dual processors
 

i just got slackware 8.1 installed last night and i think it only say one of my processors!!

here is a cat of /proc/cpuinfo

root@babylon:/# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 7
model name : Pentium III (Katmai)
stepping : 3
cpu MHz : 501.148
cache size : 512 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse
bogomips : 999.42

What did i do wrong durring the installation?!?! right now i am downloading slackware-current. i will try that tonite. any help is greatly appreciated.

:study:

You need to recompile your kernel and make sure you enable SMP. I am not sure if the base Slackware kernels include that or not.

Check out the below site for instructions on compiling a kernel. While your at it you should probably get the newest kernel from www.kernel.org too.
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO.html#toc

uh oh this looks like its going to be a pain in my neck...

It really isn't that hard to do, and it is something anyone who wants to understand linux really should do anyway.

I'll give you the basic steps I usually use....

One, extract linux-version.tar.gz to my home directory, move folder to /usr/src/linux-version. You have to be root to do this btw...

cd /usr/src/linux-version
make menuconfig
go through and pick all the options you want, you have a choice of saying yes, no, or compiling things as modules. Read the help on each option for more information. The options that are really important to not forget are things like ReiserFS if you use it, ext3 if you use it, ect.

make bzImage
This makes the image of you new kernel and puts it in /usr/src/linux-version/arch/i386/boot/ if you are running on something other then x86 change the i386 as neccesary.

make modues
builds all your modules

make modules_install
installs all your modules

now mv bzImage to /boot/bzImage-version

edit lilo.conf and add a new option to the boot menu for your /boot/bzImage-version kernel.

run lilo

reboot....

The reason why you add a new option is you don't want to overwrite your good kernel only to find you made a mistake and the new kernel won't boot.

Oh, and make sure you check off SMP under the general options on menuconfig.

If you have any questions drop me an e-mail or reply here.

John

oh... btw, once it all works change the dynamic link /usr/src/linux to point to your new /usr/src/linux-version directory. You do this by rm /usr/src/linux and then doing ln -s /usr/src/linux-version /usr/src/linux. That way when you compile any new kernel modules they link against the correct kernel source... kinda important if you ask me.

Yes - Slackware doesn't support SMP out of the box so you _must_ to compile your own kernel. It's not as hard as it seems. You need more practice and all will be fine :)

0. Download latest stable kernel sources from http://www.kernel.org
1. cd /usr/src
2. tar -zxvf <path_to_downloaded_kernel>/linux-2.4.19.tar.gz (or -jxvf if *.tar.bz2)
3. ln -sf linux-2.4.19/ linux
4. cd linux/
5. make menuconfig (choose appropriate options for your system, SMP support is one of them for example ;) )
6. make dep clean bzImage OR make dep clean; make -j 3 bzImage
7. make modules modules_install OR make -j 3 modules; make modules_install (only if you have answered with <m> instead of <y> and <n> somewhere in menuconfig)
8. cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-smp-2.4.19
9. cp System.map /boot/System.map-smp-2.4.19
10. cp .config /boot/config-smp-2.4.19 (generally it's a good idea to have a copy from your .config file)
11. cd /boot
12. ln -sf System.map-smp-2.4.19 System.map
13. ln -sf config-smp-2.4.19 config
14. vi /etc/lilo.conf (add instance to your new kernel here, for example:

boot=/dev/hda1
prompt
timeout=50
change-rules
reset
vga=normal
default=Linux_SMP
image=/boot/vmlinuz <-- Slackware 2.4.18 bare.i
root=/dev/hda1
label=Linux_UP
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz-smp-2.4.19 <-- Your self-made kernel :-)
root=/dev/hda1
label=Linux_SMP
read-only

)

15. lilo
16. shutdown -r now


Now you must see something like this:

(this is from my beloved Abit BP6 with 2 x 500MHz Celeron)


Below you can see the advantage of SMP:

make -j 3 bzImage: 13m 49.747s (UP kernel)
make -j 3 bzImage: 7m 20.457s (SMP kernel)

or 829.747s / 440.457s ~ 1.9 :)

well now it seems easier.. thanks for all the help guys... i'll let you know how it goes..

Hey i finally got it to work!!! and man is it way faster.. now it is an asus 2 x 500MHz PIII

Thanks for all the help!

I am brand new to slackware, I used to be a redhat user. I wanted to try something new and so far improved. So far I have learned that I have a lot to learn. And its probibly good for me.