Need info on both my cores for AMD X2 +4400

Asked by BarJabba

BACKGROUND:

I am using Ubuntu Jauty in a VM(VMWare), for the purpose of learning and to see if the OS can see and utilize both cores of an
AMD 64 X2 +4400. In Windows XP Home the Device Manager sees and applies the right drivers for this CPU. I have two processor devices listed and the "ACPI Multiprocessor PC" listed properly. However, the OS doesn't utilize both cores, stating in "PC Wizard" and other utilities, that I need to enable the second core. My BIOS is identifying the CPU and has no such "enable" mechanism. I have tried a number of non destructive fixes. In Task Manager, it only shows one graph for the CPU usage. I noticed that Ubuntu also only shows one graph for CPU usage. I am about to upgrade from XP Home to XP Professional, to see if I can get a HAL rebuild going.

I was hoping to find that Ubuntu would see AND utilize both cores. I have made sure of the Kernel and that it was generic. I am using the 64-bit Ubuntu 9.04 and I installed it as a guest OS from the ISO file. I hope to install Ubuntu permanantly and use it regularly. Uuntil then I can get more productive. May switch altogether.

QUESTION(S):

How can i be sure that I am using both cores? Is there any more extensive system info applications for Ubuntu that I can download?

I am not acclimated to getting around in Ubuntu, so, I will be heavy into the docs.

Thank you,

Ben Curtis
<email address hidden>

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#1

You need to set the VM to use both cores. Running a VM is a poor way to evaluate an OS as it not only has to run on virtualised hardware but it also runs inside another OS.

THe best way to evaluate Ubuntu is to either use the Live CD environment, or grab a USB stick of about 4Gb and install to that.

The settings you set for the VM will directly affect the VM's performance so is only as good as its VM settnigs as well as the settings and config of the OS itself.

If you:

Press alt+f2
type:
terminal
press enter. In the terminal type:
cat /proc/cpuinfo
press enter

it will give you details about your CPU usage, but as I said, this may not show both cores. If you boot an MD5 checked AMD64 desktop CD, you can run the same command and see exactly what a real system running natively on the hardware will see rather than some pointless VM

Revision history for this message
BarJabba (ben-curtis61) said :
#2

Thank youi for responding.

"You need to set the VM to use both cores. Running a VM is a poor way to evaluate an OS as it not only has to run on virtualised hardware but it also runs inside another OS."

Poor? Not in my case. I am just looking to see weather or not Ubuntu is easy to learn. I need to see weather or not it will see my harware and that I can get it in a productive state. Meaning, I need to explore applications that are available for this distro. I don't want any totally new and unfamilar OS on my system permanantly...yet. I think for me and for right now it suffices just fine. I am sorry to disagree with this part.

"Press alt+f2
type:
terminal
press enter. In the terminal type:
cat /proc/cpuinfo
press enter"

The information that this provided is also picked up in System Testing in Administtrative section. It does show the right CPU, however, I did not see any clues that I could decipher.

Here what it displayed at the console:

barjabba@ubuntu:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 35
model name : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2205.985
cache size : 1024 KB
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc up rep_good tsc_reliable pni hypervisor lahf_lm
bogomips : 4409.22
TLB size : 1024 4K pages
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts fid vid ttp
_________________________________________________________

I am not sure if there is anything that shows how many cores are being utilized and I am not too sure that it sees both cores. I did set up the VM for two processors as it detected two (or it wouldn't display a choice for more ). I will check my settings. I am using VMWare, in case you know something I don't. I actually like it. Seems quite neat. My problem with my internet speed has been solved as well.

"If you boot an MD5 checked AMD64 desktop CD ..."

What is this? I think I understand what you mean by MD5 (the file checksum stuff, right?) I am using the 64-bit Ubuntu OS and I installed from the ISO. Is that what you mean by "AMD64 Desktop CD." Maybe you mean another ISO to download? If so, will it have a simular name on the Ubuntu site?

Thank you again for responding. I hope I can utilize both cores in Ubuntu. I won't do a whole lot of stuff with it unless it does. Mostly just a fun new thing to play with.

Ben Curtis

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#3

Thats one of my points, you could set the VM to not see any sound device, then by your test you could say "oh ubuntu doesnt detect my sound card". The performance and test result of the VM is dependant entirely on the settings you give it. You could also assign the VM 128Mb RAM then say Ubuntu was slow.

Although extreme they highlight my point perfectly.

You are free to explore the applications Ubuntu has to offer but as a true view of speed or hardware compatibility a VM is not a good test as all hardware is virtualised through a host OS. If the OS is badly configured, this will directly impact the performance of the VM.

From your output the system is only seeing 1 CPU.

processor : 0
.
.

Gives the details of that one core. If it saw both you would see an output like this:

processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 15
model : 2
model name : Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.40GHz
stepping : 9
cpu MHz : 2400.627
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe cid xtpr
bogomips : 4734.97

processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 15
model : 2
model name : Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.40GHz
stepping : 9
cpu MHz : 2400.627
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe cid xtpr
bogomips : 4784.12

See how there is also an output of:

processor : 0
.
.
processor : 1
.
.

Thats the 2 cores. The VM cannot see both cores as it either isnt configured to or is not possible in VMWare

As I said. Bad way to test as its not native so you can disagree all you want, unless you can persuade the vmware software to allow use of both cores you will have to run it native

If you run:

sudo lshw -C | less

you will most likely see the whole hardware of the VM is virtualised.

Install to USB or resize your NTFS to do a true dualboot if you want to see the true speed and cabability of ubuntu (you only need about 6Gb to be comfortable)

Revision history for this message
BarJabba (ben-curtis61) said :
#4

"Install to USB or resize your NTFS to do a true dual boot if you want to see the true speed and capability of Ubuntu (you only need about 6Gb to be comfortable)"

When I do get ready to permantly have Ubuntu (if all goes ok), I had already the steps I would need to take to install onto the USB drive. My only concern is messing with MBR's, Boot sectors and boot loaders. I have a software from Acronis that I am using and it needs to be my boot manager. But, all this has yet to be decided. I like it so far. I only hope I can do most things I do in Windows, as I can see there is nothing out there like Visual Studio, which I work in.

I also use assistive/accessability stuff and I don't see any Linux versions of these important applications(Speech to Text , Text to Speech, and Voice Command) . I have used OpenOffice. It's do- able. I will have to explore a little more. I am only looking to see and utilize the CPU's properly. I am not running benchmarks or anything like that. I will probably go to the Live CD once I burn the 64 bit and run it to see if that does anything. I just won't want to run from the CD all the time. I like the ability to task switch back and forth while learning the ropes. I am really doing great at picking this stuff up.

Thank you

Ben

PS I will close this for now. I will revisit and describe my findings.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#5

Voice command = gnome-voice-control
Speech to text = sphinx2
Text to speech = espeak

Its easy to pick up as its easy to use. Its not a hard OS. If you do burn a CD remember to MD5 check the ISO and check the CD once booted to. Saves a whole bunch of problems.

You can task switch with ALT+TAB if thats what you mean. If openoffice really offends you you can run MS Office in qemu / wine or for total overkill+bloat+garunteed working you can run it in a virtualbox in seamless mode. You will have Windows in RAM but you will only see the app. Not very graceful but if you have a license spare and dont mind the huge RAM bloat then it is an option.

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