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SubjectRE: 1->many Pentium CPU upgrade (kernel 2.2.5)
Date
Igor,

1- The Linux kernel will work with a different motherboard...

2- As far as I know you either build Linux kernels UP or SMP .. I've never
seen (or heard about) changing a built kernel from UP to SMP (it doesn't
hurt to run an SMP kernel on a UP system and vice-versa...looking at how the
kernel is built I'd believe that you can't go from UP to SMP kernel without
rebuilding.. i'm up to challenges tho ;-)

3- For SMP I'd suggest any kernels later than 2.2.7 (I've had 2.2.10 work
the best so far .. haven't used 2.2.11, or .12 long enought). Prior to
2.2.7 our systems would run for a few days and then crash (ahh the good ole'
wait_on_bh crash:) Early 2.2 kernels had smp problems

4- I haven't heard of any PII motherboards that support 4 cpus.. PII's/III's
support up to dual processors. The Xeon (yeah yeah they are PII's and
III's) systems are those that support up to 2, 4, and now 8 cpu's (so your
350's won't work in quad, and Xeon processors cost a couple grand a piece,
but are very nice .. got a couple poweredge 6300's .. quad xeon builds the
kernel in under a minute and a half .. ;-)

Also check your memory .. PII 350 is a 100mhz processor .. If your memory
comes from a P-150 its most likely simms or dimms and not 100mhz dimms.

Terry
>
> Hello,
>
> I have a few questions regarding the behavior of 2.2.5 and above
> during a hardware upgrade. The answers that I would be most happy to
> hear are "upgrade your hardware and everything will work just fine",
> but I am not very optimistic (call it a hunch ;-). It seems important
> to know the answers before buying new hardware, but I could not find
> them in FAQs or other online docs. E.g., SMP is typically covered
> either from the developer's point of view, while I mainly care about
> not losing my system during upgrade and being able to run independent
> processes on difft processors (e.g., using make -j2) afterwards.
>
> If you believe my questions are not appriate for this list,
> I'd be happy to receive suggestions as to better places to post at.
> Pointers to relevant docs are also welcome.
>
> Since I am not subscribed to this list,please
> cc: imarkov@cs.ucla.edu
> when replying
>
> ---------- end disclaimers ---------------------------------------------
> ---------- begin content ---------------------------------------------
>
> I am running an out-of-the box (no kernel rebuilds/upgrades)
> RedHat6.0 on a Pentium 150 w 96Mb RAM and a 3.2Gb HD.
>
> The upgrade is motivated by two factors
>
> o the latest gcc/g++2.95.1 (http://egcs.cygnus.com) can finally
> compile my C++ code and I am not anymore confined to SunPro CC
> or MSVC++
> o our lab has a number of spare Pentium II/350 processors donated
> from Intel and the multi-proc. motherboards do not look too much
> pricier than uni-proc. ones.
>
> I plan to buy a motherboard for 2 or 4 processors, a new case and new
> memory (I've been told that my curr. 96Mb chips may not work well with
> new boards). I am going to keep the peripherals.
>
> The questions are
>
> 1. I expect the current [binary] kernel to recognize a new
> motherboard and at least one new processor immediately after
> the upgrade. Will that work if the board has 2 or 4 processors
> installed?
>
> 2. One of the 2.2 kernel reviews on the Web alluded to
> the possibility to turn SMP on w/o recompiling the kernel...
> is this really possible or was that my misunderstanding ?
>
> 3. If I need to rebuild the kernel, I would also consider downloading
> a newer one before rebuilding. Since I do not have
> problems with 2.2.5
> running on one processor, I am curious if there are any advantages
> in getting a new kernel. I do seem to have one of those Ethernet
> cards that caused sudden death in combination w SMP, but I am not
> using it since I have no Ethernet connection.
>
> 4. Any comments on choosing 2-processor vs 4-processor motherboard?
> (Since I am going to use the processors for faster
> builds, it seems
> I should be able to use 4 processors w no problem).
>
> thanks,
>
> Igor
> P.S. Please cc: your replies to imarkov@cs.ucla.edu
> --
> Igor Markov office: (310) 206-0179
> http://vlsicad.cs.ucla.edu/~imarkov
>
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