From owner-freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Nov 5 14:44:42 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-smp@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 12FB916A4CE for ; Wed, 5 Nov 2003 14:44:42 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail.speakeasy.net (mail7.speakeasy.net [216.254.0.207]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 008AD43FBD for ; Wed, 5 Nov 2003 14:44:41 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jhb@FreeBSD.org) Received: (qmail 2672 invoked from network); 5 Nov 2003 22:44:40 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO server.baldwin.cx) ([216.27.160.63]) (envelope-sender )encrypted SMTP for ; 5 Nov 2003 22:44:40 -0000 Received: from laptop.baldwin.cx (gw1.twc.weather.com [216.133.140.1]) by server.baldwin.cx (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hA5MiGce077311; Wed, 5 Nov 2003 17:44:16 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from jhb@FreeBSD.org) Message-ID: X-Mailer: XFMail 1.5.4 on FreeBSD X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 17:44:16 -0500 (EST) From: John Baldwin To: Jesse Guardiani X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.55 (1.174.2.19-2003-05-19-exp) cc: freebsd-smp@freebsd.org Subject: RE: SMPng question X-BeenThere: freebsd-smp@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD SMP implementation group List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 22:44:42 -0000 On 05-Nov-2003 Jesse Guardiani wrote: > Howdy list, > > I have a few questions about FreeBSD's in-progress > SMPng project. I've read much of the literature on > the FreeBSD site about SMPng, and I've taken the time > to go through the project status pages and look at the > work that has already been done and the work yet to be > done here: > > http://www.freebsd.org/smp/index.html > http://www.freebsd.org/projects/busdma/index.html > > But I'm still unclear about a few things: > > 1.) What, exactly, are SMPng's advantages over the current > SMP implementation as related to userland apps? > > In other words, I know that the network stack and devices > and such will benefit by being able to make use of > multiple CPUs, but will normal non-multi-threaded apps > be able to use multiple CPUs? Or will an app still have > to be multi-threaded in order to take full advantage > of an SMP box? This is more the realm of the KSE project than SMPng. KSE aims to allow multiple threads from the same process to run concurrently on separate CPUs. You can get more details about KSE on the threads@ list, but AFAIK it is basically done in current. > 2.) And, perhaps as an extension to question #1: Will I > be able to make use of multiple CPUs to compile programs? > > Could I buy one of those cheap $300 quad Xeon 500mhz > compaq boxes on ebay and use it as a 2 Ghz compiler box? It won't quite be a 2ghz box, maybe more like a 1.2 or 1.5 ghz box or so, but for compiles it is faster than a UP box. -- John Baldwin <>< http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ "Power Users Use the Power to Serve!" - http://www.FreeBSD.org/