New hardware under Etch ?
Like other have stated here
cat /proc/cpuinfo
will list processor 0 and 1 if it finds them. You can run the above command from any terminal as a non-root user. You may want to use "less" if the info runs off the screen. You can use Page-up Page-down keys with "less"
cat /proc/cpuinfo | less
For proper support for 6GB RAM you will have to re-compile the kernel as the Debian kernel-image is compiled for 4GB RAM. When you configure the kernel you can change the settings under the "Processor type and Features" section. Change it to 64GB. 64GB is the current maximum limit.
You should also change your CPU type to AMD Opteron in the same section and of course chose/select SMP for multi-processor support.
Kernel 2.4.X which is the default for Sarge does not have proper support for SATA. It "sees" SATA as ATA and the access times are very slow. Newer versions of kernel 2.6.X have good support for SATA with fast access times. Older versions of kernel 2.6.X does not have proper support for or no support at all for SATA. So I suggest using the latest Debian kernel which I think is 2.6.18-X.
If you want to use Sarge with kernel 2.6.18.X you're in for a lot of work. Install kernel 2.4.X which sets up SATA drives as ATA drives (hda, hdb, etc). Then install kernel 2.6.18.X and BEFORE YOU RE-BOOT you have to modify /boot/grub/menu.lst and /boot/grub/device and /etc/fstab. If you fail to do this you will not be able boot the 2.6.18.X kernel (well you can but more work). Also, once you have made the changes you will not be able to boot the using the old 2.4.X kernel. So uninstall it after.
To make things easier I suggest doing a clean install using Etch with kernel 2.6.18.X.
If your MB comes with fake-RAID I suggest *not* to use it. Turn it off in the BIOS. Linux software-RAID works just as well if not better and is easier to setup and use under Linux.
I've done a few installs on IBM's x306 servers trying to use their fake-RAID and it's a real pain which in the end didn't work properly. The Linux software-RAID worked well and passed *all* burn-in tests.
From what I can tell fake-RAID is designed for MS OSs since its non-server OSs don't have software-RAID and fake-RAID is a cheap way for MS desktop user to have some redundancy without buying an expensive RAID card.
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