Re: PISMO G4 UPGRADE - Does it make sense with linux?
On Wed, 2005-06-29 at 16:09 -0500, vinai wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Jun 2005, Rainer Gutkas wrote:
>
> > I'm thinking of upgrading my Powerbook Pismo (400Mhz) to a G4 (550Mhz)
> > and wanted to know if it maces sense under linux.
> > I run Gnome desktop and a CPU meter and it runs crazy when I open an
> > App, display flash movies, or try to look at dvd's
> > So probably the Altivec Engine could do a real good job?
> > But is it supported and will tis bring a good amount of speed, because
> > for a 150Mhz clockspeed increase this upgrade is too expensive for me!
> > Oh and by the way if anybody has experience with such an upgrade, i'm
> > interested....
>
> Bottom line - if the software does not use Altivec optimizations, it's
> not worth it. I got one of these upgrades, and I posted some benchmarks
> of before and after results (under Mac OS X) of the performance of this
> upgrade. If you look at the site: www.xlr8yourmac.com, and check under
> the CPU upgrades database, my entry for the Powerbook 2000 upgrade is on
> the 2nd or 3rd page of listings.
>
> I ran benchmarks using generic UNIX-ish software (LaTeX and gcc) and Mac
> OS X software. The performance in the non OS X software (i.e. non G4
> optimized software) scaled with clock speed, while OS X software which
> used Altivec showed a larger performance gain. If you plan to twiddle
> and tweak software, and learn a little about vector programming, it may
> be worth it for you. If you just want to install and go, this upgrade
> probably won't be worth the price, unless the software you plan to use
> has already been optimized for Altivec.
Which is the case of dvd playback ... (libmpeg2 is one of the first
thing that was optimized for altivec in linux)
Ben.
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