Looking for a good portable linux system

[Derek Martin]

On Mon, Dec 20, 2004 at 10:29:37AM -0500, Bruce Dawson wrote:
> On Mon, 2004-12-20 at 09:50, Kevin D. Clark wrote:
> > Bruce Dawson <jbd at codemeta.com> writes:
> > > Essentially, I want one processor to handle a request while the other
> > > processor is "busy". If Linux and hyperthreading can do that, then a
> > > hyperthreading CPU would be fine. Context switching is an issue on this
> > > traveling workstation - there will be some realtime visuals that must
> > > not "blip" when a (for instance) cron job starts - especially when
> > > slocate starts.
> > Would it be more cost-effective/prudent to use a standard single-CPU
> > laptop?  When you start your realtime visual you could simply disable
> > cron.  You could audit any "at" jobs beforehand as well, as well as
> > write a script to kill off any already running cron jobs.  Etc.
> 
> No. This can't be a dedicated-task system. Also, the app uses things
> like cron and sendmail to exchange survey data with a satellite - which
> unfortunately needs to be done via email.

Personally, I think running slocate via cron is a waste of time on a
personal machine.  I think you can avoid that particular problem by
just removing it from cron.  If you use locate, then when install a
bunch of new software, or whatever, you can always run slocate
manually at a more convenient time.  To be honest though, I never use
locate, so for me it's pretty much pointless to have the cron job.

> I was just using slocate as an example to give people an idea of what
> I'm up against without having to describe the entire app.

If you have other cron jobs that are like slocate, that you need to
run, a dual proc system may be of only limited help.  If your cron
jobs are I/O intensive, and your application is I/O intensive, then
your disks may be your bottleneck.  I don't know too much about
hyperthreading CPUs, but it seems like that might be sufficient to
remedy the kinds of problems you're trying to counteract.  I believe I
heard that linux had hyperthreading support before Windows did...  But
I could be mistaken. ;-)

-- 
Derek D. Martin    http://www.pizzashack.org/   GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02
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