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Linux drops 386 and some 486 supports (Announce)

posted by bocke, 19.01.2013, 22:08

I found some more info on something I mentioned before I changed my post:

ChangeLog for Slackware 10.0 (2005?):
> Why i486 and not i386? Because the shared C++ libraries in gcc-3.2.x will
> require 486 opcodes even when a 386 target is used (so we already weren't
> compatible with the i386 for Slackware 9.0, didn't notive, and nobody
> complained :-). gcc-3.3 fixes this issue and allows you to build a 386
> compiler, but the fix is done in a way that produces binaries that are not
> compatible with gcc-3.2.x compiled binaries. To retain compatibility with
> Slackware 9.0, we'll have to use i486 (or better) as the compiler target
> for gcc-3.3.
So it was one time problem. Not glibc, but libstdc++.

Anyway Slackware still uses i486 compatible packages (but optimized for i686) and provides a kernel compatible with i486 (thought it's not the default anymore) and Pentium clones that lack some genuine Pentium instructions. But some of the packages are indeed i686 only.

Other distros are probably not so concerned with compatiblity with older Pentium clones. I think even Debian uses i686 only nowadays.

So, for now, Slackware based or derived solutions are maybe the best for those machines that are not supported anymore by other major distributions.

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