From owner-freebsd-smp Sun Oct 7 9:28:53 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-smp@freebsd.org Received: from mail12.speakeasy.net (mail12.speakeasy.net [216.254.0.212]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 159D137B406 for ; Sun, 7 Oct 2001 09:28:45 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 79291 invoked from network); 7 Oct 2001 16:28:44 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO laptop.baldwin.cx) ([64.81.54.73]) (envelope-sender ) by mail12.speakeasy.net (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP for ; 7 Oct 2001 16:28:44 -0000 Message-ID: X-Mailer: XFMail 1.4.0 on FreeBSD X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <200110060625.PAA02451@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp> Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2001 09:28:16 -0700 (PDT) From: John Baldwin To: Kazutaka YOKOTA Subject: Re: How to distinguish the SMP kernel and the UP kernel Cc: Alfred Perlstein , smp@freebsd.org Sender: owner-freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On 06-Oct-01 Kazutaka YOKOTA wrote: > >>> - The following patch will add a new sysctl variable. >>> >>> kern.smp.kernel >>> >>> This will be 0 for the UP kernel and 1 for the SMP kernel. >>> >>> - It also make kern.smp.active available in the UP kernel as well. >>> (Previously this sysctl variable was only present in the SMP >>> kernel.) It will always be 0 for the UP kernel. >> >>This shouldn't be done. There's no need for 2 copies of the same sysctl. >>Actually, userland can _already_ tell if it is an SMP kernel or not by >>looking >>if the kern.smp.active sysctl exists. This is how top works, for example. >>Thus, userland doesn't need any of this. Only in the kernel do you need >>this. >> >>Now, ideally kernel modules shouldn't care if they are on a SMP kernel or >>not. > > I agree. But, some modules need to know ;-< I was trying to make > the pnpbios driver into a module and it has #ifdef SMP in it. Ah, ok. Yes, that might be a bit tricky in that case. :-) >>Why does the module in question care? The only thing I would do here is >>possibly export a global variable saying if SMP was compiled in, nothing >>more. > > This is fine, as I am not very much interested in exposing to the userland > which kernel configration, SMP or UP, is running. Fair enough. I really would prefer that the variable not be in subr_smp.c so that we don't have compile all of that file just for one variable in a UP kernel. I'm not sure of a better place, however. To avoid adding too many variables, I would suggest exporting smp_active in the UP case (but not the sysctl, as that might break things like top). > Kazu -- John Baldwin -- http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ PGP Key: http://www.baldwin.cx/~john/pgpkey.asc "Power Users Use the Power to Serve!" - http://www.FreeBSD.org/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-smp" in the body of the message From owner-freebsd-smp Mon Oct 8 12:42:21 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-smp@freebsd.org Received: from luke.immure.com (luke.immure.com [207.8.42.74]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CE45737B409 for ; Mon, 8 Oct 2001 12:42:17 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from bob@localhost) by luke.immure.com (8.11.2/8.11.5) id f98Jfw357319; Mon, 8 Oct 2001 14:41:58 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from bob) Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 14:41:58 -0500 From: Bob Willcox To: Luuk van Dijk Cc: freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Advice on Tyan dual athlon board wanted Message-ID: <20011008144158.B55077@luke.immure.com> Reply-To: Bob Willcox References: <3BBCAF50.4C5452E9@mndmttr.nl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <3BBCAF50.4C5452E9@mndmttr.nl>; from lvd@mndmttr.nl on Thu, Oct 04, 2001 at 08:49:52PM +0200 Sender: owner-freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Thu, Oct 04, 2001 at 08:49:52PM +0200, Luuk van Dijk wrote: > I have the opportunity to buy a Tyan Tiger dual athlon motherboard > for about 400 euro, and could use some advice. > > - does FreeBSD run on this? (I've seen messages confirming that > FreeBSD > runs on its elder brother, the ThunderK7) I am running FreeBSD 4-stable on one with two 1.2 GHz MP (Palomino) Athlons and 1GB of memory. > > - are there things to watch out for? Nothing specific that I can think of, off-hand. Mine came up quite easily. I did originally have a hardware problem trying to run with two 512MB Reg ECC DIMMs. The MB would not boot (never got past BIOS stuff to try FreeBSD). I wound up switching to four 256MB Reg ECC DIMMs and all was well (except that I won't be able to add more memory:-(). Note that if you turn on ECC in the BIOS settings that the boot time increases noticably. There will be significant pause (almost a minute in my case) before the first display and POST beep occurs...so give it some time. :-) Hope this helps, Bob > > Thanks, > Luuk van Dijk > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-smp" in the body of the message -- Bob Willcox Putt's Law: bob@vieo.com Technology is dominated by two types of people: Austin, TX Those who understand what they do not manage. Those who manage what they do not understand. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-smp" in the body of the message From owner-freebsd-smp Mon Oct 8 17:55: 7 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-smp@freebsd.org Received: from peter3.wemm.org (c1315225-a.plstn1.sfba.home.com [24.14.150.180]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1608137B408 for ; Mon, 8 Oct 2001 17:55:03 -0700 (PDT) Received: from overcee.netplex.com.au (overcee.wemm.org [10.0.0.3]) by peter3.wemm.org (8.11.0/8.11.0) with ESMTP id f990t2M74917 for ; Mon, 8 Oct 2001 17:55:02 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from peter@wemm.org) Received: from wemm.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by overcee.netplex.com.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id A148F380F; Mon, 8 Oct 2001 17:55:02 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from peter@wemm.org) X-Mailer: exmh version 2.3.1 01/18/2001 with nmh-1.0.4 To: Bob Willcox Cc: Luuk van Dijk , freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Advice on Tyan dual athlon board wanted In-Reply-To: <20011008144158.B55077@luke.immure.com> Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2001 17:55:02 -0700 From: Peter Wemm Message-Id: <20011009005502.A148F380F@overcee.netplex.com.au> Sender: owner-freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Bob Willcox wrote: > On Thu, Oct 04, 2001 at 08:49:52PM +0200, Luuk van Dijk wrote: > > I have the opportunity to buy a Tyan Tiger dual athlon motherboard > > for about 400 euro, and could use some advice. > > > > - does FreeBSD run on this? (I've seen messages confirming that > > FreeBSD > > runs on its elder brother, the ThunderK7) > > I am running FreeBSD 4-stable on one with two 1.2 GHz MP (Palomino) > Athlons and 1GB of memory. Likewise, both under 4.x and 5.x. > > > > - are there things to watch out for? > > Nothing specific that I can think of, off-hand. Mine came up quite > easily. I did originally have a hardware problem trying to run with two > 512MB Reg ECC DIMMs. The MB would not boot (never got past BIOS stuff to > try FreeBSD). I wound up switching to four 256MB Reg ECC DIMMs and all > was well (except that I won't be able to add more memory:-(). Also, be sure to update to the latest bios from tyan. v2.06 is the absolute earliest you should use, and preferably v2.07a. > Note that if you turn on ECC in the BIOS settings that the boot time > increases noticably. There will be significant pause (almost a minute in > my case) before the first display and POST beep occurs...so give it some > time. :-) I *strongly* recommend that you change it back on again and just put up with the delay. Set it to 'ECC Scrub" and '#SERR on multiple bit errors'. If you dont to this, then you can end up chasing your tail wondering why the machine crashed due to something silly that "cannot happen" that was really an undetected/unreported memory error. If you dont turn it on, then the ECC feature of the ram is 100% useless. And on a new memory technology (DDR), you should use all the seatbelts that are available. Cheers, -Peter -- Peter Wemm - peter@FreeBSD.org; peter@yahoo-inc.com; peter@netplex.com.au "All of this is for nothing if we don't go to the stars" - JMS/B5 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-smp" in the body of the message From owner-freebsd-smp Mon Oct 8 21:16:53 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-smp@freebsd.org Received: from luke.immure.com (luke.immure.com [207.8.42.74]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1AF2737B405 for ; Mon, 8 Oct 2001 21:16:49 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from bob@localhost) by luke.immure.com (8.11.2/8.11.5) id f994GgM78156; Mon, 8 Oct 2001 23:16:42 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from bob) Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 23:16:42 -0500 From: Bob Willcox To: Peter Wemm Cc: Luuk van Dijk , freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Advice on Tyan dual athlon board wanted Message-ID: <20011008231642.A77988@luke.immure.com> Reply-To: Bob Willcox References: <20011008144158.B55077@luke.immure.com> <20011009005502.A148F380F@overcee.netplex.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <20011009005502.A148F380F@overcee.netplex.com.au>; from peter@wemm.org on Mon, Oct 08, 2001 at 05:55:02PM -0700 Sender: owner-freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Mon, Oct 08, 2001 at 05:55:02PM -0700, Peter Wemm wrote: > Bob Willcox wrote: > > On Thu, Oct 04, 2001 at 08:49:52PM +0200, Luuk van Dijk wrote: > > > I have the opportunity to buy a Tyan Tiger dual athlon motherboard > > > for about 400 euro, and could use some advice. > > > > > > - does FreeBSD run on this? (I've seen messages confirming that > > > FreeBSD > > > runs on its elder brother, the ThunderK7) > > > > I am running FreeBSD 4-stable on one with two 1.2 GHz MP (Palomino) > > Athlons and 1GB of memory. > > Likewise, both under 4.x and 5.x. > > > > > > > - are there things to watch out for? > > > > Nothing specific that I can think of, off-hand. Mine came up quite > > easily. I did originally have a hardware problem trying to run with two > > 512MB Reg ECC DIMMs. The MB would not boot (never got past BIOS stuff to > > try FreeBSD). I wound up switching to four 256MB Reg ECC DIMMs and all > > was well (except that I won't be able to add more memory:-(). > > Also, be sure to update to the latest bios from tyan. v2.06 is the > absolute earliest you should use, and preferably v2.07a. Hmm, for the S2460 MB the latest that I could find was v1.02. Are you certain that we are talking about the same board (mine's the Tiger S2460, not the Thunder S2462). > > > Note that if you turn on ECC in the BIOS settings that the boot time > > increases noticably. There will be significant pause (almost a minute in > > my case) before the first display and POST beep occurs...so give it some > > time. :-) > > I *strongly* recommend that you change it back on again and just put up > with the delay. Set it to 'ECC Scrub" and '#SERR on multiple bit errors'. > If you dont to this, then you can end up chasing your tail wondering why > the machine crashed due to something silly that "cannot happen" that was > really an undetected/unreported memory error. I have left mine on "ECC Scrub". I don't mind the delay. :-) It's just a little disconcerting when trying to get the system up and nothing happens for about a minute after applying power. It's easy to think that something's wrong. That's why I warned Luuk. > > If you dont turn it on, then the ECC feature of the ram is 100% useless. > And on a new memory technology (DDR), you should use all the seatbelts that > are available. Agreed. Though I do have other systems running PC2100 DDR memory that don't have ECC memory, as it wasn't an option at the time (this one that I'm typing, for example, has been running for over 6 months w/o problems). Bob > > Cheers, > -Peter > -- > Peter Wemm - peter@FreeBSD.org; peter@yahoo-inc.com; peter@netplex.com.au > "All of this is for nothing if we don't go to the stars" - JMS/B5 -- Bob Willcox Putt's Law: bob@vieo.com Technology is dominated by two types of people: Austin, TX Those who understand what they do not manage. Those who manage what they do not understand. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-smp" in the body of the message