Regular kernel on Core Duo?
 

Hello all. If I run the regular kernel (ie not the SMP kernel) on a machine with an Intel Core Duo processor, does it mean that the kernel will only use one of the cores? Would the other core just be sleeping, or what exactly would it be doing?

Specifically I'm using Fedora 4, but I assume the behavior should be similar for all distribution?

Thanks.

id think it would only use the one cpu, get an SMP kernel

Yes, I agree that it should be using only one of the cores. But specifically what I would like to know is what the other core is doing. Does it ever get woken up at all? Or would it be clocked at full speed but doing nothing? Does it have any effect on bus traffic, etc.?

If anyone knows something specific, I'd much appreciate your answer. I actually have the SMP kernel. But I am running the regular kernel to test some stuff and I would like to find out if the core that is not being used is affecting the tests so I got the results that I got.

Thanks.

run the 'top' command in the shell. Press "1" to flip through CPU's and you can see how it is being utilized. That may be a start.