i386 vs. i586 vs. i686

[imported_Ghost]

Can anyone tell me what the difference between these are? I visited www.linuxiso.org to get a copy of gentoo but it comes in i386 and i686 versions.

[kriss]

i386: 80386 Intel processor
i586: The Sucsessor for 80486
i686: Pentium pro, later sucsessed by the Pentium 2 processor

I think this should be correct, but I'm not 100% shure so don't trust it blindly.

Good luck

[imported_Ghost]

So by that description an Athlon XP would be considered i686 correct?

[Giro]

Yes an athlon is a i686.

[jasonlambert]

basically they are different architecture types (i think).

if you have what would be classed as an i686, the versions of whatever software your looking for that was compilied for the i386 will work, but may run slower. (if you have an i686, then i486, 586, 686 etc) wont(may not?) work.

When Software is compilied for a specific type of processor the compiler can take advantage of extra functions available on the processor to allow certain tasks to run faster.

Jason

[Dolda2000]

Basically, those are the different conformance levels for IA32 CPUs. As has been said, i386 is the basic conformance level (the functionality equivalence of an Intel 80386). I'm not sure about the definition of the others, but i586 is supposed to be somewhere around the functionality that a Pentium has.

You can check yours with the `uname -m' command.

[Blue|Fusion]

Basically, those are the different conformance levels for IA32 CPUs. As has been said, i386 is the basic conformance level (the functionality equivalence of an Intel 80386). I'm not sure about the definition of the others, but i586 is supposed to be somewhere around the functionality that a Pentium has.

You can check yours with the `uname -m' command.

if i586 = a Pentium class, what would an i686 be?

And also, by Pentium class, do you mean the Pentium I or all Pentium models (included P4, P4EE?)

[Dolda2000]

I mean the basic functionality that is present in all Pentium and later processors (not the union, the intersection). It's meant as a conformance level. That is, Pentium processors conform to i586, Pentium 4 CPUs conform to i586, AMD XP CPUs conform to i586, and so on.
That is, it's not any kind of model specification or anything, it's a set of functions, like the profiling registers and the extra CRT reg bitfields and so on. It's a standard.

I don't really know what i686 is supposed to be. I think it is somewhere around the Pentium 3, but I'm not sure.

[logan5]

The following comes from http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ . Not the most descriptive, but the best that a quick google came up with.

Definition for: 386
Nickname for the 80386.A 32-bit microprocessor from Intel with a clock speed of 33 MHz.The 80386 is used in PCs.

Definition for: 586
Pentium.The Intel high-performance microprocessor introduced in 1993, also called P5 or 80586.It is about twice as fast as the 486.

Definition for: 686
The Pentium Pro.Successor to the Pentium microprocessor; also called P6 or 80686.The 686 has internal RISC architecture and a CISC-RISC translator.It is faster than the Pentium for 32-bit software but slower for 16-bit software

[Giro]

Isnt it just the generation a i686 is a 6th genaration x86