FreeBSD newbie general and SMP questions for i386

[Richard Ellis]

I can't answer the SMP questions but I have never had many problems 
running Linux applications on BSD.  I use the Linux version of 
Mathematica  extensively and also Redhats Source Code Navigator and they 
work fine.  Many apps are also available in native mode through the 
ports collection.


Mark Wolfskehl wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm a FreeBSD newbie.  I'm considering installing either FreeBSD i386 
> or Linux on a 2 AMD Athelon CPU machine.  The motherboard is an ASUS 
> A7M266-D, and the machine has 2GB memory installed.  I'm working on 
> trying to answer some key questions before making a final decision 
> which OS to install (right now the other alternative is SuSe Linux), 
> but perhaps if anyone has some quick answers that would be a help:
>
> 1. How stable is SMP support in 5.1, especially compared to the 
> stability of single CPU FreeBSD and Linux in general?
>
> 2. In general, how could I characterize the relative performance of 
> FreeBSD and Linux under an SMP kernel and/.or single processors?
>
> 3. I'm looking into whether my motherboard conforms to the FreeBSD 
> requirements.  I don't know if the 'Intel MP' means you have to have 
> genuine Intel processors, in particular.  If anyone can get a quick 
> answer to this, that would be critical, of course.  ASUS's website is 
> www.asus.com, and you can just do a search for the motherboard model.  
> They have all the specs and the users manual in pdf online.  Thanks in 
> advance.
>
> 4. How compatible is FreeBSD with Linux in practice?  I understand 
> there is a Linux compatibility module for the kernel?


>
> 5. Will FreeBSD run VMWare Workstation virtual machine SW for Linux 
> (in practice)?
>
> 6. Anything else I should know as a newbie?
>
> Whew!  That's a lot, but thanks in advance!
>
> Mark Wolfskehl
> mark.wolfskehl at verizon.net
>
>
>
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