New hardware for performance testing BareMetal app

[lavapatch]

Hi all,

I've have a HP DC7700 I used for testing my BM applications on physical hardware but it has now reached its End Of Life. I am looking to build a replacement and I am considering the following components:

• Asus P8H61-M LE/USB3 Motherboard 
  
• Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket 1155)  
  
• Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 XMS3 8GB Two Memory Module Kit  
  
• Intel PRO/1000 GT Desktop Adapter ( BM supported)

My main concern is the Motherboard, as the other components should just work ... Is there any reason anyone can think of why I shouldn't go for it?

David

[Ian Seyler]

Those specs look fine to me. The integrated network on that ASUS board is a Realtek 8111E so it may be supported as well.

-Ian

[lavapatch]

Thanks,

I should have everything by the end of today so I'll let you know how it goes

David

[lavapatch]

Hi Ian,

I've assembled the machine and tried running BareMetal OS 0.5.3 but experienced a few problems:

• Just after boot up 3 of the 4 CPU indicators are almost constantly on and the same holds for the RTC indicator
• The hardware address of the nic is displayed but the prompt is only visible after hitting the return key.. even then some weird characters appear and the system is unable to find or run any command successfully.

I don't experience any of the above problems when running in a Virtual Box VM.

I've had a go at running both 0.5.2 and 0.5.1 on the physical machine and they seem fine except for one thing. When running smp tests both occasionally display  CPU id values which are higher than the number of available cores. 

In these two versions however, the correct parameter is printed out by whichever CPU executes the queued task.

Is there anything I can/should do to get 0.5.3 running properly on physical hardware?

David

[Ian Seyler]

I believe the issues you are having with 0.5.3 are due to the IO-APIC. Basic support was added to use the IO-APIC instead of the legacy PIC to control interrupts. I'm looking into fixing it as Pure64 has similar issues.

-Ian

[lavapatch]

Hi Ian,

You are probably quite busy but, do you have any idea when you will be able to look into this?  Unfortunately, my skillset does not cover assembly programming so I am not able to make any contributions here and I am unable to get any performance measurements on physical hardware until this is addressed.

David

[Ian Seyler]

I'm working on getting a new stable release out. There hasn't been an official release since February 2012 now..

-Ian

[Daniel Cegiełka]

Hi,
Regarding hardware, do you plan support for PCIe?

Daniel


2012/11/6 Ian Seyler <ise...@gmail.com>

[Ian Seyler]

Yes, but no time has been spent on it yet. PCIe will be required to use newer network devices.

-Ian