Hints: Dual Core kernel upgrade
Posts: 224
Hello, hints please.
I have a Pentium "D" 950 @3.4MHz, on an ASUS P5LD2 M/B.
I've read here that I should upgrade my kernel from 2.6.15-26-386 to *686.
Running on 6.0 (now ~6 month's old) I'm also running VMware 5.5.2-29772 that is
hosting Win2K (and when I can't be bothered to find out *why" something Windowish
does not work I have an XP partition).
What I am wondering is (multiple questions, but only relevant in this scenario)
1) I'm awaiting the latest DVD from Erin. Should I wait for it & just get background info?
(I put my wallet where my mouth is a paid a Platinum sup.)
2) The CPU has Virtualisation Tech & I'm running VMware - is there something I should know?
3) The M/B does not have the suffix that I assume means "virtualisation" - ITSISK.
4) When I do put the SMP kernel in, do I change the BIOS "max cpuid value" to "enable"?
cheers & thanks for all the previous help.
PS (Win2K boots and runs faster on VMware, than XP on native h/w)
Yes, do the 27-686 kernel
Posts: 959
Changing the max cpuid value to on in your bios shouldn't hurt anything and you have nothing to lose by trying it. The virtualisation I think would only come into effect with something like vmware esx server, but can't be sure on that one. VMWare server and player run as a process, so my guess is the virtualisation feature of the cpu would not be used, but I'm happy to be corrected on this point.
After installing the 686 kernel, and booting with it, you'll have to run vmware-comfig.pl before attempting to start vmware so all the kernel issues will be sorted out, or it will not run.
I have just installed the 6.04beta3 onto a similar machine and it's running the 27-686 kernel. I will take a look and report back if you like.
Mike P
--------------------
Life may not be the party we thought, but while we're here, we may as well dance.
Break M$'s shackles from your feet and free yourself with Mepis
Newer CPUs and mobos have
Posts: 4077
Newer CPUs and mobos have virtualization support, that should be turned on if you want to take advantage of it in VMWare. That's one of the reason I curse I bought 939 socket CPU and not an AM2, it's meant to work much better with virtualization support...
--
Check out Mepis wiki: www.mepis.org/docs
thanx
Posts: 224
Thanks: hoe, m_pav, & AdrianTM. I'm not rushing into this, we have a 3-day weekend starting Friday, and with
temperatures expected to be in the mid-40s (C) - I'll be
happy to stay inside with the a/c and try out a new kernel.
thanks.
good idea
Posts: 4864
in fact b..... good idea, in strine.
no relevant kernel
Posts: 224
following Wayne advise (above). I have not even got a reference to my current kernel in the repos. I currently have 2.6.15-26-386. So I was looking for (as Wayne suggested) anything with "kernel" and "2.6.15...686" and the highest was 2.4...
???
No, the name changed from
Posts: 4077
No, the name changed from kernel- to linux- (just make sure it's a MEPIS kernel not a Ubuntu one, it should say in descriptions somewhere)
--
Check out Mepis wiki: www.mepis.org/docs
thanks
Posts: 224
Downloading now. I could only find one - assume (?) its for MEPIS.
Will let you know. Temperature now 40 & rising (airport & city reading 35). (104 F for those can't conform).
grub?
Posts: 224
Do I just duplicate this:
"title MEPIS at sda7, kernel 2.6.15-26-386
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-26-386 root=/dev/sda7 nomce quiet vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-26-386
boot"
changing "2.6.15-26-386" to "2.6.15-27-686", all the files
are there, and it was a Mepis kernel.
(Temperature now 43c [109.4F] and still rising)
That's pretty much it
Posts: 959
replace all the 26-386 entries in one of the blocks to 27-686 and that should be sufficient. If you want to be uber careful, check the paths to the files and make sure they match what's actually there to avoid startup errors.
You should have downloaded at least a few packages like the the linux-image and the linux-restricted-modules and the linux-headers for making compatible modules if required.
Mike P
--------------------
Life may not be the party we thought, but while we're here, we may as well dance.
Break M$'s shackles from your feet and free yourself with Mepis
grub??
Posts: 224
Well, no reply for 1 hour so I'll just try it and see.
I have my boot DVD if needed.
(temperature now 45C = 113F and still rising, Perth airport is showing 39C, our last local highest record was 48C = 118.5. Since tomorrow is forecast hotter.... and BTW it's a very pleasant 23c inside - - until we overload the power grid, and a/c will go off). 
Lucky you, here's 19F Make a
Posts: 4077
Lucky you, here's 19F
Make a duplicate and then as m-pav said: replace all the 26-386 entries in one of the blocks to 27-686 (it's good to have a duplicate in case something doesn't work with the new kernel).
--
Check out Mepis wiki: www.mepis.org/docs
success!
Posts: 224
I made a duplicate (as instructed). Came up as the first option in GRUB with the old kernel as second option. Booted SMP kernel AOK. Now I'm wondering what apps I have that will actually use 2 cpus. Xaos "appears" faster, but I have no benchmark.
(Temperature still rising here: 45c = 113f, Perth airport at 40c).
Thanx everyone for the guidance.
AdrianTM: @19F - your response only shows my local time (that is skewed 1 hour for DST cos I have not fixed the clock from WST to WSDT), but we have had 48C=118.5F as our max (day/summer) while our of min -5C=23F (night/winter) - looks like we're set to break our records this week end.
cooler
Posts: 4864
beckwith, its been cooler at my place, http://www.billiau.net/cacti/graph.php?local_graph_id=25&rra_id=all
but right now i'm at a beach suburb on the other side of the continent.
After various adventures with my computer none of my later Mepis stuff boots so I'm going to download another version and go again.
cool!
Posts: 224
Only 44 yesterday. New kernel has also fixed my clock
to show WDST.
great news
Posts: 4864
that's great news
one its cooler and two the new kernel works
Not sure what you are asking
Posts: 1175
Not sure what you are asking but if you have a dual core processor and want to take advantage of both cores you will want to install 2.6.15-27-686 kernel in synaptic. It isn't difficult just open synaptic and do a search for 'kernel' and scroll down and install everything that is already installed for your 386 kernel but with the new 686 numbers. You can leave your 386 stuff alone. Then l went to my /boot/grub/menu.lst and copied and pasted a copy of my 386 menu entry and changed the numbers in it to show my new kernel and did a reboot. Hope that is what you wanted to know! After you reboot with the new kernel you can go to K>System>Info Center>Processor and you will see that both cores are shown as Processor 0 and Processor 1
Wayne