Re: WinXPSP2, Intel Core2Duo, Kernel drivers

Hi Don

No, you can do this at boot time, use the /KERNEL=ntkrnlup.exe
/HAL=halup.DLL /numproc=1 to indicate you want to treat the computer as a
uni-processor. You will find on the XPSP2 CD ntoskrnl.exe which is the
uni-processor version, rename it to something like ntkrnlup.exe, likewise
the hal.dll on the XPSP2 CD rename to halup.DLL put them both in the
system32 directory and you have a uni-processor system by choosing that
boot.ini line.


In fact, it just does not make sense to write "non-SMP aware" drivers,
in the first place - once the driver works fine on SMP machine, it
automatically implies it will work fine on UP one as well. It is
understandable that the reverse is not true....

Anton Bassov

Don Burn wrote:
Yes uyou drivers will have to be SMP aware for a dual core, or a hyper
threaded, or a SMP system. Of course, your driver should be SMP aware
anyway since you need to deal with most of the synchronization issues even
ou a uni-processor they just are less likely (but not impossible) to happen.

No, you can do this at boot time, use the /KERNEL=ntkrnlup.exe
/HAL=halup.DLL /numproc=1 to indicate you want to treat the computer as a
uni-processor. You will find on the XPSP2 CD ntoskrnl.exe which is the
uni-processor version, rename it to something like ntkrnlup.exe, likewise
the hal.dll on the XPSP2 CD rename to halup.DLL put them both in the
system32 directory and you have a uni-processor system by choosing that
boot.ini line.



--
Don Burn (MVP, Windows DDK)
Windows 2k/XP/2k3 Filesystem and Driver Consulting
http://www.windrvr.com
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<on3lonestar@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1157590558.092218.40890@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello,

I write experimental drivers, and have never worked on SMP systems yet.
I need to upgrade to an IBM T60 but I am worried about the dual-core
Intel processor engine. I have the following questions:

- It seems the dual-core provides 2 pipelines and 2 caches to 2 cores
on a single die. This sounds like a SMP system. Will my drivers have to
worry about SMP stuff?

- Can I configured Windows XP SP2/BIOS to completely disable/ignore one
of the cores when I write my drivers? Will there be a major performance
impact if I did this? I read that Windows installs a different HAL when
it sees an SMP... so it sounds like I cant do this at boot time each
time.. it has to be a one-time decision during installation?

Basically, I want to know if I can write non-SMP aware drivers in
someway on a IBM T60 that has a core2duo processor engine.

Thanks!


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