[plug] Cyrix 6x86

[Leon Brooks]

Bret Busby wrote:
> It the Itanium is Intel, I'd rather stick with my Cyrix 6x86 - more
> secure (than intel),

You mean it's glued to the socket? (-:

> and no espionage features built in, like the P3's.

I don't know about "built in" but Windows strikes me as being a useful
espionage feature, since it leaks "secure" information like a colander.

> They definitely don't make 'em like this anymore. Good old Socket 7.

Thank goodness. My wife's machine runs a Cryix 240, branded "WinChip" (a
bad sign to start with) and it's a dog of a processor.

> The strange thing is, that, given that my CPU is only supposed to have
> the 486 instruction set, it runs applications and OS's, that are
> supposed to require the 586's, and therefore, apparently, the 586
> instruction set.

The gateway behind me is running a Mandrake 7 (for-586-compiled)
distribution on a 486SLC40 CPU (chopped-back 486, including no FPU). The
only change I made was to recompile the kernel to include FPU support (I
told it to optimise for a 486 while I was there).

-- 
Dogs have masters. Cats have staff.