Gentoo to slow comparatively with old mdk10

[smiff]

I just wanna understand why since i've installed gentoo after mdk, my linux seems to be slower than linux. I say this because i use to burn cds, run vmware with linux, run xmms, firefox and compile things and the mdk never seems to be overloaded. Now with gentoo, i note that with many applications running, the system seems to be overloaded. The xmms sometimes quiet, firefox delay to redraw, desktop switch in fluxbox to must slow. I cant understand if de cause is bad configuration of kernel, bad configuration of make.conf, or.. anything else.

2.6.8-gentoo-r9 kernel .config

[smiff]

I use to run vmware with guest OS windows, and not linux. And the my actual linux (gentoo) is slower than mdk (not "linux")

[steve_d555]

There may be a couple things you can do. What version of gcc do you have? A newer one might be able to optimize the code better and you may be able to get new/better CFlags. Another is, does you P4 have HyperThreading? I think that having that enabled might speed up your computer. And lastly, try a different kernel, a custom patched one, like Nitro or anything based on CK sources.

--Steve

[nxsty]

CFLAGS="-O3 -march=pentium4 -mcpu=pentium4 -fomit-frame-pointer -mmmx -msse -msse2 -mfpmath=sse -pipe"

I don't know if this is your main issue but a system compiled with those CFLAGS will definitly be slower than mandrake or any other binary distro.

EDIT:
Btw, what is your output of lspci?

[mm/ol]

Is DMA enabled?

hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda

[smiff]

lspci

[chunderbunny]

No your CFLAGS are fine. You won't get any noticeable speedups by using some crazy (and unstable) CFLAG option. 9 times out of 10, when linux feels slow it's either due to using the wrong DMA mode, or because of over use of swap. Other times it's because some app using way too much CPU and/or memory.

What speeds does your hard drive get? (post output of hdparm -tT /dev/hda)

How much swap is being used? (either use top, or post the output of free -m)

Are any processes using too many resources? (again, use top to check)

[nxsty]

-O3 is the higest optimization level but i suggest that you change it to -O2 and remove -mfpmath=sse. -mfpmath=sse only makes programs run slower for some reason. And -O3 increases the size of the binaries a lot compared to -O2. Larger binaries executes slower so a system compiled with -O3 will get a slower feel than a system compiled with -O2. It may also increase the system- and memory load. -mcpu=pentium4, -mmmx, -msse and -msse2 doesn't hurt anything but they are not necessary since they are already turned on by -march=pentium4.

Try with:
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=pentium4 -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe"

[Mord]

[steve_d555]

[Vroem]

[steve_d555]

Is your swap set in /etc/fstab?


--Steve

[Vroem]

Yes:

[yoyo]

And what about prelink, nptl etc. ???

Have a look at : [HOWTO] Flying with gentoo
_________________
La connaissance s'accroît quand on la partage.
JCB

[schmobag]

as far as hdparm goes, see this guide:
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Use_hdparm_to_improve_IDE_device_performance

According to it, a good hdparm /dev/hda should look something like this:

[Gentree]

[Jimmy Jazz]

Are you using X11 ? Perhaps your cache font is broken ?

Jj

[SubAtomic]

It seems that a number of the problems you mention relate to graphics.
I notice you have an nvidia card. Are you sure you are using accelerated drivers for it?

Have you emerged nvidia-kernel and nvidia-glx and then run opengl-update nvidia?

In the graphics device section of your XF86Config/Xorg have you set the correct driver option

[Gentree]

excuse me, Mr. 3-f smifff but you should put two Os into too to correct your title.


Interesting speed comparison:

I have been playing with installing Debian "sarge" and if Debian is reputed to be out of date and slow there's a serious problem with my "optimised" Gentoo.

I emphasise the "playing" here, this is not put forward as a serious benchmark comparison. More a bit of fun that you can do with two Linuces.

Net installed Deb-srg to a spare partition, chroot /mnt/debinst , pulled in all the basics , xfree and some of my favourite X-progs.

At this stage I am still using my 2.6.9-nitro1 compiles on Gentoo and my adsl connection launched under gentoo (dont ask me how I haven't had time to ask myself!)

Now I went through the very smooth debian config and ran up xfree with xfce4 on my chrooted Deb.

First surprise I got gimp-2.2 and gxine 0.4.1 , I'd only just got these versions yesterday when I finished 4 days worth of emergeing Gentoo into full ~x86, so Debian's not such an old dog as some things I've read.

Now for some hard work. I opened a big png and hit it with a couple of distortion filters, approx timing by counting off.

second test : time tar -cjvf inc.bz2 /usr/src/linux/include

third test : time gimp (mouse hovering over the X to close as soon as it comes up.)

Quit Xfree, alt-F2 and run up X under Gentoo and repeat the same tests.


RESULTS:

Image filters , as near as I could tell with the crude test , nothing in it although the xfree86 (i486 binaries recall) was not as snappy as my xorg compiled with -O2 -march=athlon-xp

the tarball test was a dead heat except for Gentoo taking 4s _longer_ the first time.

This is a major issue I have seen other having as well. The first time I do an emerge whatever, I have a full 10s delay before it even starts whiring.

Finally the gimp-2.2 in-and-out test: Gentoo 3.0s Debs 2.7 ; several repeats.

I expected my super-tuned-for-my-hardware Gentoo to come out ahead by a length against the cronky old i486 binaries that the Sarge gave me.

So where's the catch? Is all this compiling hot air? Or is there another issue holding back Gentoo?

BTW it took me about 6h to install the nebular Debian system and to install and configure X and the software.

If I cast my mind back to last year I took me nearer 6 days to get X running on Gentoo.

Now off to do some more rigorous testing , this is interesting.

Two distros , one kernel , Linux is cleaver.
_________________
Linux, because I'd rather own a free OS than steal one that's not worth paying for.
Gentoo because I'm a masochist
AthlonXP-M on A7N8X. Portage ~x86

[landon]

Btw, try filtering out unneeded whitespaces and comments.

[Gentree]

I used 25 linefeeds to make a long post easier to read. You wasted 65 characters critisising the "unecessary" white space.

What's your point?
_________________
Linux, because I'd rather own a free OS than steal one that's not worth paying for.
Gentoo because I'm a masochist
AthlonXP-M on A7N8X. Portage ~x86

[Headrush]

A lot of comments that might slightly speed things up, but they can't be the cause of that kind of slow down.

The two things mentioned above are:

1) enable 32bit access for you hard drive.
2) make sure you are using the accelerated video drivers.

Those two would have dramatic affect on performance.

[Gentree]

refering to the original post, I though he seems to have gone away, it doubt it is anything to do with video drivers . That's a red-herring. Looking at the programs he was refering to and the way he describes the system as "overloaded" I think he is just talking about latency and responsiveness.

I did make this point in detail in my earlier post but he did not reply so I guess he's gone back to using Mandrake.

He was also using a bog-standard kernel which are not the most reponsive. I find 2.6.9-nitro sharpens up responce times nicely and 2.6.10 are even better (if you dont use R4) since they are ck derived and have low-latency patchs.



_________________
Linux, because I'd rather own a free OS than steal one that's not worth paying for.
Gentoo because I'm a masochist
AthlonXP-M on A7N8X. Portage ~x86

[Mord]

[Headrush]