Kernel Images

Paul M. Bucalo ubuntuser at pmbservices.com
Tue May 31 00:29:58 UTC 2005


On Mon, 2005-05-30 at 16:21 -0700, Randy Forston wrote:
> > From: Michael Beattie
> > > Subject: Re: Kernel Images
> > > If you want to know which kernel image will best take advantage of any
> > > built-in cpu features, from a terminal window, run:
> > >                uname -m
> > >
> > > This command will tell you which kernel version will give you best the
> > > performance for YOUR motherboard/cpu combo

<...>

> > I may be mistaken, but that command will tell you which arch the
> > kernel you are running was compiled for, not which arch the processor
> > is.
> 
> 
> When I was running the default install kernel (i386), I ran uname -m and it
> responded with the result  i686 .

Randy, this is what the help switch says:

$ uname --help
Usage: uname [OPTION]...
Print certain system information.  With no OPTION, same as -s.

  -a, --all                print all information, in the following order:
  -s, --kernel-name        print the kernel name
  -n, --nodename           print the network node hostname
  -r, --kernel-release     print the kernel release
  -v, --kernel-version     print the kernel version
* -m, --machine            print the machine hardware name
   < * Wouldn't this imply what the CPU is?>
  -o, --operating-system   print the operating system
      --help     display this help and exit
      --version  output version information and exit

My system has an AMD K6-2 processor, which is considered i586:

$ uname -a
Linux pmbent1 2.6.10-5-386 #1 Fri May 20 13:52:48 UTC 2005 i586 GNU/Linux

It would appear that I am using the generic i386 kernel. No mention of
an i586 kernel when I look in Synaptic with all the possible source
mirrors activated. This box is important enough to me that if anyone
knows how to get a current Ubuntu i586 kernel for Hoary (without
recompiling), I would greatly appreciate knowing where. Whenever I have
been able to acquire one in a Linux distro for this box, I've noticed a
difference in performance.

Paul





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