I've installed RedHat 9 on my system. However, when booting, GRUB makes me select also for a smp kernel.

Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-8smp)
Red Hat Linux-up (2.4.20-8)
Windows XP

I don't know if it's normal, either because I have got only a processor. I'm running an Athlon XP2400+ (oc'ed to 2600+, 166x12.5) with a A7N8X Deluxe motherboard (nVidia nForce2 400 based). Is this normal ? Why should I use smp kernel instead of the normal one and/or viceversa ?

Perhaps this is a stupid question ... but I'm also in trouble with SATA drivers (I'll do a post later) and perhaps it can help. Thanks in advance.

It does'nt harm anything to run the SMP kernel, but if you dont want to see it, remove the entry from /boot/grub/grub.conf, or just change default to 1 instead of 0 in there.

ok, but I'm wondering how it happens ... with my previous motherboard, based on a VIA chipset, I can't select it. perhaps it's due to dual-channel memory ? and what kernel is more accurated for my system ? sorry for my English, of course

Look here for details, I'm not a hardware expert by any stretch, but perhaps your setup us capable of hyperthreading? It looks like Redhat gave you that option because it thinks your motherboard is SMP capable. I would run that kernel just to see if it works for you.

Ok, thanks for the link. However I'm still curious of what can it bring in order of performance increasing ... and I'm really wondered about my CPU and MOBO supporting SMP ... if anybody know something deeper in hardware specs, please reply (and really sorry for my English !).