* What processor features does Guix support on i686?
@ 2021-05-02 4:59 Leo Famulari
2021-05-02 5:56 ` Mark H Weaver
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Leo Famulari @ 2021-05-02 4:59 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: guix-devel
I noticed that Linux 5.12 has a new config option regarding "Processor
family". The default choice, Pentium-Pro (M686), is highlighted in this
quote:
------
Processor family
1. 486SX (M486SX) (NEW)
2. 486DX (M486) (NEW)
3. 586/K5/5x86/6x86/6x86MX (M586) (NEW)
4. Pentium-Classic (M586TSC) (NEW)
5. Pentium-MMX (M586MMX) (NEW)
> 6. Pentium-Pro (M686) (NEW)
7. Pentium-II/Celeron(pre-Coppermine) (MPENTIUMII) (NEW)
8. Pentium-III/Celeron(Coppermine)/Pentium-III Xeon (MPENTIUMIII) (NEW)
9. Pentium M (MPENTIUMM) (NEW)
10. Pentium-4/Celeron(P4-based)/Pentium-4 M/older Xeon (MPENTIUM4) (NEW)
11. K6/K6-II/K6-III (MK6) (NEW)
12. Athlon/Duron/K7 (MK7) (NEW)
13. Opteron/Athlon64/Hammer/K8 (MK8)
14. Crusoe (MCRUSOE) (NEW)
15. Efficeon (MEFFICEON) (NEW)
16. Winchip-C6 (MWINCHIPC6) (NEW)
17. Winchip-2/Winchip-2A/Winchip-3 (MWINCHIP3D) (NEW)
18. AMD Elan (MELAN) (NEW)
19. GeodeGX1 (MGEODEGX1) (NEW)
20. Geode GX/LX (MGEODE_LX) (NEW)
21. CyrixIII/VIA-C3 (MCYRIXIII) (NEW)
22. VIA C3-2 (Nehemiah) (MVIAC3_2) (NEW)
23. VIA C7 (MVIAC7) (NEW)
24. Core 2/newer Xeon (MCORE2)
25. Intel Atom (MATOM)
------
info: https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/M686.html
I know that, in the past, we have been careful to not require certain
processor features on i686, such as SSE [0].
I would appreciate some guidance, both about this kernel configuration
option, and what we have historically considered to be the "minimum
requirements" for i686 hardware. I will put that information the manual
so that it doesn't get lost.
Leo
[0] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2016-07/msg01534.html
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: What processor features does Guix support on i686?
2021-05-02 4:59 What processor features does Guix support on i686? Leo Famulari
@ 2021-05-02 5:56 ` Mark H Weaver
2021-05-02 16:56 ` Joshua Branson
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Mark H Weaver @ 2021-05-02 5:56 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Leo Famulari, guix-devel
Hi Leo,
Thanks for asking about this, and for ably taking care of our
Linux-libre packages. I'm grateful for your work on this.
Leo Famulari <leo@famulari.name> writes:
> I noticed that Linux 5.12 has a new config option regarding "Processor
> family". The default choice, Pentium-Pro (M686), is highlighted in this
> quote:
>
> ------
> Processor family
> 1. 486SX (M486SX) (NEW)
> 2. 486DX (M486) (NEW)
> 3. 586/K5/5x86/6x86/6x86MX (M586) (NEW)
> 4. Pentium-Classic (M586TSC) (NEW)
> 5. Pentium-MMX (M586MMX) (NEW)
>> 6. Pentium-Pro (M686) (NEW)
> 7. Pentium-II/Celeron(pre-Coppermine) (MPENTIUMII) (NEW)
> 8. Pentium-III/Celeron(Coppermine)/Pentium-III Xeon (MPENTIUMIII) (NEW)
> 9. Pentium M (MPENTIUMM) (NEW)
> 10. Pentium-4/Celeron(P4-based)/Pentium-4 M/older Xeon (MPENTIUM4) (NEW)
> 11. K6/K6-II/K6-III (MK6) (NEW)
> 12. Athlon/Duron/K7 (MK7) (NEW)
> 13. Opteron/Athlon64/Hammer/K8 (MK8)
> 14. Crusoe (MCRUSOE) (NEW)
> 15. Efficeon (MEFFICEON) (NEW)
> 16. Winchip-C6 (MWINCHIPC6) (NEW)
> 17. Winchip-2/Winchip-2A/Winchip-3 (MWINCHIP3D) (NEW)
> 18. AMD Elan (MELAN) (NEW)
> 19. GeodeGX1 (MGEODEGX1) (NEW)
> 20. Geode GX/LX (MGEODE_LX) (NEW)
> 21. CyrixIII/VIA-C3 (MCYRIXIII) (NEW)
> 22. VIA C3-2 (Nehemiah) (MVIAC3_2) (NEW)
> 23. VIA C7 (MVIAC7) (NEW)
> 24. Core 2/newer Xeon (MCORE2)
> 25. Intel Atom (MATOM)
> ------
>
> info: https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/M686.html
>
> I know that, in the past, we have been careful to not require certain
> processor features on i686, such as SSE [0].
>
> I would appreciate some guidance, both about this kernel configuration
> option, and what we have historically considered to be the "minimum
> requirements" for i686 hardware. I will put that information the manual
> so that it doesn't get lost.
[...]
> [0] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2016-07/msg01534.html
It's been a long while since I looked at this, and of course we may wish
to revisit the issue, but for now, I think that the right choice above
is the default one, namely: "6. Pentium-Pro (M686) (NEW)"
Thanks again,
Mark
--
Disinformation flourishes because many people care deeply about injustice
but very few check the facts. Ask me about <https://stallmansupport.org>.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: What processor features does Guix support on i686?
2021-05-02 5:56 ` Mark H Weaver
@ 2021-05-02 16:56 ` Joshua Branson
2021-05-02 21:01 ` Leo Famulari
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Joshua Branson @ 2021-05-02 16:56 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Mark H Weaver; +Cc: Leo Famulari, help-guix
This email list was posted on guix-devel, I'm asking this question on
help-guix, because it's a help guix question and not a guix devel
question...
Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org> writes:
> Hi Leo,
>
> Thanks for asking about this, and for ably taking care of our
> Linux-libre packages. I'm grateful for your work on this.
>
> Leo Famulari <leo@famulari.name> writes:
>
>> I noticed that Linux 5.12 has a new config option regarding "Processor
>> family". The default choice, Pentium-Pro (M686), is highlighted in this
>> quote:
>>
>> ------
>> Processor family
>> 1. 486SX (M486SX) (NEW)
>> 2. 486DX (M486) (NEW)
>> 3. 586/K5/5x86/6x86/6x86MX (M586) (NEW)
>> 4. Pentium-Classic (M586TSC) (NEW)
>> 5. Pentium-MMX (M586MMX) (NEW)
>>> 6. Pentium-Pro (M686) (NEW)
>> 7. Pentium-II/Celeron(pre-Coppermine) (MPENTIUMII) (NEW)
>> 8. Pentium-III/Celeron(Coppermine)/Pentium-III Xeon (MPENTIUMIII) (NEW)
>> 9. Pentium M (MPENTIUMM) (NEW)
>> 10. Pentium-4/Celeron(P4-based)/Pentium-4 M/older Xeon (MPENTIUM4) (NEW)
>> 11. K6/K6-II/K6-III (MK6) (NEW)
>> 12. Athlon/Duron/K7 (MK7) (NEW)
>> 13. Opteron/Athlon64/Hammer/K8 (MK8)
>> 14. Crusoe (MCRUSOE) (NEW)
>> 15. Efficeon (MEFFICEON) (NEW)
>> 16. Winchip-C6 (MWINCHIPC6) (NEW)
>> 17. Winchip-2/Winchip-2A/Winchip-3 (MWINCHIP3D) (NEW)
>> 18. AMD Elan (MELAN) (NEW)
>> 19. GeodeGX1 (MGEODEGX1) (NEW)
>> 20. Geode GX/LX (MGEODE_LX) (NEW)
>> 21. CyrixIII/VIA-C3 (MCYRIXIII) (NEW)
>> 22. VIA C3-2 (Nehemiah) (MVIAC3_2) (NEW)
>> 23. VIA C7 (MVIAC7) (NEW)
>> 24. Core 2/newer Xeon (MCORE2)
>> 25. Intel Atom (MATOM)
>> ------
I'm kind of curious, if I were to compile my own linux kernel, and I
could someone select a newer processor family, would that make my kernel
a little more faster? Or would it just make my kernel image a little
smaller? Also my laptop is a Lenovo T400. So it doesn't exactly have
NEW features. :)
>>
>> info: https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/M686.html
>>
>> I know that, in the past, we have been careful to not require certain
>> processor features on i686, such as SSE [0].
>>
>> I would appreciate some guidance, both about this kernel configuration
>> option, and what we have historically considered to be the "minimum
>> requirements" for i686 hardware. I will put that information the manual
>> so that it doesn't get lost.
> [...]
>> [0] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2016-07/msg01534.html
>
> It's been a long while since I looked at this, and of course we may wish
> to revisit the issue, but for now, I think that the right choice above
> is the default one, namely: "6. Pentium-Pro (M686) (NEW)"
>
> Thanks again,
> Mark
--
Joshua Branson (joshuaBPMan in #guix)
Sent from Emacs and Gnus
https://gnucode.me
https://video.hardlimit.com/accounts/joshua_branson/video-channels
https://propernaming.org
"You can have whatever you want, as long as you help
enough other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: What processor features does Guix support on i686?
2021-05-02 16:56 ` Joshua Branson
@ 2021-05-02 21:01 ` Leo Famulari
2021-05-02 22:06 ` Joshua Branson
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Leo Famulari @ 2021-05-02 21:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Mark H Weaver, help-guix
On Sun, May 02, 2021 at 12:56:45PM -0400, Joshua Branson wrote:
> I'm kind of curious, if I were to compile my own linux kernel, and I
> could someone select a newer processor family, would that make my kernel
> a little more faster? Or would it just make my kernel image a little
> smaller? Also my laptop is a Lenovo T400. So it doesn't exactly have
> NEW features. :)
Just to clarify, these kernel configuration options are for when one
builds the kernel for "i686-linux" (Guix parlance) or "i386" (Linux
parlance). This means 32-bit Intel-compatible.
The T400 has a Core 2 Duo 64-bit procesor, so these options won't apply
for you. That's "x86_64-linux" or "amd64", respectively.
However, yes, you can build a custom kernel to eke out some performance
improvements.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: What processor features does Guix support on i686?
2021-05-02 21:01 ` Leo Famulari
@ 2021-05-02 22:06 ` Joshua Branson
0 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Joshua Branson @ 2021-05-02 22:06 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Leo Famulari; +Cc: Mark H Weaver, help-guix
Leo Famulari <leo@famulari.name> writes:
> On Sun, May 02, 2021 at 12:56:45PM -0400, Joshua Branson wrote:
>> I'm kind of curious, if I were to compile my own linux kernel, and I
>> could someone select a newer processor family, would that make my kernel
>> a little more faster? Or would it just make my kernel image a little
>> smaller? Also my laptop is a Lenovo T400. So it doesn't exactly have
>> NEW features. :)
>
> Just to clarify, these kernel configuration options are for when one
> builds the kernel for "i686-linux" (Guix parlance) or "i386" (Linux
> parlance). This means 32-bit Intel-compatible.
>
> The T400 has a Core 2 Duo 64-bit procesor, so these options won't apply
> for you. That's "x86_64-linux" or "amd64", respectively.
>
> However, yes, you can build a custom kernel to eke out some performance
> improvements.
Thanks for the response! I'm not quite so interested in building a
custom kernel yet. But I think it would be cool to do one day!
--
Joshua Branson (joshuaBPMan in #guix)
Sent from Emacs and Gnus
https://gnucode.me
https://video.hardlimit.com/accounts/joshua_branson/video-channels
https://propernaming.org
"You can have whatever you want, as long as you help
enough other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread
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2021-05-02 4:59 What processor features does Guix support on i686? Leo Famulari
2021-05-02 5:56 ` Mark H Weaver
2021-05-02 16:56 ` Joshua Branson
2021-05-02 21:01 ` Leo Famulari
2021-05-02 22:06 ` Joshua Branson
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