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Groups > linux.debian.user > #233034 > unrolled thread

[?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

Started by"Susmita/Rajib" <bkpsusmitaa@gmail.com>
First post2021-03-14 12:10 +0100
Last post2021-03-15 14:40 +0100
Articles 20 on this page of 69 — 22 participants

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  [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems "Susmita/Rajib" <bkpsusmitaa@gmail.com> - 2021-03-14 12:10 +0100
    Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and  as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems The Wanderer <wanderer@fastmail.fm> - 2021-03-14 12:30 +0100
      Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Roberto C. Sánchez <roberto@debian.org> - 2021-03-14 12:40 +0100
        Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2021-03-14 16:50 +0100
      Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-03-14 12:50 +0100
        Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Sven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de> - 2021-03-14 15:00 +0100
          [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-03-14 20:20 +0100
            Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Sven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de> - 2021-03-15 09:20 +0100
              Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as  i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are  also 64bit systems <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-03-15 10:10 +0100
                Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Sven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de> - 2021-03-15 11:20 +0100
                  Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as  i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are  also 64bit systems <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-03-15 12:10 +0100
                    Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Sven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de> - 2021-03-15 12:40 +0100
                      Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as  i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are  also 64bit systems <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-03-15 13:00 +0100
                      Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386  for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also  64bit systems IL Ka <kazakevichilya@gmail.com> - 2021-03-15 13:20 +0100
                      Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as  i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are  also 64bit systems Joe <joe@jretrading.com> - 2021-03-15 14:00 +0100
                        Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2021-03-15 15:00 +0100
                          Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2021-03-15 17:50 +0100
                            Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2021-03-15 19:20 +0100
                            Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-03-15 20:30 +0100
                        Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as  i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are  also 64bit systems Michael Stone <mstone@debian.org> - 2021-03-15 16:10 +0100
                        Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Sven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de> - 2021-03-15 20:30 +0100
                          Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as  i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are  also 64bit systems Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-03-15 22:50 +0100
                            Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386  for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also  64bit systems Christian Groessler <chris@groessler.org> - 2021-03-15 23:20 +0100
                              Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Sven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de> - 2021-03-16 08:20 +0100
                    Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2021-03-15 14:40 +0100
                      Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as  i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are  also 64bit systems <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-03-15 15:00 +0100
                        Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as  i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are  also 64bit systems <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-03-15 15:10 +0100
                        Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2021-03-15 15:10 +0100
                      Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2021-03-15 15:10 +0100
                    Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-03-15 15:50 +0100
                      Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as  i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are  also 64bit systems <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-03-15 16:00 +0100
              Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-03-15 16:10 +0100
                Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a  32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit  systems Michael Stone <mstone@debian.org> - 2021-03-15 17:50 +0100
                Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Sven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de> - 2021-03-15 20:40 +0100
                  Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386  for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also  64bit systems Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2021-03-15 20:50 +0100
                    Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Anssi Saari <as@sci.fi> - 2021-03-15 22:00 +0100
                      Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386  for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also  64bit systems Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2021-03-15 22:30 +0100
                        Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386  for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also  64bit systems Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-03-15 23:10 +0100
                          Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386  for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also  64bit systems Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2021-03-16 00:10 +0100
              Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Michael Stone <mstone@debian.org> - 2021-03-15 17:40 +0100
                Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2021-03-15 18:00 +0100
                  Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Michael Stone <mstone@debian.org> - 2021-03-15 18:20 +0100
                    Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2021-03-15 18:50 +0100
                Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and  as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2021-03-15 18:40 +0100
                  Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Michael Stone <mstone@debian.org> - 2021-03-15 20:10 +0100
                Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-03-15 21:00 +0100
                  Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Michael Stone <mstone@debian.org> - 2021-03-15 22:10 +0100
            Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a  32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit  systems Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-03-15 09:50 +0100
              Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-03-15 16:30 +0100
                Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a  32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit  systems Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2021-03-15 17:40 +0100
                Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a  32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit  systems Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-03-15 23:10 +0100
                  Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a  32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit  systems Roberto C. Sánchez <roberto@debian.org> - 2021-03-15 23:20 +0100
                  Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a  32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit  systems <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-03-16 09:20 +0100
      Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z <santiagopinth@gmail.com> - 2021-03-15 03:30 +0100
    Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-03-14 12:30 +0100
    Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Eduardo M KALINOWSKI <eduardo@kalinowski.com.br> - 2021-03-14 12:30 +0100
    Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-03-14 12:40 +0100
    Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Peter Ehlert <peter@sdi-baja.com> - 2021-03-14 12:50 +0100
      Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-03-14 13:00 +0100
        [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-03-14 20:00 +0100
          Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a  32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Nicholas Geovanis <nickgeovanis@gmail.com> - 2021-03-15 17:30 +0100
            Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a  32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit  systems songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2021-03-16 13:30 +0100
              Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a  32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit  systems Martin Smith <tech@smithproductions.co.uk> - 2021-03-16 14:30 +0100
    Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and  as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2021-03-14 13:20 +0100
    [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems "Susmita/Rajib" <bkpsusmitaa@gmail.com> - 2021-03-14 13:40 +0100
      Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems "Susmita/Rajib" <bkpsusmitaa@gmail.com> - 2021-03-14 15:20 +0100
        [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems "Susmita/Rajib" <bkpsusmitaa@gmail.com> - 2021-03-15 05:10 +0100
          Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2021-03-15 11:50 +0100
          Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as  amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-03-15 14:40 +0100

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#233128 — Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromSven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de>
Date2021-03-15 20:30 +0100
SubjectRe: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BT14B-1NY-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233099
Joe <joe@jretrading.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 15 Mar 2021 12:34:42 +0100 Sven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de> wrote:

>> Imagine a PC with 4GB adressable memory space in 1980.

> I can. It would have cost as much as a mainframe to make full use of it.

I don't say to put it in, only to have a flat 32bit address range.

Just like the current 64bit systems don't have 16 Exabyte of memory in
them.

(I still vividly remember using memmaker and manual ordering the drivers
in config.sys and autoexec.bat to shave another 2KB from the lower
memory so the IPX driver would fit so Doom would run.)

S°

-- 
Sigmentation fault. Core dumped.

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#233138 — Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromAndrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com>
Date2021-03-15 22:50 +0100
SubjectRe: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BT3g6-30G-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233128

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Lu, 15 mar 21, 20:24:56, Sven Hartge wrote:
> 
> (I still vividly remember using memmaker and manual ordering the drivers
> in config.sys and autoexec.bat to shave another 2KB from the lower
> memory so the IPX driver would fit so Doom would run.)

For me it was Warcraft :)

And for some game (possibly also Warcraft) I had to pretend having a 
sound card by listing the driver in config.sys, otherwise it wouldn't 
even start.

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser

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#233142 — Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromChristian Groessler <chris@groessler.org>
Date2021-03-15 23:20 +0100
SubjectRe: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BT3J8-3pC-7@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233138
On 3/15/21 10:47 PM, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
> On Lu, 15 mar 21, 20:24:56, Sven Hartge wrote:
>> (I still vividly remember using memmaker and manual ordering the drivers
>> in config.sys and autoexec.bat to shave another 2KB from the lower
>> memory so the IPX driver would fit so Doom would run.)
> For me it was Warcraft :)
>
> And for some game (possibly also Warcraft) I had to pretend having a
> sound card by listing the driver in config.sys, otherwise it wouldn't
> even start.


For me it was "Worms".

And I was using QEMM and Quarterdeck Manifest to get maximal memory in 
the lower 640k.

regards,
chris

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#233147 — Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromSven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de>
Date2021-03-16 08:20 +0100
SubjectRe: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BTc9H-9D-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233142
Christian Groessler <chris@groessler.org> wrote:
> On 3/15/21 10:47 PM, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
>> On Lu, 15 mar 21, 20:24:56, Sven Hartge wrote:

>>> (I still vividly remember using memmaker and manual ordering the drivers
>>> in config.sys and autoexec.bat to shave another 2KB from the lower
>>> memory so the IPX driver would fit so Doom would run.)

>> For me it was Warcraft :)

>> And for some game (possibly also Warcraft) I had to pretend having a
>> sound card by listing the driver in config.sys, otherwise it wouldn't
>> even start.

> For me it was "Worms".

> And I was using QEMM and Quarterdeck Manifest to get maximal memory in 
> the lower 640k.

Ooooh, look at Mr Fancy here, cheating with 3rd party products to get
ahead :)

I'll throw in the special "maximise XMS memory boot disk" I had for
Comanche because that game just *hated* emm386.exe but without EMM,
stuff like "LOADHIGH" to push drivers into the UMB was not available and
I was too lazy to add another branch to my already convoluted config.sys
boot menu.

S°

-- 
Sigmentation fault. Core dumped.

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#233100 — Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromGene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net>
Date2021-03-15 14:40 +0100
SubjectRe: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BSVBU-6U0-13@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233095
On Monday 15 March 2021 07:05:02 tomas@tuxteam.de wrote:

> On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 11:09:35AM +0100, Sven Hartge wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > Another rumor I read was that IBM, when developing the first IBM PC
> > in 1980, opted to use the 8086/8088 CPU instead of the also availble
> > M68k CPU because the Intel one was less powerful so it would not be
> > in competition with the mainframes the PC was supposed to interface
> > with primarily.
>
> Too lazy to research now, but it sounds credible, yes.
>
> > If this rumor is true and IBM had acted differently, the PC
> > ecosystem today would also look quite differently.
>
> Or the Z8000. Absolutely. 8086 was, architecturally, the worst
> possible choice at that time.
>
That, IIRC was a new, super shiny, thing from zilog. No experience with 
it, but if it was as unreliable as the z-80, was, I'm not sorry it 
failed. The Z-80 had an instruction that swapped the 
foregrund/background register sets.  But it only worked on odd hours of 
the day. And had no way of testing if the command had worked without 
sacrificing 1 of the three registers. in both sets.

When I finally got schmardter and wrote a test loop to check it, called 
zilog, and it was out of their 90 day warranty. They would not replace 
it. I should have called them and got a sample, but I'm honest and told 
them the truth. I never again used a zilog chip in anything.

I was then on a small town AM/FM radio stations budget, developing an 
Automatic Transmitter System for a temperature picky fm transmitter that 
really ought to have been replaced, starting with the brand label on the 
front panel.

This was in 1980, and the late 70's saw many Ma and Pa small town 
broadcasters severely impacted by trying to replace aging tube 
transmitters with early solid state versions before the tech was mature 
enough to be as dependable as the tube models. It took another ten years 
before the semi failure rates went below that of electrolytic 
capacitors.

Now design rule violations by the gear makers are responsible for a good 
share of the failure bugs. But they are a distant part of the list, well 
behind electrolytic caps whose technology has not been seriously 
improved in a hundred years now.  Even Tesla has put money into new 
versions, and come up short or they would be in his cars replaceing the 
lithium and dangerous batteries right now.

> Cheers
>  - t
Take care and stay safe and well, Tomas.

Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>

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#233104 — Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

From<tomas@tuxteam.de>
Date2021-03-15 15:00 +0100
SubjectRe: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BSVVg-70u-5@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233100

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 09:31:05AM -0400, Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Monday 15 March 2021 07:05:02 tomas@tuxteam.de wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 11:09:35AM +0100, Sven Hartge wrote:
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > > Another rumor I read was that IBM, when developing the first IBM PC
> > > in 1980, opted to use the 8086/8088 CPU instead of the also availble
> > > M68k CPU because the Intel one was less powerful so it would not be
> > > in competition with the mainframes the PC was supposed to interface
> > > with primarily.
> >
> > Too lazy to research now, but it sounds credible, yes.
> >
> > > If this rumor is true and IBM had acted differently, the PC
> > > ecosystem today would also look quite differently.
> >
> > Or the Z8000. Absolutely. 8086 was, architecturally, the worst
> > possible choice at that time.
> >
> That, IIRC was a new, super shiny, thing from zilog. No experience with 
> it, but if it was as unreliable as the z-80, was, I'm not sorry it 
> failed. The Z-80 had an instruction that swapped the 

[...]

I take that back. Z8000 was a 16 bit data/24 bit address thing; it
did have a segmented architecture, so it wasn't as "clean" as I
remembered it. At that time I was just a little student, so my
"experience" with that stuff was to drool over design articles
in the usual magazines (EE, AFAIR).

Cheers
 - t

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#233105 — Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

From<tomas@tuxteam.de>
Date2021-03-15 15:10 +0100
SubjectRe: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BSW4W-7iZ-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233104

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 10:02:12AM -0400, Gene Heskett wrote:

[...]

> Snerk. We all did that back in the day, Tomas. that and similar magazines 
> were this 8th grade graduates electronics education. Do they still exist 
> today? Retired now, so the subs expired.

Some of them: https://www.ee.com/

Cheers
 - t

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#233107 — Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromGene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net>
Date2021-03-15 15:10 +0100
SubjectRe: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BSW4W-7iZ-5@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233104
On Monday 15 March 2021 09:53:40 tomas@tuxteam.de wrote:

> On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 09:31:05AM -0400, Gene Heskett wrote:
> > On Monday 15 March 2021 07:05:02 tomas@tuxteam.de wrote:
> > > On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 11:09:35AM +0100, Sven Hartge wrote:
> > >
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > > Another rumor I read was that IBM, when developing the first IBM
> > > > PC in 1980, opted to use the 8086/8088 CPU instead of the also
> > > > availble M68k CPU because the Intel one was less powerful so it
> > > > would not be in competition with the mainframes the PC was
> > > > supposed to interface with primarily.
> > >
> > > Too lazy to research now, but it sounds credible, yes.
> > >
> > > > If this rumor is true and IBM had acted differently, the PC
> > > > ecosystem today would also look quite differently.
> > >
> > > Or the Z8000. Absolutely. 8086 was, architecturally, the worst
> > > possible choice at that time.
> >
> > That, IIRC was a new, super shiny, thing from zilog. No experience
> > with it, but if it was as unreliable as the z-80, was, I'm not sorry
> > it failed. The Z-80 had an instruction that swapped the
>
> [...]
>
> I take that back. Z8000 was a 16 bit data/24 bit address thing; it
> did have a segmented architecture, so it wasn't as "clean" as I
> remembered it. At that time I was just a little student, so my
> "experience" with that stuff was to drool over design articles
> in the usual magazines (EE, AFAIR).
>
> Cheers
>  - t
Snerk. We all did that back in the day, Tomas. that and similar magazines 
were this 8th grade graduates electronics education. Do they still exist 
today? Retired now, so the subs expired.

Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>

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#233106 — Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromJohn Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com>
Date2021-03-15 15:10 +0100
SubjectRe: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BSW4W-7iZ-7@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233100
Gene writes:
> That, IIRC was a new, super shiny, thing from zilog. No experience
> with it, but if it was as unreliable as the z-80, was, I'm not sorry
> it failed. The Z-80 had an instruction that swapped the
> foregrund/background register sets.  But it only worked on odd hours
> of the day. And had no way of testing if the command had worked
> without sacrificing 1 of the three registers. in both sets.

I used lots of Z80s and had good luck with them.  I wrote an OS for my
first Z80 homebrew computer that used register swapping to service
interrupts and print in the background.  It worked quite well.  Most
applications used only one register set, though, due to the need for
Intel compatibility.

My first Unix machine was an Onyx with a Z8000 running System III.  The
8 inch disk got flaky after about ten years but other than that it was
quite reliable.  Odd architecture, though.  I would have preferred 68k.
-- 
John Hasler 
jhasler@newsguy.com
Elmwood, WI USA

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#233108 — Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromStefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
Date2021-03-15 15:50 +0100
SubjectRe: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BSWHD-7vP-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233095
>> Another rumor I read was that IBM, when developing the first IBM PC in
>> 1980, opted to use the 8086/8088 CPU instead of the also availble M68k
>> CPU because the Intel one was less powerful so it would not be in
>> competition with the mainframes the PC was supposed to interface with
>> primarily.
> Too lazy to research now, but it sounds credible, yes.

I'm sure there have been several different factors and it's hard to know
which were more important (often the more personal and less technical
factors are the more important ones in those areas, but the hardest to
track down and verify).  Another important factor (linked to pragmatic
constraints of overall production cost and availability of all the
various components at particular dates) made it important to use an 8bit
interface between the CPU and the system (which arguably also ensured it
was no threat performancewise to the rest of IBM's linup).
That's another reason why they went with the 8088 rather than the 8086,
and also another reason why they went with Intel rather than Motorola,
since the 68008 wasn't available yet.


        Stefan

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#233109 — Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

From<tomas@tuxteam.de>
Date2021-03-15 16:00 +0100
SubjectRe: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BSWRk-7ze-9@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233108

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 10:45:15AM -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> >> Another rumor I read was that IBM, when developing the first IBM PC in
> >> 1980, opted to use the 8086/8088 CPU instead of the also availble M68k
> >> CPU because the Intel one was less powerful so it would not be in
> >> competition with the mainframes the PC was supposed to interface with
> >> primarily.
> > Too lazy to research now, but it sounds credible, yes.
> 
> I'm sure there have been several different factors and it's hard to know
> which were more important (often the more personal and less technical
> factors are the more important ones in those areas, but the hardest to
> track down and verify).

ISTR that the Big Iron and the small stuff factions whithin IBM were
in fierce competition at the time. That's why the idea seemed plausible
to me.

[...]                      Another important factor (linked to pragmatic
> constraints of overall production cost and availability of all the
> various components at particular dates) made it important to use an 8bit
> interface between the CPU and the system (which arguably also ensured it
> was no threat performancewise to the rest of IBM's linup).
> That's another reason why they went with the 8088 rather than the 8086,
> and also another reason why they went with Intel rather than Motorola,
> since the 68008 wasn't available yet.

...the outcome was surely that of multiple factors. IBM was a complex
beast at the time!

Cheers
 - t

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#233112 — Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromStefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
Date2021-03-15 16:10 +0100
SubjectRe: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BSX10-7S1-9@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233087
>> Indeed.  Also, they wanted to move away from the i386 instruction set
>> so as not to be bothered by pre-existing licensing agreements with
>> AMD, and thus making sure there'd be no competing implementation.  The
>> IA64 architecture was quite complex, and there are reasons to believe
>> that complexity was seen as a virtue (makes it easier to get more
>> patents and keep competitors out).
> HP then also poured additional stuff into the architecture to make
> migration from PA-RISC easier.  I imagine this also made stuff vastly
> more complex.

It has all the signs of a "design by committee" were you get the union
of all the ideas, indeed :-(

But I think for such a thing to get the time and funding needed to get
to production, there needs to be a commitment to the idea that such
complexity is good.

> I think, IBM is big enough and old enough and established enough with
> POWER that a "young whippersnapper" like Intel is no real danger to them
> in their own enclosed Mainframe walled garden. I believe Apple moving
> away from PowerPC did more damage to IBMs aspirations in that market.

Agreed.

> For the others: they where either on board from the start (like HP),
> where already dead (like DEC/Compaq) or slipping into the embedded
> market (like MIPS).

I didn't want to imply that they would have survived (that slice of the
CPU market was shrinking fast anyway: after the Pentium Pro, they were
not noticeably faster than PCs any more and the market was too small to
keep financing the development of leading CPUs, especially since for
high-end machines all the value was in the interconnect rather than the
CPUs anyway), but the IA64 was explicitly the end of it for them (and
that happened long before the first IA64 CPU was available).

> And SPARC: after being bought by Oracle, the end was more or less
> directly clear.

But that took place much later: the IA64 buzz that killed Alpha/PA/MIPS
was in the 90s whereas Oracle bought SPARC in 2009.

> Indeed. The German computer magazine c't had many interesting articles
> about the IA64 architecture and also quite early painted its dark
> future, because of ever slipping sales figures, performance problems,
> the failure to deliver on made promises and the increasing pressure of
> the i386/amd64 architectures.

>From a purely technical perspective, it's hard to understand how Intel
managed to pour so much energy into such an obviously bad idea.
The only explanations seem all to be linked to market strategies.


        Stefan

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#233119 — Re: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromMichael Stone <mstone@debian.org>
Date2021-03-15 17:50 +0100
SubjectRe: [OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BSYzM-bl-9@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233112
On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 11:03:59AM -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:
>From a purely technical perspective, it's hard to understand how Intel
>managed to pour so much energy into such an obviously bad idea.
>The only explanations seem all to be linked to market strategies.

They just had too much easy money coming in from the windows/x86 desktop 
monopoly. It took years before they really had to justify in a critical 
way the money they were spending. 

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#233130 — Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromSven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de>
Date2021-03-15 20:40 +0100
SubjectRe: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BT1eh-1R0-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233112
Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:

> From a purely technical perspective, it's hard to understand how Intel
> managed to pour so much energy into such an obviously bad idea.  The
> only explanations seem all to be linked to market strategies.

This history repeats for Intel on several fronts:

Look at the Netburst Pentium 4 desaster, which as scrapped as soon as
the Israel division showed their improved concept based on the P3, which
ran laps around the P4 while at the same time using far less power and
had a bigger yield.

Or the discussion about ECC for desktop devices. Intel argues "not
needed", which is, if you follow the Rowhammer issues, not true. AMD
just does it and it works.

Then there was FB-DIMM back in the 2008s. Nice idea, just, again, too
expensive and disconnected from the market in the end.

And all in all the rather slow improvments on the CPU fronts, the
piecemeal 5% increases sold as "big achievements" every year, while at
the same time all improvements turned out to be major security problems.

I personally am really glad that AMD got their stuff together again and
with their ZenX-Architectures showed Intel how it is done.

What AMD now needs is a hit in the low, lower and ultra-low power
segment.

Grüße,
S°

-- 
Sigmentation fault. Core dumped.

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#233131 — Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromDan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org>
Date2021-03-15 20:50 +0100
SubjectRe: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BT1nX-1U6-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233130
Sven Hartge wrote: 
> Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:
> 
> > From a purely technical perspective, it's hard to understand how Intel
> > managed to pour so much energy into such an obviously bad idea.  The
> > only explanations seem all to be linked to market strategies.
> 
> This history repeats for Intel on several fronts:
> 
> Or the discussion about ECC for desktop devices. Intel argues "not
> needed", which is, if you follow the Rowhammer issues, not true. AMD
> just does it and it works.

Intel knew that their argument was bull: they owned the market
and needed ways of subdividing their CPUs to fit every price
point. Turning off ECC support was one of those ways.

That strategy started with the 80486, when they brought out a
cheap version called the 80486SX which lacked a floating point
unit. The SX has the floating point unit, it was just turned
off. Worse: purchasing the 80487 math coprocessor to enable
floating point support... the 487 was a full 486, that turned
off the original.

> Then there was FB-DIMM back in the 2008s. Nice idea, just, again, too
> expensive and disconnected from the market in the end.

Intel wanted more pricing points. 

> I personally am really glad that AMD got their stuff together again and
> with their ZenX-Architectures showed Intel how it is done.
> 
> What AMD now needs is a hit in the low, lower and ultra-low power
> segment.

They've got the low and lower parts now: 35W and 15W 4000-series
APUs, from the Renoir design. Stefan and I were just talking
about how you can't buy one with a normal motherboard right now
because they are entirely allocated to systems integrators. AMD
is selling 100% of production.

They don't have any 7W or lower parts, but those things aren't
very interesting compared to ARM64 architecture, where Qualcomm
and Apple and any number of smaller shops are doing great things
in the tablet and phone space.

-dsr-

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#233134 — Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromAnssi Saari <as@sci.fi>
Date2021-03-15 22:00 +0100
SubjectRe: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BT2tH-2vz-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233131
Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> writes:

> Intel knew that their argument was bull: they owned the market
> and needed ways of subdividing their CPUs to fit every price
> point. Turning off ECC support was one of those ways.

> That strategy started with the 80486, when they brought out a
> cheap version called the 80486SX which lacked a floating point
> unit. The SX has the floating point unit, it was just turned
> off.

Initially, yes. A panic move when AMD brought out their 40 MHz 386. It
worked, got popular and later on the 486SX was manufactured separately
with a smaller die and no floating point.

As for the ECC support in Ryzen CPUs, as I understand it it's a bit of a
mess. Sure the CPUs support it but if it's not validated by motherboard
manufacturers, how do you know it actually works reliably?

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#233136 — Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromDan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org>
Date2021-03-15 22:30 +0100
SubjectRe: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BT2WJ-2Ug-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233134
Anssi Saari wrote: 
> Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> writes:
> 
> As for the ECC support in Ryzen CPUs, as I understand it it's a bit of a
> mess. Sure the CPUs support it but if it's not validated by motherboard
> manufacturers, how do you know it actually works reliably?

... by trying it out and reporting the results to others, and
reading their results and reporting your confirmation.

This isn't a thing that the motherboard manufacturer can put in
by accident.

Anyway. If you need ECC support, you buy an EPYC server and get
registered ECC support. If you would like to have ECC as a feature, you
get a Ryzen board that's reported to work, and you get
unbuffered ECC for one-bit correction and two-bit reporting.

Then you overclock it to generate RAM errors, and it shows up in
your system log. Then you bring it back down to normal speed.

At last report: normal desktop Ryzens (nothing with a G suffix
unless it also has a PRO marking) on any ASrock, most ASUS, and
some Gigabyte motherboards will support this. To the best of my
current knowledge, no MSI motherboards.

-dsr-

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#233139 — Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromAndrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com>
Date2021-03-15 23:10 +0100
SubjectRe: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BT3zr-3mh-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233136

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Lu, 15 mar 21, 17:21:39, Dan Ritter wrote:
> 
> At last report: normal desktop Ryzens (nothing with a G suffix
> unless it also has a PRO marking) 

Do you have a reliable source for the lack of ECC support in G suffix 
processors?

And why would it work for PRO processors instead?

I think it's unlikely AMD has 2 different cores for PRO and non-PRO, 
it's more likely it either works for both or neither.

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser

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#233144 — Re: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems

FromDan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org>
Date2021-03-16 00:10 +0100
SubjectRe: [TOTALLY OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
Message-ID<BT4vv-3UK-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233139
Andrei POPESCU wrote: 
> On Lu, 15 mar 21, 17:21:39, Dan Ritter wrote:
> > 
> > At last report: normal desktop Ryzens (nothing with a G suffix
> > unless it also has a PRO marking) 
> 
> Do you have a reliable source for the lack of ECC support in G suffix 
> processors?
> 
> And why would it work for PRO processors instead?
> 
> I think it's unlikely AMD has 2 different cores for PRO and non-PRO, 
> it's more likely it either works for both or neither.


https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X570%20Taichi/index.asp#Specification

I'm going to omit a bunch of details:

AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Vermeer) support ...  ECC & non-ECC, un-buffered memory*
- AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Matisse) support ... ECC & non-ECC, un-buffered memory*
- AMD Ryzen series APUs (Renoir) support ... ECC & non-ECC, un-buffered memory*
- AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Pinnacle Ridge) support ... ECC & non-ECC, un-buffered memory*
- AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Picasso) support non-ECC, un-buffered memory*

* For Ryzen Series CPUs (Picasso), ECC is only supported with * PRO CPUs.


The first APUs are the Raven Ridge, 2200G and 2400G, which
aren't even supported on the current motherboards

The next are Picassos, 3200G and 3400G, there's an explicit
statement that only the PRO versions support ECC.

The current ones are Renoir, 4000 series, and I haven't got a
reliable source that they are ECC only on the PRO -- but I
strongly suspect it.

It's not the cores that differ between the PROs and non- -- it's
the I/O chiplet.

-dsr-

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#233116

FromMichael Stone <mstone@debian.org>
Date2021-03-15 17:40 +0100
Message-ID<BSYq5-7S-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
In reply to#233087
On Sun, Mar 14, 2021 at 10:44:00AM -0500, John Hasler wrote:
>The Wanderer wrote:
>> It caught on, and became so successful that Intel abandoned its ia64
>> approach and started making amd64 CPUs itself.
>
>Which was unfortunate as the x86 architecture needed to die.

Moving to ia64 would have been much, much worse. Luckily it was unlikely 
to have ever happened once people got to touch actual silicon.


On Sun, Mar 14, 2021 at 02:50:10PM -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:
>So it was a great move on the part of AMD: cheap to implement but with
>an enormous marketing impact.

It had much more than a marketing impact, because x86 was a PITA for 
more than 2GB of RAM and that was getting cheap and becoming a common 
problem by 2003. Switching to opteron for 8G or 16G servers was a huge 
win vs x86, with better scaling for multiprocessor configurations. 
(These were becoming more common as well, and intel was still using an 
old (obsolete?) flat SMP bus whereas AMD arrived on the scene with a far 
superior NUMA architecture based on hypertransport--designed in 
partnership with what was left of the old DEC alpha team.) It was simply 
the right product at the right time.


On Sun, Mar 14, 2021 at 03:17:39PM -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:
>> But years passed and the i386 architecture got better and better,
>> including stuff like MMX, SSE and AVX was incorporated, IA64 couldn't
>> really keep up.
>
>The IA64 architecture was a resounding success in one area tho: it
>killed most of the competition that was coming from "above" (at least
>DEC's Alpha, SGI's MIPS, HP's PA, and it likely sped up the demise of
>Sun's SPARC, I don't think it had much impact on POWER or PowerPC, OTOH)
>and thus helped open up the server (and supercomputer) market for Intel
>(and AMD).

Yes--SGI, HP, & DEC (Compaq then HP) all preemptively killed off their 
CPU lines based on the promises made for ia64. When ia64 turned out to 
be late and the performance turned out to be disappointing, it was too 
late to revive their previous architectures and recapture the customers 
that had already abandoned ship for x86 & later amd64. It worked out 
really well for intel, and really badly for everybody else. 


On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 09:15:10AM +0100, Sven Hartge wrote:
>Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:
>> The IA64 architecture was a resounding success in one area tho: it
>> killed most of the competition that was coming from "above" (at least
>> DEC's Alpha, SGI's MIPS, HP's PA, and it likely sped up the demise of
>> Sun's SPARC, I don't think it had much impact on POWER or PowerPC,
>> OTOH) and thus helped open up the server (and supercomputer) market
>> for Intel (and AMD).
>
>I think, IBM is big enough and old enough and established enough with
>POWER that a "young whippersnapper" like Intel is no real danger to them
>in their own enclosed Mainframe walled garden. I believe Apple moving
>away from PowerPC did more damage to IBMs aspirations in that market.

IBM didn't want to just be a mainframe manufacturer, they really wanted 
to amortize the costs for those CPUs against multiple product lines. 
They actually made a good number of high end computing sales for a few 
years by being the only player left standing, until amd64 just became 
too compelling. They still have some very large deployments, but their 
overall market share is not what they'd hoped for.

>For the others: they where either on board from the start (like HP),
>where already dead (like DEC/Compaq) or slipping into the embedded
>market (like MIPS).

At the time ia64 was announced alpha & MIPS processors were in some of 
the largest and most sucessful systems in the world. With further 
development they could have remained there, but their management was 
convinced that ia64 was going to have an unbeatable performance 
advantage and that they couldn't compete with the R&D money intel was 
pouring in. With hindsight it's clear that neither was true but these 
decisions were made in the late 90s and intel hadn't yet run into the 
brick wall of making the compiler magic actually work. The architecture 
that was in the worst shape was PA-RISC--which is why HP had gone in 
with Intel on ia-64 in the first place. (And, of course, the alpha had 
no future once HP bought Compaq.) Also with hindsight, even if ia64 had 
been successful this strategy would have destroyed the companies because 
it was premised on the idea that even if they were all selling the same 
computers they'd somehow be able to keep their margins and lock 
customers in with proprietary OSs or some other proprietary magic. The 
industry went in a very different direction and preferred open software 
architectures, and that probably would have been true even with a 
successful ia64. HPaq & SGI bet on the wrong horse in every way.

The cloud revolution of the 2010s might have unfolded very differently 
if some of the high performance architectures from the late 90s could 
have hung on long enough for the linux convergence to offer them a way 
out of the unix wars. (Or, they might have kept the unix wars going. Who 
knows.) Instead, people are only now trying to break out of the 
monoculture by pushing what was 25 years ago one of the least successful 
and least capable of the RISC architectures (ARM) into the 
high-performance realm, for lack of other options in a space utterly 
dominated by amd64.

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