*BSD News Article 8037


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Path: sserve!manuel.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!goanna!escargot!minyos.xx.rmit.OZ.AU!s902113
From: s902113@minyos.xx.rmit.OZ.AU (Luke Mewburn)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: Cryix 486DLC/33 CPU - Anyone used one with bsd,linux?
Message-ID: <1es4k2INNdsp@escargot.xx.rmit.OZ.AU>
Date: 24 Nov 92 02:38:57 GMT
References: <1992Nov23.121347.4906@ericsson.se>
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre
Lines: 43
NNTP-Posting-Host: minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au


etxmkhn@eulalia4.ericsson.se (Mark Hannon) writes:

>Hi there!
>The title says it all!  I am just about to make the plunge to a 486
>and this Cyrix chip is about 3000 SEK (approx 500 USD) cheaper!

>But I don't want to buy something that doesn't work too good.  I
>would like to hear from anyone who has used this successfully with
>either 386bsd or linux.

It runs 386BSD well (like a 386DX with 387 but faster)... I had a Cyrix
486DLC m/b for about 2 days until I realised I wasn't getting the
performance I was expecting.. Anyway, think of it as a 386DX which is
70% faster rather than Intel's, rather than a 486 replacement (it
being pin-compat with the 386...)

My _personal_ opinion is that Cyrix should be kicked in the head for
their advertising, cause people will buy their chip as a '486DX'
replacement, which it is not. (Here in Australia, they advertise the
motherboards as "486DX-33 (cyrix) motherboards".)

So, if you want some cheap grunt, go for the cyrix board. But, be
aware that you aren't getting a 486 compatible chip (infact, the board
I bought had a separate cyrix Cx87 - so make sure you do have one
too), but a turbo-charged 386. So, if you wanna run NextStep 486, or
you really do want the 2x-4x speed improvement that a 486 is over the
386, pay the extra money)


>Thanks in advance, Mark H

>------------------------------------------------------------
> Mark Hannon            e-mail : etxmkhn@eulalia.ericsson.se
> Ericsson Telecom AB    memo   : ERI.ETX.ETXMKHN
> Stockholm, Sweden      Phone  : +46 8 7195140
>------------------------------------------------------------


                         Luke Mewburn [Zak]
           s902113@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au   zak@rmit.edu.au
   "Nobody dies on the Discworld, they just become dimensionally
    disadvantaged."         Terry Pratchett in alt.fan.pratchett