a. The kernel uses an instruction not present on the 386 (bswap?).
b. 386 memory protection is different from 486+ memory protection,
and the kernel has to work harder to support it securely. The
overhead for this is considerable. We prefer not to include that
code if we know it's not a 386.
On my to do list is a kernel option "compile for all x86 processors,
optimise for PPro (or whatever)". I'd be pleased to see someone else
do one first though :-)
-- Jamie
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/