Re: [ubuntu-uk] Do I have a quad-core netbook (surely not?!)

[Ross Mounce]

Great. Thanks all for the explanation of hyperthreading.

No idea if it actually helps or not tbh. Perhaps I should do some testing of
2x2 runs (on each physical core) vs 4 runs (each one running
simultaneously).

I'll be very impressed if the latter is quicker in real-time.

Many thanks,

Ross



On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 3:23 PM,  wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. Re:  upgrade from 9.10 to 11.04 (Norman Silverstone)
>   2.  Do I have a quad-core netbook (surely not?!) (Ross Mounce)
>   3. Re:  Do I have a quad-core netbook (surely not?!) (Alan Pope)
>   4. Re:  Do I have a quad-core netbook (surely not?!) (J Fernyhough)
>   5. Re:  Do I have a quad-core netbook (surely not?!) (Liam Gallear)
>   6. Re:  Photo Tagging and Search (Jon Spriggs)
>
>
> --
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:16:40 +0100
> From: Norman Silverstone 
> To: ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com
> Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] upgrade from 9.10 to 11.04
> Message-ID: <1309263400.2324.18.camel@digital-darkroom>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> My thanks to those who replied to my original questions. I shall just
> assume that my hardware is not suitable and be satisfied with GNOME.
>
> Norman
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:21:58 +0100
> From: Ross Mounce 
> To: ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com
> Subject: [ubuntu-uk] Do I have a quad-core netbook (surely not?!)
> Message-ID: 
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Dear list,
>
> I recently bought a fairly new Samsung N150 Plus netbook off a friend.
> Dumped the windows crippleware 'Starter' OS, and installed Ubuntu 64-bit
> 11.04
> which works very nicely/speedily.
>
> Rather curiously the GUI system monitor shows it as having 4 CPUs (?)
>
> This appears to be confirmed by the CLI output (at the bottom of the msg
> for
> clarity-sake).
>
> I believe the processor is a dual core Atom N550
> http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=50154
>
> Two questions: A) Why does it show as 4 processors? Are these all real?
> Have
> I somehow 'unlocked' another couple *hopes*?
>   B) If it's just 4 threads, can I optimally run 4
> separate instances of a 32-bit program one each on each thread/core without
> losing overall efficiency? (The program I have in mind is a bit
> technical/obscure, and no, it doesn't have a 64-bit version)
>
>
> Rather curious...
>
> Ross
>
>
> $ cat /proc/cpuinfo
> processor : 0
> vendor_id : GenuineIntel
> cpu family : 6
> model : 28
> model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N550   @ 1.50GHz
> stepping : 10
> cpu MHz : 1000.000
> cache size : 512 KB
> physical id : 0
> siblings : 4
> core id : 0
> cpu cores : 2
> apicid : 0
> initial apicid : 0
> fpu : yes
> fpu_exception : yes
> cpuid level : 10
> wp : yes
> flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat
> clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc
> arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl
> est
> tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm movbe lahf_lm dts
> bogomips : 2992.53
> clflush size : 64
> cache_alignment : 64
> address sizes : 32 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
> power management:
>
> processor : 1
> vendor_id : GenuineIntel
> cpu family : 6
> model : 28
> model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N550   @ 1.50GHz
> stepping : 10
> cpu MHz : 1500.000
> cache size : 512 KB
> physical id : 0
> siblings : 4
> core id : 1
> cpu cores : 2
> apicid : 2
> initial apicid : 2
> fpu : yes
> fpu_exception : yes
> cpuid level : 10
> wp : yes
> flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat
> clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc
> arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl
> est
> tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm movbe lahf_lm dts
> bogomips : 2992.56
> clflush size : 64
> cache_alignment : 64
> address sizes : 32 b

[ubuntu-uk] Do I have a quad-core netbook (surely not?!)

[Ross Mounce]

Dear list,

I recently bought a fairly new Samsung N150 Plus netbook off a friend.
Dumped the windows crippleware 'Starter' OS, and installed Ubuntu 64-bit
11.04
which works very nicely/speedily.

Rather curiously the GUI system monitor shows it as having 4 CPUs (?)

This appears to be confirmed by the CLI output (at the bottom of the msg for
clarity-sake).

I believe the processor is a dual core Atom N550
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=50154

Two questions: A) Why does it show as 4 processors? Are these all real? Have
I somehow 'unlocked' another couple *hopes*?
   B) If it's just 4 threads, can I optimally run 4
separate instances of a 32-bit program one each on each thread/core without
losing overall efficiency? (The program I have in mind is a bit
technical/obscure, and no, it doesn't have a 64-bit version)


Rather curious...

Ross


$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 28
model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N550   @ 1.50GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 1000.000
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 0
initial apicid : 0
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat
clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc
arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est
tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm movbe lahf_lm dts
bogomips : 2992.53
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 32 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 28
model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N550   @ 1.50GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 1500.000
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 1
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 2
initial apicid : 2
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat
clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc
arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est
tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm movbe lahf_lm dts
bogomips : 2992.56
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 32 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 2
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 28
model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N550   @ 1.50GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 1500.000
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 1
initial apicid : 1
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat
clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc
arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est
tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm movbe lahf_lm dts
bogomips : 2992.52
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 32 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 3
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 28
model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N550   @ 1.50GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 1000.000
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 4
core id : 1
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 3
initial apicid : 3
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat
clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc
arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est
tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm movbe lahf_lm dts
bogomips : 2992.54
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 32 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:
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[ubuntu-uk] pre-installed Ubuntu from UK vendor :)

[Ross Mounce]

Thanks to all who replied.

I've gone with aria.co.uk (never heard of them before!) and the bare bones
Athlon II X3 450 3.20GHz machine.
Building something marginally better for marginally cheaper just didn't seem
worth it to me.

Will have a go at unlocking the 4th core when it arrives ;)

Netbooks all seem incredibly samey still. I'll wait a few months in the hope
that something *really* different / interesting will come out.


Ross
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ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/

[ubuntu-uk] pre-installed Ubuntu from UK vendor :)

[Ross Mounce]

> have you thought about just building your own?

I'm very happy to unscrew and plug things in/out. I've done RAM upgrades and
HDD replacements.
Simple stuff like that.

But the prospects of 'thermal grease/paste' and 'bent pins' WRT to processor
+ mobo + heat sink scares me tbh.

Is it possible to get that bit done for me, then do the rest myself?
Seems to me if I want that bit done, I might as well outsource the rest
too...


Ross
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ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/

Re: [ubuntu-uk] pre-installed Ubuntu from UK vendor :)

[Ross Mounce]

Dell is a bit rubbish when it comes to value for money IMO.

Perhaps that's the Windows Tax.

I clicked on 'Help me choose' (my Operating System)
and the headline says it all tbh:

" Help Me Choose: Windows 7 "

That doesn't really sound like a choice to me!

But seriously, I can't see nor find any Ubuntu on Dell's website.
-- 
ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/

[ubuntu-uk] pre-installed Ubuntu from UK vendor :)

[Ross Mounce]

[It's my first post: Hi all!]

I often hear that it's rare to find UK vendors selling computers with Ubuntu
pre-installed.

So I was pleasantly suprised to see this:
http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/NEW-Nanosaur-410-95p966.htm

...comes pre-installed with "Linux Ubuntu 10" [sic]


On a related note. I'm looking to buy a multi-core desktop, and a netbook.
Any suggestions as to where I can get these aside from the aforementioned
vendor?


   - I want to avoid having to pay extra for M$ software that I won't use
   - I'm on a student budget, so the cheaper the better!




Ross

http://twitter.com/rmounce

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