Subject: Re: Installing on Ross-processor systems
To: Ted Havelka <ted@cs.pdx.edu>
From: Michael-John Turner <mj@turner.org.za>
List: port-sparc
Date: 01/26/2006 18:51:15
On Thu, Jan 26, 2006 at 08:25:36AM -0800, Ted Havelka wrote:
> Are there any or many issues I should prepare for as I go to install
> NetBSD from CD onto a four-processor, Sparc 10, which has Ross processors
> installed?

Your system should work just fine, but for more than one CPU to be
supported you'll need to install the GENERIC.MP kernel (or build your own
with it as a starting point).

> Will the pre-compiled binaries typically function, or will I want or need
> to take some additional steps in terms of configuring and building the
> kernel and other software parts of the system?

The pkgsrc binary packages for NetBSD/sparc are built with no optimizations
for your HyperSPARC CPUs, but they will work fine. If you believe that
tuning for your CPU can make a noticeable difference, perhaps install
devel/cpuflags and rebuild the packages you're going to use from source
(cpuflags will add -mcpu=hypersparc to your compiler options, thereby
building packages optimized for the HyperSPARC).

BTW, make sure you take heed of the heat warnings at
http://mbus.sunhelp.org/systems/sun/ss10.htm. SS10s can get hot,
particularly in multi-CPU configurations

-mj
-- 
Michael-John Turner | http://weblogs.turner.org.za/mj/
mj@turner.org.za    | Open Source in WC ZA - http://www.clug.org.za/