Arch Linux

Bogart

Member

From: Madrid, Spain

Registered: 2005-06-22

Posts: 273

Kernel 2.6.11.10 performance slow?

I tried Arch a couple of months ago and I remember it being speedy. Now a few days ago I decided to install it again and start using it, but found it to be not so fast as I remembered. So I downloaded Archie to see the difference and did a little test (nothing scientific, just to check).

I opened a 1Mb image in The Gimp and applied the filter Artistic>Cubism with default settings. Here are the results I got (time to process the picture):

Archie: 26 secs
Arch: 38 secs
Vector: 32 secs
Ubuntu: 38 secs

I thought there was something wrong with Arch, probably the kernel. So since kernel 2.6.12 just came out I thought it should soon be available in Arch's repository and I could try it. So today I saw kernel-2.6.12mm in the extra repository and installed it. Did the same test and this time I got 26 secs.

So now my questions are:

Did anyone else notice this performance problem with kernel 2.6.11.10?

Is the "mm" kernel a standard one or is it a testing/unstable/performance enhanced one? Should I keep it or better wait until 2.6.12 is in the current repository?

Any idea about why so much difference between the two kernels?

ghostwalker

Member

From: Tacoma, WA

Registered: 2004-07-28

Posts: 140

Re: Kernel 2.6.11.10 performance slow?

The question is what are you compiling into your kernel and what is you hardware? I can boot from press power button to login in about 7 seconds. You add 2 seconds to boot to X/blackbox.

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Linux 2.6.x
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ArchLinux

Bogart

Member

From: Madrid, Spain

Registered: 2005-06-22

Posts: 273

Re: Kernel 2.6.11.10 performance slow?

I didn't compile the kernel, just installed the default one.

And my hardare is quite standard: Pentiun IV 2.6Ghz 512 RAM. My boot time is about 30 secs (using KDE)

However, I'm just wondering why with kernel 2.6.11.10 it took 38 secs to complete a task that only took 26 secs with kernel 2.6.12mm. I want to know if MY kernel 2.6.11.10 is wrong or if it's slow for everyone (compared to previous ones or to this 2.6.12mm).

IceRAM

Member

From: Bucharest, Romania

Registered: 2004-03-04

Posts: 772

Website

Re: Kernel 2.6.11.10 performance slow?

Please notice that those distros might not have the same kernel. So... are you comparing distro or kernel times? Those are definitely distro times, since I can't see what kernel they use.

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:: / my web presence

Bogart

Member

From: Madrid, Spain

Registered: 2005-06-22

Posts: 273

Re: Kernel 2.6.11.10 performance slow?

I just did the test with other distros to see what the difference was. Because I thought that Arch, being a fast distro i686 optimized should be faster than others, and since it wasn't I thought it might be a problem with the kernel.

However, the important thing is that with this new 2.6.12mm kernel the performance boot is quite important.

So again, is this "mm" kernel a stardard one? Is there no problem in using it?  And if it is a standard one, why so much difference? If anyone else wants to try installing this 2.6.12mm from extra and test it, we could see if it's just my problem or a general problem with this specific kernel-2.6.11.10 (as I said, I tried arch a few months ago (the kernel was probably 2.6.10.x) and it was fast.

MillTek

Member

Registered: 2005-01-30

Posts: 442

Re: Kernel 2.6.11.10 performance slow?

Hey Bogart,
Can't answer any of the questions you pose, but 2.6.12mm runs fine for me. (I never timed anything before I upgraded).  It seems a little faster but that's very subjective     

Been using it several hours now and so far no issues.

Jim

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: Kernel 2.6.11.10 performance slow?

Using 2.6.12-mm1 here... Seems to result in a perceptible speed increase.