in reply to using linux

There is a port of the linux threads library to FreeBSD and MySQL can be complied with them. This feature is marked as experimental but I know several quite heavy loaded sites that run for quite long time in this configuration. And yes, it is noticeably faster (especially on SMP boxes where FreeBSD 4.xx's threads suck).

Also I don't know what table type is used on perlmonks but for some applications replacing MyISAM with InnoDB causes significant speed up.

--
Ilya Martynov, ilya@iponweb.net
CTO IPonWEB (UK) Ltd
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