Baslinux mailing list

[baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org]

Sindi wrote:

> I compiled for i586 audio-only to make a smaller lighter binary, and left
> out MMX2 and SSE (P3) SSE2 (P4), and 3DNow2 (AMD post K6-2) since my older
> laptops don't support it (the P2 P55C does MMX, and the K6-2 3DNow, which
> is the equivalent).  I figured this way it would run faster in less
> memory.  Should probably have disabled termcap.

> Our Compaq LTE (120MHz) and Prosignia (350MHz) use PII, and Presario
> 380-475MHz AMD-K6-2.  HP Omnibook 133-166 cpu is "P MMX" (PII) as is the
> DELL Latitude 166MHz and 300MHz.  Toshiba Satellite 266MHz (probably also
> the 250MHz) and Thinkpad 233 266 and 400MHz are PII and so is Winbook xli.
> 14 potential radios.  LTE and Winbook and DELL 300 don't sound too good
> but the rest sound better than most newer models we have, and many have
> volume controls.
>
> Pentium 2 ended at 450MHz in 1998.
> Pentium 3 started at 400Mhz in 1999.

Thinkpad 560X is PII P55C, which is part of the P5 family introduced in 
1993 and made through 1999.

Compaq LTE5280 120MHz is PII without the MMX (or SSE, or 3Dnow).
Mplayer says it is P54C but that was 70-100MHz.  P54CQS was 120MHz.
P54CS (also without MMX) was 133-200MHz.  So anything up to 200MHz might 
not support MMX, and anything under 166MHz has no MMX.

This laptop probably dates from 1995 or early 1996 and was $7000 new. 
Superduper sturdy case and keyboard with desktop feel. No framebuffer. 
Hardware brightness adjust.  Standard sound ES1688 which works as sb16.

Works with timidity and sox but mplayer segfaults.  I could try compiling 
without any MMX or 3DNow support.  mpg123 plays mp3s offline, or online 
using wget to pipe the stream.

I have another Compaq 120MHz (probably P54CQX), an HP 133MHz (P54CS? - 
$3500 new) (both only 800x600) and 166Mhz Omnibook (1024x768 - P54CS or 
P55C).

MMX was introduced in 1996.  PII with MMX P55C was introduced in Jan 1997. 
MMX can speed up MMX-capable software by 70%.  It was 166MHz-233MHz 
(probably also 266MHz).  These should work with my mplayer i586.

I have two 166MHz laptops - DELL and HP Omnibook, which might have MMX if 
they were made in 1997.

Steven, if you have a 166MHz or faster laptop please try it with mplayer 
i586 online.  i686 version will work online with P55C but not offline, 
and i586 version seems to segfault on P54C even offline.

The i586 version is for some 166MHz and 200Mhz (pre-1997), some 166 and 
200 and all 233-300MHz PII (1997-1998), and all 266-550MHz AMD-K6-2 (1998).

The LTE works nicely online with a network card, but not with any modem.
Text is displayed in an area smaller than the screen and there is no 
framebuffer support but the text looks very clear.  It makes a fine 
wordprocessor with limited radio support, and for email and non-graphical 
browsing.  It works in plain VGA mode with svgalib links2, but draws the 
screen quite slowly (no MMX) and though I have a 300Kbit/sec DSL 
connection, it downloads at less than dialup speed (17-22K/sec)- the cpu 
and video chip probably cannot keep up with anything faster.  Waiting in 
queue, making connection.  I cannot even write email while loading a site.

24K radio (kvlu, wdav, weku) works fine.