Symmetric, at least in terms of multiprocessing, means "evenly distributed
among equals."  The distinction is against MP with differing levels of
privilege between the processors, such as master-slave(s) MP.  There should
be no limitations on the number of processors other than those imposed by
the hardware and bus bandwidth, and a well-written SMP OS doesn't really
care about that.

-----Original Message-----
From: Adam D. McKenna <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Linus Torvalds <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Friday, February 19, 1999 12:33 PM
Subject: Re: System hang on boot with 2.2.1 SMP


>From: Linus Torvalds <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>:> Yeah, it seems kind of odd to me that you would be able to do
"symmetric"
>:> multiprocessing with 3 cpu's..  3 being a prime number and all :)
>:
>:Hey, "2" is considered prime too, so I don't think that in itself is an
>:acceptable excuse..
>
>All right, all right, catch me with a technicality :)
>
>Seriously though, it would make sense that you need to have an even number
>of processors to do "symmetric" multiprocessing..  Either way I'm sure it's
>defined somewhere, possibly in MP spec?
>
>: Linus
>
>--Adam
>
>
>-
>Linux SMP list: FIRST see FAQ at http://www.irisa.fr/prive/mentre/smp-faq/
>To Unsubscribe: send "unsubscribe linux-smp" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
N:Hull-Richter;Mark
FN:Mark Hull-Richter
ORG:Procom Technology, Inc.;Engineering / R&D
TITLE:Senior Software Engineer
TEL;WORK;VOICE:949-794-6756 or 800-800-8600x6756
TEL;PAGER;VOICE:none (haha!)
TEL;WORK;FAX:949-851-3907
ADR;WORK;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:;;1821 East Dyer Road=0D=0A;Santa Ana;CA;92705;USA
LABEL;WORK;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:1821 East Dyer Road=0D=0A=0D=0ASanta Ana, CA 92705=0D=0AUSA
EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
EMAIL;INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
REV:19990219T204735Z
END:VCARD

Reply via email to