Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Wed, 17 Dec 2003 17:42:19 -0800
From:      Mark Wolfskehl <mark.wolfskehl@verizon.net>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   FreeBSD newbie general and SMP questions for i386]
Message-ID:  <3FE105FB.3060603@verizon.net>

next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Hi,

I'm a FreeBSD newbie.  I'm considering installing either FreeBSD i386 or 
Linux on a 2 AMD Athelon CPU machine.  The motherboard is an ASUS 
A7M266-D, and the machine has 2GB memory installed.  I'm working on 
trying to answer some key questions before making a final decision which 
OS to install (right now the other alternative is SuSe Linux), but 
perhaps if anyone has some quick answers that would be a help:

1. How stable is SMP support in 5.1, especially compared to the 
stability of single CPU FreeBSD and Linux in general?

2. In general, how could I characterize the relative performance of 
FreeBSD and Linux under an SMP kernel and/.or single processors?

3. I'm looking into whether my motherboard conforms to the FreeBSD 
requirements.  I don't know if the 'Intel MP' means you have to have 
genuine Intel processors, in particular.  If anyone can get a quick 
answer to this, that would be critical, of course.  ASUS's website is 
www.asus.com, and you can just do a search for the motherboard model.  
They have all the specs and the users manual in pdf online.  Thanks in 
advance.

4. How compatible is FreeBSD with Linux in practice?  I understand there 
is a Linux compatibility module for the kernel?

5. Will FreeBSD run VMWare Workstation virtual machine SW for Linux (in 
practice)?

6. Anything else I should know as a newbie?

Whew!  That's a lot, but thanks in advance!

Mark Wolfskehl
mark.wolfskehl@verizon.net







Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?3FE105FB.3060603>