[lug] Software/compiler issues w/dual CPU's

[Rob Riggs]

An SMP machine will not complicate anything from a programming 
standpoint. Should you plan on writing threaded app, and there it may 
show coding errors that were not obvious on a single-CPU box. If you 
code a single-thread (or non-threaded) app, it will run on an SMP box 
just as it would on a single CPU - you can just run more of them at once 
because of the added CPU power.

Gary Hodges wrote:

>We are planning on putting together a Linux machine here so folks can
>"test the water" so to speak.  Since I've built a few Linux machines for
>myself, I've been tasked with putting this one together.  I was planning
>on building a dual CPU machine, and some issues have just been raised by
>a colleague.  Namely, will a dual CPU machine introduce compiler issues
>that our users will have to overcome when porting code?  gcc, fortran,
>S-Plus (if available for Linux), and IDL are the main languages used
>here.
>
>In simplistic terms, I was under the impression that a dual CPU machine
>just made everything faster.  If there are specific issues that must be
>considered when coding on a MP machine, we'll likely stay with a single
>CPU.
>