News Group Posts

SMP license APIC handling

From: Bela Lubkin <f...@armory.com>
Subject: Re: Working on Modern Machines
Date: 18 Mar 2005 04:51:25 -0500
Message-ID: <200503180151.aa15596@deepthought.armory.com> 
References: <4235ffad$0$22500$7b0f0fd3@mistral.news.newnet.co.uk>
<20050316114455.GD20279@sco.com>
<Vz1_d.23377$3A6.187@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net> 

Gerry Bulger wrote:

> The frustrating thing is that I can install SCO 5.07 but cannot get any NICs 
> to work on a machine which I find wonderful in every way, except that there 
> is no proper OS on it!
> 
> Your original reply was
> "
> SCO SMP adds APIC handling to the kernel.
> 
> I _think_ you can install it without a valid license, successfully link
> a kernel, and boot it.  If it sees a second CPU, it'll complain and
> won't activate it.  Since your laptop is unlikely to have two CPUs,
> that's fine.
> 
> For the special case of HyperThreading, OSR507 + SMP + UP1 or newer
> allows unlicensed SCO SMP to light up the HT "logical processor".

I meant what I said.  Wording may not have been clear enough.

It's uncommon to install SMP without a license because that blocks SMP's
main feature: support for multiple CPUs.  Your situation is unusual in
that you really only need a secondary feature (APIC interrupt handling).

If you had installed unlicensed SMP and you have an HT CPU, SMP might
have detected a second CPU at boot time and complained about a missing
CPU license.  This isn't harmful, but you might have been alarmed.

To mitigate that alarm, and to gain the benefit (if any) of HT, I told
you how to turn on HT support.  HT support on a 1-physical-CPU machine
is a second situation where SMP is used without a CPU license.  The UP1
HT support teaches SMP the difference between physical CPUs (CPU license
required) and logical CPUs (CPU license not required).  The HT support
is in UP1, which does require a _SCOUpdate_ license.

Neither kind of license is needed if all you want to do is enable APIC
interrupt handling.

>Bela<
 

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