FYI: 586 vs. PAE-686 kernel

[SlowJet]

The PAE-686 32-bit Kernel works fine is is faster on boot up and heavy loads.

I am using it on a Pent III 800 1GB memory with no problem (except the grub default=0 keeps changing.)

SJ

[leigh123linux]

Wouldn't 586 vs. 686 kernel be more relevant?

Your old Pent III 800 CPU doesn't even support the pae extension .

[SlowJet]

Wouldn't 586 vs. 686 kernel be more relevant?

Your old Pent III 800 CPU doesn't even support the pae extension .

$ grep pae /proc/cpuinfo
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse up

It uses nx boundaries.

There is only PAE-686 in F11 now. and it seems to be smarter than previous PAE-685 kernels. :)

If a cpu does not support PAE, It probably would not boot.

SJ

[Jake]

$ grep pae /proc/cpuinfo
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse up

It uses nx boundaries.

There is only PAE-686 in F11 now. and it seems to be smarter than previous PAE-685 kernels. :)

If a cpu does not support PAE, It probably would not boot.

SJPAE...

is a physical access extension, generally used to allow more ram (64GB)

I'm pretty sure the PAE is not the *only* kernel avaliable in 32-bit.

i686 Yes. but PAE is just an extention, and is not required and probably never will be as a lot of CPU's do not support it.

I presume you are talking about this BTW:


For Fedora 11, we'd like to revisit what architectures Fedora supports, and change some of our defaults so that we work better on those architectures.


The main user-visible changes would be:

* 32-bit x86 would be built for i586 by default.
* The x86_64 kernel would be installed on compatible hardware, even when installing a 32-bit OS
* The PAE kernel would be installed on other 32-bit hardware, where it is supported

The 32-bit LiveCD would remain using a 32-bit kernel, in all likelyhood.

[SlowJet]

Jake,
You missed the point.
non intel 586 cpu's can use 586, intel can use 586
But the PAE-686 works on Intel and is a bit faster, especially on slower computers.

It really does not need to be called PAE any more since you have a 686 cpu or a 586 cpu.
On the inside it is smp or up, PAE ready, Paravirt ready, NX ready, and so on.
It's not your old fart using Linux kernel any more.

SJ

[marcrblevins]

Basically you are saying the PAE-i686 kernel runs faster on old fart PCs than straight i686 kernel. Thanks for sharing.

[Demz]

good arguement SJ ..since i havent used the PAE kernel i cant really say whether its faster or not. but if im right they will use the PAE kernel more in Fedora12 using only the 1 Architecture ?

[Jake]

PAE Kernel doesn't work on my old P1 :(

[SlowJet]

Basically you are saying the PAE-i686 kernel runs faster on old fart PCs than straight i686 kernel. Thanks for sharing.

No, I didn't say that and there is no 686 for F11 now anyway.

SJ

[SlowJet]

PAE Kernel doesn't work on my old P1 :(

Then you run 586.

SJ.

[Jake]

Hi SJ..

Seems I was the slow on here xD.

I was tired on both post's I made, and read this thread wrong. Just re-read it and realised what was going on.

Anywho. Sorry about that.

[SlowJet]

No problem, Jake. It all about transitioning into a better system.
As Demz was indicating F12 will be switched back to all 686.
The was a thread in the devl or test list about it.

Anyway, koji's back anf there is a new section for 585 in the kernel rpms

SJ

$ uname -a
Linux Jovette-14.WinProxy 2.6.29-0.145.rc6.fc11.i686.PAE #1 SMP Mon Feb 23 03:35:43 EST 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

[Demz]

yeah if you read on the FWN it said it there YUM Plans for Transition to Fedora 12 i686 Architecture

http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-February/msg01533.html
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-February/msg01551.html
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-February/msg01557.html
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-February/msg01561.html
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-February/msg01581.html
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-February/msg01587.html

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/LatestIssue

i do beelieve in that bit they said there scrapping the i386 kernel an just using the i586 an i686

[Vince4Amy]

I automatically get the PAE kernel if I install Fedora x86 from the DVD. I have 4GB RAM so using PAE will give me to the full 4GB instead of 3.2 or 3.7. I switched to x86_64 when Flash x64 and JREU12 was released, I used the LiveCD to install that.

When I'm running the PAE Kernel the ATI Driver from RPM Fusion will not work, when I use the 64-bit kernel the ATI Driver will install and work.

[SlowJet]

"I automatically get the PAE kernel if I install Fedora x86 from the DVD"

Maybe because a 586 32-bit would not work in a 64-bit cpu?
But normally the PAE-686 does not install on 32-bit cpu with a default desktop.

SJ

[Vince4Amy]

It's not a problem, I'd recompile it with PAE Anyway if it didn't do that by default. OpenSuSE also pulls it in by default. But now I moved to 64bit because of Flash & Java:)

[AdamW]

vince: RPM Fusion sometimes seems to forget to build for the PAE kernel. I'd recommend installing the akmod package for the driver, so that if they forget to build for a given kernel, it'll get built automatically.