From nobody@FreeBSD.org  Sat Jan  5 12:50:19 2002
Return-Path: <nobody@FreeBSD.org>
Received: from freefall.freebsd.org (freefall.FreeBSD.org [216.136.204.21])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 060DC37B4CF
	for <freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org>; Sat,  5 Jan 2002 12:50:16 -0800 (PST)
Received: (from nobody@localhost)
	by freefall.freebsd.org (8.11.6/8.11.6) id g05KoFn34268;
	Sat, 5 Jan 2002 12:50:15 -0800 (PST)
	(envelope-from nobody)
Message-Id: <200201052050.g05KoFn34268@freefall.freebsd.org>
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2002 12:50:15 -0800 (PST)
From: Craig Reyenga <dreyenga@telus.net>
To: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org
Subject: i386 Release notes make no mention of AMD/Cyrix Processor support
X-Send-Pr-Version: www-1.0

>Number:         33582
>Category:       docs
>Synopsis:       i386 Release notes make no mention of AMD/Cyrix Processor support
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    bmah
>State:          closed
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:  
>Class:          doc-bug
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Sat Jan 05 13:00:01 PST 2002
>Closed-Date:    Sat Jan 12 09:38:28 PST 2002
>Last-Modified:  Sat Jan 12 09:41:22 PST 2002
>Originator:     Craig Reyenga
>Release:        4.4-STABLE
>Organization:
>Environment:
N/A
>Description:
In section 2 of the i386 release notes, it states:

"FreeBSD for the i386 currently runs on a wide variety of ISA, VLB, EISA, MCA and PCI bus based PC's, ranging from 386sx to Pentium 4 class machines (though the 386sx is not recommended)."

There is no mention of support for any AMD or Cyrix processor, even
though most, if not all are supported by FreeBSD. This is a big deal
becuase people ask about AMD processor support all of
the time on IRC.
>How-To-Repeat:
Using your favourite browser, head to:
http://www.freebsd.org/releases/4.4R/hardware-i386.html
and read section 2.
>Fix:
Make mention of processor support from all vendors, not just Intel.

>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:

From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com>
To: <freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org>, <dreyenga@telus.net>
Cc:  
Subject: Re: docs/33582: i386 Release notes make no mention of AMD/Cyrix Processor support
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 01:33:09 -0800

 The Release Notes are for _changes_ to the OS.  AMD/Cyrix support has been
 in FreeBSD for a long time.
 
 Note that the first sentence of the website http://www.freebsd.org is:
 
 "...FreeBSD is an advanced operating system for Intel ia32 compatible..."
 
 Both Cyrix and AMD claim Intel ia32 compatability on their own CPU
 documentation.
 
 Note that the term "i386" is not a copyrighted term of Intel's and is
 used as a general industry term for a CPU family of which the Pentium, the
 Athlon, and the Cyrix CPU's all belong to.
 
 The term "i386" is used within the Release notes right at the beginning.
 
 If any file should be modified it is the HARDWARE.TXT which lists all
 specific hardware supported by that version of FreeBSD.  This document
 contains the phrase:
 
 "...FreeBSD for the i386 currently runs on a wide variety of ISA, VLB, EISA,
 MCA and PCI bus based PC's, ranging from 386sx to Pentium 4 class machines
 (though the 386sx is not recommended)..."
 
 It could be modified to be:
 
 FreeBSD for the i386 currently runs on a wide variety of ISA, VLB, EISA, MCA
 and PCI bus based PC's, ranging from 386sx to Pentium 4 to AMD and Cyrix
 machines (though the 386sx is not recommended).
 
 
 
 
 Ted Mittelstaedt                                       tedm@toybox.placo.com
 

From: "Bruce A. Mah" <bmah@FreeBSD.ORG>
To: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com>
Cc: bug-followup@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: docs/33582: i386 Release notes make no mention of AMD/Cyrix Processor support 
Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2002 16:11:20 -0800

 If memory serves me right, "Ted Mittelstaedt" wrote:
 
 >  If any file should be modified it is the HARDWARE.TXT which lists all
 >  specific hardware supported by that version of FreeBSD.
 
 Yes, I assumed the submitter was a little bit confused and that he
 really meant the hardware list.
 
 >  FreeBSD for the i386 currently runs on a wide variety of ISA, VLB, EISA, MCA
 >  and PCI bus based PC's, ranging from 386sx to Pentium 4 to AMD and Cyrix
 >  machines (though the 386sx is not recommended).
 
 I personally had in mind fleshing out the entire section...here's what I
 have so far but I'm not sure how accurate it is...comments appreciated:
 
   <para>&os; for the i386 runs on a wide variety of
   <quote>PC compatible</quote> machines.</para>
 
   <para>Almost all i386-compatible processors are supported.  All Intel
   processors beginning with the 80386 are supported, including the
   80386, 80486, Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III,
   Pentium 4, and variants thereof.  All AMD processors are also
   supported, from the Am486 and Am5x86 up through the K5, K6, Athlon,
   and Duron processors.  The Transmeta Crusoe is recognized and
   supported, as are i386-compatible processors from Cyrix and
   NexGen.</para>
 
   <para>Motherboards using the ISA, VLB, EISA, MCA
   (<quote>Microchannel</quote>), AGP, and PCI expansion busses are
   supported to varying degrees (in particular, MCA-based machines
   enjoy more limited support than the others).  Symmetric
   multi-processor (SMP) motherboards are generally supported.</para>
 
   <para>&os; will generally run on i386-based laptops, albeit with
   varying levels of support for certain hardware features such as
   sound, graphics, and PCCARD expansion slots.  These hardware devices
   tend to vary in idiosyncratic ways between machines.  When in doubt,
   a search of the archives for the &a.mobile; may be useful.</para>
 
 Comments appreciated...
 
 Bruce.
 
 

From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com>
To: <bmah@FreeBSD.ORG>
Cc: <bug-followup@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject: RE: docs/33582: i386 Release notes make no mention of AMD/Cyrix Processor support 
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 20:06:09 -0800

 I would change the sentence to:
 
 All AMD processors are also supported, from the Am486 and Am5x86 up through
 the K5, K6, Athlon, and Duron processors.
 
 to:
 
 All AMD i386-compatible processors are also supported, from the Am486 and
 Am5x86 up through the K5, K6, Athlon, and Duron processors.
 
 This covers you in case AMD sometime in the future releases some non-standard
 variant.  AMD is currently pushing the "Athlon XP Processor" which is claimed
 to have "special features" that support Windows XP.  I doubt that these
 special
 features (ie: enhanced support for software modems, etc.) are going to be
 of much use to us for a while.
 
 We probably need to put something in there on the status of the 64 bit port -
 perhaps a pointer to http://www.freebsd.org/platforms/ia64.html but that page
 is pretty old too.
 
 Ted Mittelstaedt                                       tedm@toybox.placo.com
 
 

From: bmah@FreeBSD.ORG (Bruce A. Mah)
To: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com>
Cc: bmah@FreeBSD.ORG, bug-followup@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: docs/33582: i386 Release notes make no mention of AMD/Cyrix Processor support 
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 07:43:57 -0800

 If memory serves me right, "Ted Mittelstaedt" wrote:
 > All AMD i386-compatible processors are also supported, from the Am486 and
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 > Am5x86 up through the K5, K6, Athlon, and Duron processors.
 
 Good point, thanks.
 
 > We probably need to put something in there on the status of the 64 bit port -
 > perhaps a pointer to http://www.freebsd.org/platforms/ia64.html but that page
 > is pretty old too.
 
 The ia64 port will have its own hardware list (and its own, totally
 separate, version of this section).  In -CURRENT, the infrastructure is
 already set up, although it's not connected to the release documentation
 build and the processor-specific paragraphs aren't written yet.  Since I
 wouldn't know an ia64 machine if it bit me on the nose, I'm the wrong
 person to try to write this part.  Once the port gets more mature, I'll
 get some of the freebsd-ia64 crowd to help with this.
 
 The powerpc and sparc64 hardware documents aren't set up at all, BTW, 
 but I could do this pretty quickly if someone from those camps wanted 
 to work on them.
 
 Thanks for the feedback!
 
 Bruce.
 
 
State-Changed-From-To: open->analyzed 
State-Changed-By: bmah 
State-Changed-When: Fri Jan 11 15:28:03 PST 2002 
State-Changed-Why:  
I've written a new i386 processor-specific section for -CURRENT's 
hardware notes (proc-i386.sgml rev. 1.2).  I'll MFC this in the next  
day or so for 4-STABLE, and then close the PR. 


Responsible-Changed-From-To: freebsd-doc->bmah 
Responsible-Changed-By: bmah 
Responsible-Changed-When: Fri Jan 11 15:28:03 PST 2002 
Responsible-Changed-Why:  
I'm working on this. 

http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=33582 
State-Changed-From-To: analyzed->closed 
State-Changed-By: bmah 
State-Changed-When: Sat Jan 12 09:38:28 PST 2002 
State-Changed-Why:  
Committed to 4-STABLE...all done! 

Minor nitpick:  In the future, please don't inflate the severity 
and/or priority of PRs..."critical" was not an appropriate severity. 
Thanks! 

http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=33582 
>Unformatted:
