[TriLUG] kernel question

Mike Johnson mike at enoch.org
Tue Jul 15 11:04:39 EDT 2003


Matt Hoover [Matt.Hoover at haht.com] wrote:
> 
>    The good news is that a SMP kernel will work fine on a
>    Uniprocessor system.  The bad news is that there is a
>    performance hit.

Whoops, you're right.  Ignore my previous post.  From Configure.help:
CONFIG_SMP
  This enables support for systems with more than one CPU. If you have
  a system with only one CPU, like most personal computers, say N. If
  you have a system with more than one CPU, say Y.

  If you say N here, the kernel will run on single and multiprocessor
  machines, but will use only one CPU of a multiprocessor machine. If
  you say Y here, the kernel will run on many, but not all,
  single machines. On a singleprocessor machine, the kernel
  will run faster if you say N here.

Note the 'the kernel will run faster' part.  Honestly, though, I don't
think you'll notice.

I was basing my answer on the option for using APIC on uniprocessor
systems.  Which is needed on SMP systems (IIRC), but not on uniproc
systems.

Mike
-- 
"If life hands you lemons, YOU BLOW THOSE LEMONS TO BITS WITH 
 YOUR LASER CANNONS!" -- Brak

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