Improving Performance
Hi debian/68k people,
i know, while using Aranym for running debian-68k on Atari-compatible
machine, it doesn't make a noticeable (if any) performance difference to
boot the kernel with -s option (put Kernel in ST-RAM).
But if you run it on a real 680x0 machine, which in my case is a
Falcon with 100 MHz 68060 CPU, 512MB TT-RAM (read: FAST RAM, clocked at
full CPU clock on a 32 bit bus) and 14MB ST-RAM (read: SLOW RAM, 16MHz
on a 16bit bus), there is a huge performance loss.
Last weekend i attended to a computer meeting, where someone ran
debian-68k on his Amiga 1200 (Blizzard 1230 CPU upgrade, 50 MHz CPU
clock, 64MB FAST RAM (but iirc on Blizzard 1230 RAM clock is half CPU
clock). This machine _easily_ outperformed mine, though having much
lower raw power.
Wouldn't it be the right way to fix the Atari-branch kernel to get
it running from TT RAM as on the Amiga? The Amigas 2 MB Chip RAM is not
used by the linux kernel, only for video-RAM.
If some developer lives halfway near me, i'd even lend him my (precious)
Falcon to have hardware to test.
I am on my way to write a good debian-68k install walkthrough for Atari
Falcon, because its quite tricky to get it running.
But with this poor performance, i don't know if its worth the effort.
Any suggestions are very welcome, i have my Falcon set up on my main
desk and latest debian-68k is installed. Network support works nicely.
I even compiled my favorite console IRC client on it.
greetings,
Stefan
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