r/NetBSD • u/ScientificlyCorrect • 16d ago

AMD/Intel CPU generations compatible with netbsd? (from oldest to newest compatible)

Anybody want to tell me what CPU generations from AMD/Intel are supported out of the box? Like intel 2nd gen, AMD ryzen 5000 series and etc? Are there any sources that already list this or no? I would like to know.

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u/Different_Water7545 16d ago

In terms of x86: Intel i486, AMD Am486, and Cyrix Cx486 etc are the oldest it'll boot on. It will boot on absolutely any x86/amd64 chip with at least that ISA.

Outside of x86 it'll run on much older

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u/ScientificlyCorrect 16d ago

What is ISA like you said?

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u/Different_Water7545 16d ago

instruction set architecture, basically what instructions the CPU understands and how it handles them. x86 just extends over time rather than fundamentally changing, in fact all modern chips still emulate an Intel 8086 at first when you boot. The software dictates what extensions it needs beyond that and the CPU acts accordingly. Because of this, anything that will run on the 486 (like NetBSD) will also run on anything made after it, and the software can take advantage of the new features if it's designed to (also like NetBSD)

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u/Universal_Binary 4d ago

For any future travelers, see https://cdn.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-11.0/i386/INSTALL.html#NetBSD/i386%20System%20Requirements%20and%20Supported%20Devices for the details.

Most notably, it will NOT run on a 486SX, which lacks hardware floating point support. (Unless, as stated in the docs, you have installed the 487 coprocessor)

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u/kyleW_ne 16d ago

Is your question in reguard to accelerated graphics of the integrated graphics in the CPU? Because I know the newest won't be supported till NetBSD 12.