Subject: netBSD support for dual-Xeon. E7500, Hyper-Threading ...
To: None <port-arm@netbsd.org>
From: David Francheski <davidf@caymas.com>
List: port-arm
Date: 09/27/2002 11:55:39
Can anyone tell me if netBSD supports the dual-Xeon architecture

with E7500 chipset?    This would require netBSD to be SMP capable

at a minimum (which I believe it is?).

 

The Xeon has a feature called Hyper-Threading which enables the 

single physical processor to appear as two logical processors

(completely transparent to the OS).   The only requirement is for

the OS to detect the presence of the logical processors by reading

the ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) table maintained
by the BIOS.

 

Can netBSD already read the ACPI?

 

My last question is whether or not netBSD can differentiate between the
logical

and physical processors themselves.   For performance reasons, the
kernel

should schedule processes/threads to execute on physical processors
first,

followed then by logical processors.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Regards,

 

David L. Francheski