Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sun, 29 Aug 1999 21:59:50 -0400 | From | Rui Sousa <> | Subject | Re: Qs: 1->many Pentium CPU upgrade (kernel 2.2.5) |
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Igor Markov wrote: > > 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.
There is a more specialized list:
linux-smp@vger.rutgers.edu
but this one is Ok too.
> > 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++
You must have very special C++ code... Be careful that gcc 2.95 is reported to miscompile the kernel.
> 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.
You will probably get a BX motherboard with a 100 MHz bus. So you need PC100 SDRAM memory. If you currently are using EDO or FPM chips those won't do.
> > 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?
You will have to recompile the kernel with SMP enabled or install the SMP kernel rpm (something like kernel-smp-2.2.5-15.i686.rpm)
> > 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 ?
Only if we have one previously compiled for SMP (see above).
> > 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. > Newer kernels usually mean fewer bugs and/or more features. If yours work fine and there are no new drivers/bug fixes that interest you in a more recent kernel there is no particular harm in sticking with the one you have.
> 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). >
Only Pentium Xeon supports 4 way SMP boards and even then this are hard to find. Intel only sells them as part of complete systems.
> thanks, > > Igor > P.S. Please cc: your replies to imarkov@cs.ucla.edu
Rui Sousa
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