10-29-2015
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Join Date: Nov 2012
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No, I do not think it will be possible to run it on Power6 or less.
Internally, assuming the explanation is like what they gave for AIX 6.1 needs Power4 or newer - is that they could reduce the code by XX % - of all kinds of "if" statements by removing code for specific platforms.
The easier explanation is that they use the xlc compiler with the flags -qarch=power7 whcih means it can use instructions unique to power7 and later (read special instructions that do not exist on power6 or earlier) - and just one - in the kernel - will be enough to bring it down (or easier, use one of these in the boot code, so it shall refuse to boot).
