Peeve: why "i386"?

[Robert Clark]

If we switched to x86, how many people would show
up expecting FreeBSD to run on 8086, 80186, or 80286?

80386sx-16 (shudder).

[RC]

----- Original Message -----
From: "sektie" <sektie at codersluts.net>
To: "Makoto Matsushita" <matusita at jp.FreeBSD.org>; <rsidd at online.fr>
Cc: <chat at freebsd.org>
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2003 3:42 AM
Subject: Re: Peeve: why "i386"?


> Personally, I don't care.
>
> I'm just about the most OCD person about my computers that I have ever
seen
> (ex: cvsup ports nightly, if 'pkg_version | grep "<"' returns something
more
> than two nights in a row, my cell phone gets an SMS). Everything has to be
> beautiful and perfect, but I really don't care what the documentation
says.
> That's for a person more anal than myself to complain about.
>
> However, I do think that switching it from 'i386' to 'x86' wouldn't be
that
> big a deal. If you know what i386 is, then x86 isn't going to confuse you
> (ia-32, eh, not so sure about that one). If you don't know what i386 is,
> then I seriously doubt you are going to be looking at anything more
complex
> than a mac or winxp.
>
> The question isn't "are people going to understand?"; it's "who is going
to
> put the effort into doing that much work in the documentation?".
>
> More power to ya if ya have the time. Why not do something more useful,
> though, like reverse engineer the DLink 520+? I'd give massive hugs to the
> person that comes up with drivers for that. Getting rid of that clunky
> Linksys and letting my fbsd server be the access point as well would take
> care of me having to replace the crossover cable every 2 weeks due to a
> teething 2 year old...
>
> Much love,
>
> Randi
> sektie at codersluts.net
> http://perlpimp.codersluts.net/
>
> ---------- Original Message -----------
> From: Makoto Matsushita <matusita at jp.FreeBSD.org>
> To: rsidd at online.fr
> Cc: chat at freebsd.org
> Sent: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 18:17:51 +0900
> Subject: Re: Peeve: why "i386"?
>
> > rsidd> Debian (to take a random example):
> > rsidd> http://www.debian.org/ports/
> > rsidd> Intel x86 / IA-32 (``i386'')...
> > (other messages deleted)
> >
> > Please note that "(Put your favorite OS except FreeBSD) calls it
> > ia32, so should we" is bad idea, since FreeBSD is FreeBSD :-)  And, the
> > message you mention is that "i386" is very common name for PCs, they
> > cannot simply says it's x86 and/or IA-32.
> >
> > We're not teacheres of computer architecture; the name should be
> > common to us, rather than strict meanings.
> >
> > -- -
> > Makoto `MAR' Matsushita
> > _______________________________________________
> > freebsd-chat at freebsd.org mailing list
> > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-chat
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> ------- End of Original Message -------
>
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