Re: AMD k6 cosmetic problems
H. Peter Anvin (hpa@transmeta.com)
10 Oct 1997 16:48:26 GMT
Followup to: <19971010065921.60621@jagunet.com>
By author: John Kodis <kodis@jagunet.com>
In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
>
> On Thu, Oct 09, 1997 at 09:05:26PM -0400, Joel Gallun wrote:
>
> > I'd like to cast a vote for changing the uname output to 'x86' for
> > the intel 386, 486, 586 et al.
>
> If the name gets changed at all, I'd vote for "ia32". This is Intel's
> current choice, with "ia64" waiting in the wings for their 64 bit
> processor. The ia32 designation encompasses the [345]86 processor
> series while excluding the 8086 and 286, just like Linux itself.
>
True, but most existing software already understands "i386", while
pretty much none understands "ia32". "i386" is unambiguous and
backwards compatible, and has been used for the "reference" Linux
platform since its inception.
-hpa
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