Void's Forums

by **Tux** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 12:33 pm

Hey do you guys have any links that say how and how well Linux deals with dual x86 CPU's?
Also, which programs make use of two processors?
Does the kernel deal threads to different processors?

Thanks in advance.

by **Void Main** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 1:30 pm

Yes, just enable SMP in your kernel or if you have Red Hat or the like it will detect if you have more than one CPU and will install a kernel compiled for SMP. If you have SMP enabled you will see all of your CPUs when you do a "cat /proc/cpuinfo". Nothing else really has to be done.

Services like Apache start multiple children and will be automatically distributed between how ever many CPUs you have by the kernel. When you run "top" you should see 2 CPU lines rather than 1 (if you have 2 CPUs that is).

I have run Linux on many 2 processor Intel and Sun Sparc machines. I have run it on 4 Xeon processor Dell 6300 boxes with no problems.

by **Lord C** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:48 pm

I have a dual pro machine, it works perfectly with Mandrake - i didn't have to choose an options or anything. On the setup kernal automatically told me i had dual.

Here's TOP:

PS, my stats are: http://www.calvinrobinson.com/fpc.htm

by **Lord C** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:53 pm

PS: Tus, at last i get to returnt he favour and answer on of your quesions for a change

(yes im the BaDDaSS from FuckMS.com)

by **Tux** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:58 pm

Hehe, thanks Badass.
That's a nice system you got there - what are the specs?

by **Void Main** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 3:25 pm

BaDDaSS, your CPU lines don't look right, that is they don't add up. You might consider upgrading your "procps" package which should give you "% iowait" in addition to the other colums (user/system/nice/idle). It is showing that your system is nearly 100% utilized (or nearly 0% idle) yet not one column is even at 1%. The "% idle" should be what is left over after adding all the other columns together and subtracting from 100 (all columns should add up to about 100). Here's what the line would look like in the new top:

Code: Select all: CPU states: 2.1% user 1.1% system 0.0% nice 0.0% iowait 96.6% idle

I guess the above doesn't add up either but it's close (all columns added together should add up to around 100). I'm guessing that the part of the processing time that is missing from your display would probably be in the iowait column in the newer version of top. Were you running any I/O intensive programs during that snapshot?

by **Lord C** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 3:32 pm

I was only running Xchat, KSnapshot, KDEmail and gFTP :/

Tux my specs are:

Alien Sonic - Alienware, blue and super fast

- 2 x AMD AthlonMP 1.2GHz CPU
- 2 x Taisol 760 Heatsink with fan
- Tyan Thunder K7 S2462UNG Motherboard
- 2 x on-board 10/100 NIC and on-board graphics extra
- 1GB (1024MB) DDR RAM Memory
- GeForce 3 Graphics Card
- 4 x 17.5GB IBM Deskstar SCSI3 HDD (10,000rpm)
- 40GB IDE HDD (72,000rpm)
- VideoLogic Sonic Fury Sound Card
- Blue ALIENWARE (Chieftec Dragon style) DX-01BLD Case with lockable front and side-slide panel. Case has 4 badges on front (Alienware, FreeBSD, 2 CPU and AMD Athlon). Also has "Alienware" imprinted down left hand-side and a laser-cut fan guard on the side, looks funky!)
- 431Watt PSU (not sure of model, but AMD Approved for dual systems)
- Pioneer 16x DVD Drive (Slot-loading)
- PlexWriter 24/10/40A CD-RW Drive
- 3.5" Floppy Drive
- Four 80mm fans (1 intake at front, 1 intake at side, 2 outflow at back)
- Blue keyboard matching the case
- Mandrake 9.0
- Windows XP Professional <-- Dual Boot
- l'espion digital camera,
- Blue HP multi-function keyboard
- Logitech iFeel "rumble" mouse,
- Home network via HUB and ethernet,
- 1mb cable broadband with NThell,
- Tiny speaker set,
- Mustek scanner,
- Studio PCTV Rave (Pinnacle TV-card)
- Logitek quickcam (webcam),
- PenMouse (cool for drawing with).
- 4 USB socket HUB
- Joypad
- Plantronics DSP400 USB Digital Headset
And a gorgeous tiltable 18" TFT flat screen monitor with under-speakers.

by **Tux** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 4:22 pm

Is that tyan mobo good? and also where can I get one cheap in UK?

by **Lord C** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 4:26 pm

Cheap tyan mobo, or cheap alienware pc?

The motherboard is excellent, i have no idea where to buy them though.

I don't know if you're aware, but ALIENWARE are now sold in the UK

Although, they are still very expensive :/
http://www.alienware.co.uk

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