i386 vs. i586 distros

[GodSpiral]

Sorry for YADT, but:

is there any advantage (smaller code size maybe???) of going with a i386 distribution if u have a p3 processor? (vs. a i586/i686 distro). Is the performance difference negligeable?

an unrelated question,

Should I choose to install storm,libra or corel (I know its future is uncertain), can I upgrade it to future debian releases, should storm or corel cease making distributions?

And finally, speaking of libra, does anyone know of a mirror for its distribution?

thks in advance,

[Molecule Man]

i586 will run like a dog on a 486, and probably not run at all on a 386, so go with a i386 distro.

Below 500mhz there will be a marked improvement with 586 optimizations. Somewhere above 500mhz, you won't be able to tell a difference, the darn things are so fast.

[Gaccm]

well shad got one Q, so i'll get the other. (BTW, i use debian so i'm biased) I first tried corel, and believe me it SUCKED. there was almost no settings you could change (it forced me into graphical login) and was generally bad. I have a friend who uses storm and he say it like debian but easier to setup (i think the normal debian is easy to setup, menus arn't hard, but thats me) try looking at screenshots, and the main pages for more info, as for libra... google it

[GodSpiral]

thanks for the replies.

Anyone have an opinion as to why most distributions are still packaged as i386, instead of i586? I'd be surprised if more than 5% of new linux installations are on 486s or older, and of those, less than 5% would use the full complement of desktop apps... ie they'd more likely be setup as routers/firewalls, small server.

Is it laziness by the distro packagers? or is the performance advantage limited?

Libra may have gone coaster version only... google can't help me find mirrors to it, anyway.

[ClearNinja]

I think a lot of people install linux on older machines because they arent sure they want to run Linux exclusively or they dont want to duel boot or they use linux for other purposes like routers and firewalls and such.

[Molecule Man]

Tradition and the ability to say that it runs on any x86 computer.

Basically, RH could for instance switch to a 486 arch and probably not lose a single cust, but the performance advatange of that would be nil. So they don't bother. Distros like Mandrake which are primarily for the desktop, give a boost to most machines, and likely no one is going to run it on a non-pentium class machine.

The 586 (ie pentium) optimizations give a big advantage on the slower machines. I have seen the benchmarks of a P60 outperform a 486DX100 with virtually identical hardware, when both were running the same 586 distro. (Once the 486 was compiled for a 486 the advantage was less pronounced but still there). 686 Optimizations do make a big difference on PII/Celeron/PPro/PIII/P4. However it doesn't run AMD processor (or will but like a dog with one leg). And Vice versa For AMD Optimizations, particularly Athlon opts.

So right now they stick with what will work with everything rather than fragmenting themselves with an Intel Distro, and an AMD Distro, in addition to Alphas, Sparcs, and PPC.