Very Computer

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|Ashwin Bihari                              University of Massachusetts Lowell|

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|> when I recompile my kernel, I get the option of
|> 386/486/pentium/PPro/.  I currently have a Pentium II/233
|> klamath chip (with L2 cache)  I imagine i should choose the
PPro
|> (for the speed)  But I was under the impression that the PPro
|> doesn't have an L2 cache.  I was also under the impression
that
|> the L2 cache runs under 16bit architecture, and would
therefore
|> run the chip at 16bit (like a Pentium) instead of 32 bit
(like a
|> PPro).  Which should i choose?  I also noticed that If I
|> overclock my chip to a 266, the BIOS doesn't recognize the L2
|> cache.  Does that mean the L2 cache is disabled?  Would that
|> give me full 32bit processing?  Am i just talking out of my
|> Arse?
|>
|
|I don't have an answer, but you could do som testing yourself.
Compile
|the kernel with PPro, reboot. Now do some benchmarking (like a
kernel
|compile, sort a large file, etc). reconfigure the kernel with
the
|Pentium option, recompile and reboot. Do the same benchmarking.
If the
|performance goes up, great. if the performance goes down,
recompile
|again with the PPro option. If no difference, then that's fine
too.

I was more afraid of having the newly compiled Kernel requesting
commands from my P II that are only included in a PPro, But I
may try it.

HTH
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+        Peter Granroth        +  Microsoft is NOT the answer  +

+    http://granroth.ml.org    +       The answer is NO        +
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As for the P2, you should be able to set the processor type in the
kernel as a PPro without any problems, as there are no real PPro or P2
specific opcodes, save for MMX, which isn't used in linux as far as i
know.  The PPro may or may not give any major performance improvement,
but it probably won't cause any major performance degredation, either,
as the P2 is more or less a PPro meets MMX in a spiffy new cartridge
based casing.  

A couple of things you could check for the overclocking issue are:
1) make sure you have the latest BIOS for your motherboard (check the
manufacturer's webpage)
2) make sure that your BIOS is set up with relatively conservative
timings for everything, particularly memory, for stability reasons.
3) if you have a brand X motherboard, give up.  you get what you pay
for, so if you have an el cheapo Slot 1 board that you picked up for
less than 100 bucks, you're gonna be lucky to have a stable system
when you're clocked to spec, much less stable and functioning properly
when overclocked.  The "you get what you pay for" theme also crosses
over into the rest of your major components (memory, video card, SCSI
card, etc.) to a certain extent.  

{{standard disclaimer : your mileage may vary.  i'm not necissarily a
genius or a miracle worker}}

Hope that gives you some insight....:-)

john

Quote:>when I recompile my kernel, I get the option of
>386/486/pentium/PPro/.  I currently have a Pentium II/233
>klamath chip (with L2 cache)  I imagine i should choose the PPro
>(for the speed)  But I was under the impression that the PPro
>doesn't have an L2 cache.  I was also under the impression that
>the L2 cache runs under 16bit architecture, and would therefore
>run the chip at 16bit (like a Pentium) instead of 32 bit (like a
>PPro).  Which should i choose?  I also noticed that If I
>overclock my chip to a 266, the BIOS doesn't recognize the L2
>cache.  Does that mean the L2 cache is disabled?  Would that
>give me full 32bit processing?  Am i just talking out of my
>Arse?