Re: Using float emulator on a system with FPU?

[Alex Zepeda]

On Mon, 12 Jul 1999, Brian F. Feldman wrote:

> Why shouldn't we? Noone uses machines without FPUs anymore. What
> non-ancient CPU doesn't have an FPU? And we're talking about the i386
> family here...

I've noticed recently, more and more, Linux is moving into the embedded
market quite nicely, and being used on smaller and smaller systems.
FreeBSD OTOH has been focusing (albeit not too successfully) on the higher
end market.

With my recent addition of an 040 powered Mac that I plan to put NetBSD
on, this really irks me.  I'd love to put some (read: a significant)
amount of time getting FreeBSD up and running on this, but there seems to
be a lot of resistance to using FreeBSD on smaller/older machines. It
almost seems like the requirement is Pentium III, Alpha or bust.

And yes, this machine does have an FPU, but there are plenty of *newer*
systems without FPUs For instance, doesn't the StrongArm lack an FPU? What
about embedded systems?  A 486SX would draw a whole lot less power than a
Pentium.  And it's certainly not like emulating an FPU is an impossible
task like say on some LC040s...

- alex



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