[Toyin]

Has anyone else had this bug in their top command? Notice on the bottom there is a thread using 139% of the CPU (got to love that Apple math). However the CPU monitor doesn't register this activity and I don't see anything using this much CPU power in process viewer. Any thoughts?

[Kate]

Originally posted by Toyin:
<STRONG>Has anyone else had this bug in their top command? Notice on the bottom there is a thread using 139% of the CPU (got to love that Apple math). However the CPU monitor doesn't register this activity and I don't see anything using this much CPU power in process viewer. Any thoughts?</STRONG>

No, mine seems ok. Your IDL load avg. in the top line is listed correctly it seems, so that idl thread at the end must be a miscalculation?

How do you get those threads down there listed anyway? top -k shows none of these?

..ah, you're logged in as root.

[ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: Kate ]

[Xeo]

I don't understand the "over 100% thing" unless maybe you're on a DP machine. However, my guess is that the idle_thread is showing us the amount of inactive CPU, incase we can't do the math ourselves. As other processes are started, that amount goes down.

Mine is around 80%.

Remember, this is only a guess.

[Toyin]

Originally posted by Xeo:
<STRONG>I don't understand the "over 100% thing" unless maybe you're on a DP machine. However, my guess is that the idle_thread is showing us the amount of inactive CPU, incase we can't do the math ourselves. As other processes are started, that amount goes down.

Mine is around 80%.

Remember, this is only a guess.</STRONG>

Yes I'm on a DP machine so the maximum CPU is 200%. I think you're right though. I decided to launch a couple of Quicktime movies and play them and the %CPU in the idle_thread went down as the load increased. Strange new function, this wasn't there in 10.1.1

Thanks.

[Spheric Harlot]

"It's not a bug, it's a feature!"

Apparently, idle_thread is a power-saving routine. Don't you people read the boards you post to?
http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/ulti...&f=46&t=002014

And the thread is *right* next to this one, too...

-chris.

[Jelle Monkmater]

Actually, the top command has a little bug that makes it possible for a process to use more than 100% of the CPU -- both my G4 DP and my iBook can produce it. This is the case with most top commands. In fact, the percentages never add up to 100.

I'm not on my Mac, but on an AIX machine right now, and I can issue the command 'ps vax|awk '{cpusage+=$11} END {print cpusage}' and get 121.1%. It will have to be tweaked for use under X by changing $11 in $-number-of-the-column-which-shows-CPU%, like $12 or $9 or something.

Anyway, the idle_threa is the idle_thread, not an idle_threat It's a process which functions as a kind of power saver for your CPU, making it nap whenever it's called, and the more processes you have running, the less idle time there is for the CPU to nap. You'll see idle_thread getting smaller and smaller the more processes you start.

[ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: Jelle Monkmater ]

[benh57]

Originally posted by Toyin:
<STRONG>

Yes I'm on a DP machine so the maximum CPU is 200%. I think you're right though. I decided to launch a couple of Quicktime movies and play them and the %CPU in the idle_thread went down as the load increased. Strange new function, this wasn't there in 10.1.1

Thanks.</STRONG>

1. Um, yes, it was. idle_thread has always been there. It is part of darwin and is not at all new. Try it in 10.0. Hell, try it in public beta.

2. You can only see the processes at the bottom if your window is big enough. You probably used a small window before. Logging in as root has nothing to do with it. use "top -l1" to just get a one-time list of top no matter what the window size.

3. Duals always show over 100%. Not a bug. They CAN use more than 100% CPU, since there are two.

-Ben

[Toyin]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
<STRONG>"It's not a bug, it's a feature!"

Apparently, idle_thread is a power-saving routine. Don't you people read the boards you post to?
http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/ulti...&f=46&t=002014

And the thread is *right* next to this one, too...

-chris.</STRONG>

Sorry I can't sit here and read every single thread. I started reading that thread when it was first posted and it's changed a little from it's initial title.

Originally posted by benh57:
<STRONG>

1. Um, yes, it was. idle_thread has always been there. It is part of darwin and is not at all new. Try it in 10.0. Hell, try it in public beta.

2. You can only see the processes at the bottom if your window is big enough. You probably used a small window before. Logging in as root has nothing to do with it. use "top -l1" to just get a one-time list of top no matter what the window size.

3. Duals always show over 100%. Not a bug. They CAN use more than 100% CPU, since there are two.

-Ben</STRONG>

1. Um, I've been using OSX since the PB and the idle_thread existed, but it never used any significant CPU cycles on my machine until this update. (I check top pretty frequently)

2. Haven't changed my monitor settings or default terminal window size since upgrading to 10.1

3. I know duals use well over 100%. 100% vs 200% is semantics. My machine has a certain amount of processor power. At maximum throttle it's using 100% of it's power. 200% doesn't make sense to me, but I've adjusted, it really doesn't bother me.

[Mactoid]

Originally posted by Toyin:
<STRONG>Um, I've been using OSX since the PB and the idle_thread existed, but it never used any significant CPU cycles on my machine until this update. (I check top pretty frequently)
</STRONG>

I don't believe that is the case. The idle thread by definition always uses the cpu time that is not being used by other processes. If your CPU usage is at 7%, then your idle_thread will be at 93% (or 193% for DP).

That's the way it should work, and always has worked (on my system at least).