Doug,
You wrote (and I think this is very important):
>People rely on us to
>not only package things up, but to try and reasonably make sure those
>packages work. Shipping a known busted package would violate that
>expectation.
FLAME ON-
IMHO, I think you are being too charitable to Dell. They should at least
make it clear to your customer that what you are shipping is a dual
processor box that runs only one processor. If the OS is not ready for SMP
then don't ship the box with extra processors that aren't working unless
the customer knows before it leaves your shipping dock. How would you feel
if they shipped Windows 98 in a box with dual processors to you? (Besides
the fact it's Windoze.) It has the same capability as what they shipped. If
they take money for the hardware, the install, and the support it seems
they should provide what they charged for and I believe they charged for
two processors.
My $0.02
FLAME OFF-
In a kinder and gentler tone. Has Red Hat announced how they will ship an
SMP kernel? Will there be one or two CDs (one for single and one for
multiprocessors)?
Thanks in advance
Doug
>Alan Cox wrote:
>>
>> > This machines performs fairly well, despite having only 2 PII350's.
>>Here is
>> > the problem: Only one processor is enabled. I've called Dell, and
>>they say no
>> > support, and to call RH. Called them, no support either. So, I'm
>>turning to
>> > alternative resources: Anyone have any suggestions for where to find
>> > documentation pertaining to compiling a Kernel, and/or, compiling a kernel
>> > w/SMP support? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> If you paid Dell to install Linux properly on a box and they missed little
>> details like SMP support on a multiprocessor machine you should return it as
>> faulty. Go to one of the Linux hardware vendors and ask them to do the job
>> properly for you.
>
>To be fair to Dell, they sell Red Hat Linux 5.2 pre-installed on these
>systems. If Red Hat Linux 5.2 doesn't support SMP, then neither do
>they. Expecting something different from Dell is no different than
>expecting Dell to ship an SMP version of Win98. To that extent, Dell
>not shipping an SMP capable kernel is because we haven't released one
>for Red Hat Linux 5.2 and is our failing. The fact that they will still
>sell you multiple CPUs is in anticipation of being able to use the extra
>CPUs if you want to do a manual kernel compile or the day that we
>release an SMP kernel RPM that can be applied to the machine.
>
>We decided not to ship an SMP kernel with Red Hat Linux 5.2 because we
>knew that there were some problems with 2.0.36 SMP. There were lots of
>people that could do OK with it, but then there were other systems that
>simply wouldn't work at all. Then there were the occasional lock up
>problems. Then there was the occasional SCSI sub-system goes belly up
>problem with my driver that's in the stock 2.0.36 (which I fixed in the
>5.1.12 driver version just recently).
>
>Originally, if we released a 2.0.36 SMP kernel RPM, people would be mad
>that we shipped something that wasn't 100% "up to snuff" so to speak. I
>would also feel like we fell down if we did that. People rely on us to
>not only package things up, but to try and reasonably make sure those
>packages work. Shipping a known busted package would violate that
>expectation. At this point in time, with all of the patches there are
>for 2.0.36 it *might* be possible to do an SMP kernel and finally feel
>good about it.
>
>--
> Doug Ledford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Opinions expressed are my own, but
> they should be everybody's.
>-
>Linux SMP list: FIRST see FAQ at http://www.irisa.fr/prive/mentre/smp-faq/
>To Unsubscribe: send "unsubscribe linux-smp" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
END
**************************************************
Douglas W. St.Clair
(in New Hampshire) (in Massachusetts)
Tir Na Nog 30 George St.
400 Burton Highway Newton, MA 02458-2309
Wilton. NH 03086-5022
PH: 603-654-9321 PH: 617-233-3387 or
FAX: 603-654-5440 PH: 617-BEEF-FUR
EMAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
WebSite: http://www.tellink.net/~dwstclair
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