Difference between 586 and 686 kernels?

[Bob D]

Hi

I have a fairly aged Pentium 4, RAID, desktop computer with Fed 11. I started off with the 686 PAE kernel and update it whenever the update software tells me to. Some time ago I downloaded an NVidia driver which said it needed the 586 kernel so I installed that as well. I then uninstalled the NVidia driver as it caused some minorish problems without any improvement to the graphics.

The bottom line is I now have the last three 686 kernels and the last three 586 kernels, which I'm pretty sure I don't need. The machine seems to run fine whichever I use with no discerable differences.

My questions are, what is the difference between the two types, which should I actually use and how do I get rid of the other. It would at the very least reduce bandwidth use when updating.

Many thanks

Bob

[CSchwangler]

Your processor almost certainly belongs to i686 architecture, which starts with Pentium Pro. 586 and 686 now refers to code optimization, i.e. the compile takes advantage of several processor specific features of the particular architecture. 586 architecture is older than 686 architecture, so several features of modern processors are not utilized.
With F12, only 686 will be supported, see release notes:

http://docs.fedoraproject.org/releas...ific_Notes_686

[stoat]

Originally Posted by Bob D

I started off with the 686 PAE kernel and update it whenever the update software tells me to. Some time ago I downloaded an NVidia driver which said it needed the 586 kernel so I installed that as well.

Hello Bob D,

To me, that describes what can happen when kmod-nvidia is installed instead of kmod-nvidia-PAE. Is it possible that is what happened? It's happened before anyway. You might be able to find out with this terminal command...

rpm -qa | grep -e kernel -e nvidia | sort

If you think that is what happened, then you can install kmod-nvidia-PAE and confirm that it works. Then use yum or rpm to delete the unwanted kernels and kmod stuff.

[Bob D]

Thanks for the prompt replies.

My questions now answered and another Fed Forum thread gave a detailed description on how to delete the unwanted kernels.

Fed Forum always seems to come up with the goods. Well done

Bob