Linux for non-CMOV processors

[jarod-ajLrJawYSntWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org (Jarod Wilson)]

On Feb 14, 2011, at 1:37 AM, Mark J Dulcey wrote:

> On 2/13/2011 8:14 PM, Jarod Wilson wrote:
>> On Feb 13, 2011, at 8:54 AM, edwardp-jjFNsPSvq+iXDw4h08c5KA at public.gmane.org wrote:
>> 
>>> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Talk:Features/F12X86Support
>>> 
>>> Apparently, a decision was made to drop support for non-CMOV processors
>>> in Fedora, Ubuntu as well as Mandriva.
>>> 
>>> Looking at the limited info on the link above, there seemed to be some
>>> resistance to making that change, just for the sake of a /minimal/
>>> increase in performance.
>> 
>> Every bit of performance increase helps.
>> 
>> 
>>> Was there any particular reason why this was done?
>> 
>> 1) Performance benefits for people running on systems that were built
>> this century.
> 
> The Via C3 isn't so ancient though, and some people like to use them for 
> quiet low-power servers.

Sorry, its still ancient. I bought a Via Epia M10k board with a 1GHz
processor nearly 7 years ago, and it had CMOV support -- Nehemiah core
C3 procs added CMOV, its only older Ezra and Samuel cores that don't
have CMOV support. The release date for Nehemiah core C3 procs was
January 22, 2003.

And quite frankly, the C3 is a pathetic CPU. The Intel Atom is *also*
a relatively pathetic CPU, but much less so than a C3 (has CMOV and
they are 64-bit capable). And you can buy a new Atom board/CPU for a
measly $70.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121398

So yes, I'm still lacking in sympathy here. :)

Solutions:

1) buy modern hardware to run a modern linux distro
2) run an ancient linux distro on ancient hardware
3) compile your own bits to run on ancient hardware

-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod-ajLrJawYSntWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org