess there are quite a few i586 machines using DSL
Some of mine, for example, are pentiums..

But if you don't specify any build= march= optimizations, results run on 386...
I think this depends on the target application.  If it's rather large/intensive, then most probably you're safe by using 586/686.  But since DSL is targetted to 486 as a minimum, that's probably the best minimum optimization to keep in mind.
Configure scripts do not default to i386 - some  look at what you're running and compile for that - in my case i686.

gcc run au naturelle will default to i386, but I'm talking about using ./configure without too much messing around with all those options.  

Unless you specify --build=i386, but in my experience that does not always work, depending on whether or not it's a typical configure script.

Many people are running i586s? By that I meant the early P5x Pentiums, not all Pentium-compatible architectures.  Includes Pentium MMX I guess.

wikipedia:

Quote

In programming, it is sometimes necessary to distinguish the original Pentium processor architecture from later (P6 or P68-based) Pentium-branded architectures. For these cases, i586 is a common, though spurious, way to refer to the early Pentium processors, as well as processors made by Intel's competitors that can run machine code targeted to the early Pentiums.


OK, so it's "spurious" terminology.

Actually, a poll to determine what processors are being used now might be a good idea ...

I applaud the 486 atticware people 'coz it's nice, but I really think they are a specialty group now.

Most of the time I remember to compile for 386.  On some occasions, I don't really want to though eg encryption or media apps.

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If it's rather large/intensive, then most probably you're safe by using 586/686.


Compiling those for i686 has been my de facto policy.

I know compiling for i686 can create real problems on the AMD Geode.  People can always post if something's not running on their arch I guess ...
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