Re: [PATCH] sleep_decay for interactivity 2.5.72 - testers needed

From: Con Kolivas (kernel@kolivas.org)
Date: Sun Jun 22 2003 - 16:37:17 EST


On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 07:24, Con Kolivas wrote:
> On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 02:14, Felipe Alfaro Solana wrote:
> > On Sun, 2003-06-22 at 17:58, Con Kolivas wrote:
> > > On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 01:40, Felipe Alfaro Solana wrote:
> > > > On Sun, 2003-06-22 at 15:45, Con Kolivas wrote:
> > > > > > Feel free to test it and comment. Things to look for - the
> > > > > > dreaded audio skip under load, and X remaining interactive during
> > > > > > sustained use under load.
> > > >
> > > > I must say this seems to be getting better, but I still prefer Mike's
> > > > patches. With the latest sleep decay patch and 2.5.72-mm3, I can
> > > > still easily starve XMMS audio for a long time (~5 seconds) on my
> > > > 700Mhz Pentium III laptoņ (running RHL9 and KDE 3.1.2) simply by
> > > > running "while true; do a=2; done" on a konsole window. Dragging a
> > > > window fast enough also starves XMMS for ~5 seconds just until the
> > > > scheduler adjusts the priorities.
> > > >
> > > > XMMS is running with an effective priority of 15 (that's what top
> > > > says). "while true; do a=2; done" starts with a priority of 15 (which
> > > > causes XMMS to stop playing sound), then it is detected as a CPU hog
> > > > and every second its priority is increased by one. When its priority
> > > > reaches 20, XMMS starts playing again.
> > > >
> > > > When I move windows around fast enough. the X server starts with a
> > > > priority of 15, starving XMMS. If I keep moving windows around for a
> > > > long time, X's priority starts increasing by one, until it reaches
> > > > 20. At this moment, it stops disturbing XMMS audio playback.
> > > >
> > > > I've been playing with scheduler parameters, mainly by reducing
> > > > MAX_SLEEP_AVG to (HZ) and STARVATION_LIMIT to (HZ). This seems to
> > > > help a lot, although I can still make XMMS skip sound every once a
> > > > bit. However, mplayer is a really hard one: I have been unable to
> > > > make it skip sound yet.
> > >
> > > Yes Mike's patches are definitely better. My patches are designed for
> > > the 2.4-ck patchset which has other workarounds that augment this
> > > patch; however these workarounds are harder to stomach for mainstream
> > > kernels (read nasty hacks). I thought I'd offer the not so nasty
> > > sleep_decay patch in 2.5 form for perusal and comments since people are
> > > more willing to test 2.5 patches.
> >
> > Well, it's nice to know.
> > I'm willing to test nearly any 2.5 patch. So, I'll gladly test any other
> > ideas or patches you (or others) might have.
>
> ANY?
>
> Ok well I guess I have to give away my secret then. This is the change that
> turns 2.5 into a desktop kernel. Note the very slight change to Ingo's
> addon ;-)

Damn did it again.
Here's the real one.



-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Jun 23 2003 - 22:00:39 EST