Jesse Hannah writes:
What is the difference between the regular kernel and kernel-smp? For example, my grub.conf looks something like:
Kernel-smp is the kernel for systems with more than one CPU.
"kernel" will boot on a system with two or more CPUs, but only one CPU will be in use.
"kernel-smp" is required to use more than one CPU.
On certain systems, "kernel-smp" may be required even if there's only one CPU. Some high-end boards may actually have some hardware that's only supported by the kernel-smp kernel.
You will also need to use "kernel-smp" with Pentium 4, in order to use hyperthreading (which is more accurately described as âhyperventilatingâ), which essentially looks like a second CPU to Linux.
"kernel" should also boot on a P4, but you'll be running without hyperventilating.
title Windows XP ... title Fedora Core (2.6.9-1.667-smp) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667-smp ro root=LABEL=/1 rhgb quiet initrd /initrd-2.6.9-1.667-smp.img title Fedora Core-up (2.6.9-1.667) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 ro root=LABEL=/1 rhgb quiet initrd /initrd-2.6.9-1.667.img
Does it make any difference which one I use normally?
Well, theoretically you should have stuff running faster with kernel-smp. However, in some marginal cases the extra benefit gained from hyperventilating may not outweigh extra overhead of multi-CPU support.
Attachment:
pgprAR5OtZbs7.pgp
Description: PGP signature
