i386 = intel 80386.
i486 = intel 80486.
i586 = anything built on intel Pentium technology, including Pentium MMX.
i686 = anything built on intel Pentium Pro technology, including Pentium
II/III and Celeron.
The Pentium 4 is an entirely new chip, and for the moment has no specific
compilers.
it has to do with the CPU chip in-out architecture, i refers to intel, 86
refers to the structure intel has used since the days of 8086 processors, if
you follow the progression of intel processors, 8086, (includes 8088)
(80)286[all really 8 bit i/o], (80 or just an i) 386[ 16 bit i/o, and
Since someone just brought it up, could one of the smart people please explain
the different kinds of architectures, what they mean, and why they matter? I
know (from running the GNOME system info program in the monitoring menu) that I
have an i686, what's that mean?
Thanks,
Isaac
(i have a
