🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sun, 16 May 2004 16:39:26 +0100, Zero_G wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I'm using SuSE 8.2 Professional (free magazine DVD version) on an Athlon
> 700MHz and thinking of saving up for a Dual Processor system.
> Is this even slightly worth the comparatively enormous outlay for a home
> user?
> 
> You see I've read a lot about various software support for this type of
> hardware and it loks like there are competing solutions to implement
> parallel/SPM hardware at the moment.
> 
> I understand that gcc has libraries to allow for compiling software to be
> multi threaded but the source needs to be written with multi-threading in
> mind.
> 
> Is there a list of packages with sources that are optimised for dual
> processors?
> 
> This would be an extremely useful variable in justifying the extra outlay.
> 
> Thanks.

The biggest benefit would be that can have more than one program actively
using CPU cycles at the same time. Very little software is optimized for
multi processors, and if it is, they still have to communicate. But, you
could, for instance, be doing a large compile and not notice any
degradation on your web browser going at the same time.