Subject: Re: SMP - newbie question?
To: John Niven <senseamp@comcast.net>
From: Andy Ruhl <acruhl@gmail.com>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 06/30/2005 16:05:06
On 6/30/05, John Niven <senseamp@comcast.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>=20
> I'm totally new to this *NIX thing! I have an old Tyan Motherboard with
> dual 200MHz Pentium Pro CPU's. I thought this would be a wonderful
> learning tool. So I tried loading a copy of Red Hat 8 that I was
> donated, but I found this unsatisfying, because it was all too easy to
> get going :-) So I downloaded netBSD 2.0 and burnt an ISO disk. I got
> my system to install, I've managed to add a user account and got
> X-windows working!! I think this is good coming from a Macintosh user
> :-)
>=20
> But how do I know if I'm using both CPU? Did I have to do something
> special during the install?
>=20
> When I boot the system a lot of writing flashes by :-P Looks
> informative. How do I slow it down?
>=20
> I guess I have to tackle installing packages next. Do I need to do
> anything different to work with dual CPU?
>=20
> I went to my local bookshop - found a book on everything except netBSD
> :-(

sysctl hw.ncpu

if it says hw.ncpu=3D1, you're only using 1 CPU.

You need to get a SMP kernel and put it in place of the standard
kernel. Or better yet, build one as per the guide.

There aren't any good english language books on NetBSD that I know of.
But a guy named Michael W. Lucas has written good ones on FreeBSD and
OpenBSD. Every time he shows up I make it a point to bug him about
doing a NetBSD book.

Andy