>>How good are the Cyrix and AMD CPU's?  Are there any problems running NetBSD
>>on them?  Any patches required?  How about the speed?  Heat problems?  The
>>non-Intel versions seem to be much cheaper, so they're very interesting to
>>me.

>The Cyrix 6x86 (and IBM) are good chips -- I'd recommend the
>P166+, as it runs at 66MHz bus speed.  The P200+ runs at 75,
[...]
>It will run 16bit DOS better than a Pentium Pro, and run 32bit

But, the 16bit stuff it runs faster is getting to be a very small part
of the current world of software.

Yes, the Cyrix chips seem like neat chips, and they're definitely a
great bang for the buck.

But don't be mistaken into thinking they're as fast, or almost as
fast, as a Pentium Pro (running NetBSD, anyway), because they're only
about half way there (between a comparably clocked Pentium and Pentium
Pro).

The Cyrix chips are great if you want something pretty fast on a good
budget.  If you have enough money to go all-out, the Pentium Pro
currently can't be touched by anything that runs NetBSD, except a
pretty hefty Alpha.

Just FYI...

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  Michael L. VanLoon                           michaelv@MindBender.serv.net
        --<  Free your mind and your machine -- NetBSD free un*x  >--
    NetBSD working ports: 386+PC, Mac 68k, Amiga, Atari 68k, HP300, Sun3,
        Sun4/4c/4m, DEC MIPS, DEC Alpha, PC532, VAX, MVME68k, arm32...
    NetBSD ports in progress: PICA, others...
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