Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 22:08:56 +0200 From: Richard Mittendorfer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [LIB] Re: Back, with Linux!
Also sprach Christopher Kalos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (Wed, 25 May 2005 10:50:58 -0700): > Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 13:50:28 -0400 > From: Christopher Kalos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [LIB] Re: Back, with Linux! > > Hello again! hi there! > >> [...] > >>> 1) fluxbox - Fluxbox window manager > >> > >> I also had good experiences with Window Maker. A bit bigger, but > >still > very usable on the 1x0CT. > > > > twm, fluxbox, openbox, all the small windowmanagers do fine. XFree > > 4.x itself is a little big: > > > > -------8<------- > > top - 18:01:52 up 9 days, 21:45, 3 users, load average: 0.04, > > 0.06, 0.08 > > Tasks: 43 total, 1 running, 42 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie > > Cpu(s): 3.9% us, 2.6% sy, 1.1% ni, 92.3% id, 0.0% wa, 0.1% hi, > > 0.0% si > > Mem: 62084k total, 54552k used, 7532k free, 3364k > > buffers > > Swap: 200804k total, 35548k used, 165256k free, 17288k > > cached > > > > PID USER PR NI SWAP VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ > > COMMAND > > 11117 root 4 -11 22m 42688 18m 1280 S 3.2 31.3 30:45.07 > > XFree86 > > 13538 ritch 14 -1 7880 13672 5792 4012 S 0.6 9.3 1:25.99 > > sylpheed > > 11167 ritch 15 -1 6768 9272 2504 1572 S 0.6 4.0 1:29.88 > > fluxbox > > 9126 ritch 14 -1 3504 5248 1744 1352 S 0.1 2.8 0:01.44 > > aterm > > ------8<------- > > > > kdrive, framebuffer version: 12.1% memory usage, 14272 VIRT, 7452 > RES, 1312 SHR. The neofb module to make this work may suck up a bit > more RAM on top of that, but right now, with multi-aterm, galeon, > and gkrellm running, I'm only 9 megs into swap. sshd runs via init, > I'm in runlevel 5, and no ftpd, as I tend to know what I'm looking > for, and can use SSH to grab/drop it off. this kdrive sounds very interesting. but you need fb to use it? maybe i'll test it out. fb is usually the first thing i switch off when i install a new system and i tend to not build support for it into the kernel. i set vga=5 and enable vga stretch. i don't know what fb's really is good for. even i like typing more than point'n'click i like to work in a gui. a lot of the XFree stuff get's swapped out (and never used again) anyway. > > [...] > > terminal. mp3blaster or xmms for playing. ecasound fo rrecording. > > I'll have to look into mp3blaster, that sounds interesting. it's a console player for oggs and mp3s. takes about 20% cpu (about the same as ogg123 alone) while xmms takes about 10% more (without showing the analyzer). > > > >>> * Trimming the fat > >> [...] > >>> Disable anything you don't need for a plain laptop. This includes > >>> nfs, > > > > oh, i use nfs (client) quite a lot ;) > > > > actually, i tried to boot from it. it works, but as memory is so > > limited > > it doesn't help me to have my drive shut down completely as there's > > a lot of swapping going on. and swapping to a memory card might not > > be the best idea. if you go for a remote X session (real x terminal) > > it's no trouble at all. > > I'm not running an NFS server, and I use it more like an overgrown > PDA, so I'm never reliably on the same WLAN all the time. I've never > been a fan of that type of remote storage on a laptop anyway, that's > what I use rsync for :) my fast one (celeron, scsi, dvd+rw,..) is some kind of SOHO (more like sozial homing) server and is up 24/7 (mail,nfs,samba,squid,apache,..). there is a 3-APs-wide wireless lan and i can get in from the cafe across the street and from a nearby park too :) as i still have the original TOSHIBA MK4310MAT in the lib and i usually have 70% full with oggs, so i'm in need of some extra space. nfs is IMHO the fastest/best solution here. i'm going to buy a bigger drive soon, but can't afford it now. > > > >> [...] > >>> * Tiny gotchas > >> > >>> 1) Kernel compilation. Just don't. It'll take forever. > >> > >> You should, however, be able to compile the kernel on a faster > >> machine, then transfer the files. Fortunately, so far I never had > >> reason to do so. > > > > it's a good idea to roll your own kernel. you can omit lot of the > > stuff and the kernel will become quite small. it's quite a problem > > as the 2.6 kernels are bigger than 2.4. however 2.6 provides better > > acpi support (IMHO) and that's a good thing on notebooks. > > > > The Fedora kernel, which I've rebuilt at times, doesn't seem too > cooperative on the Libretto, even though I've dealt with FC1 and FC2 > on various systems, all the way up to Dual-proc Opterons. On the > other hand, it has EVERYTHING I need available as a module, including > Toshiba ACPI support, Cardbus, and so on. i have never had fedora installed, but you can take a vanilla from [1] if you think it's fedora's fault. i know the libretto working with 2.2.20, 2.4.18 and .24, 2.6.8-11. i've put the configuration i use (2.6.11) to [2]. some more info at [3]. HTH [1] http://www.kernel.org [2] http://www.mittendorfer.com/rm/temp/lib110ct_kconfig.txt [3] http://www.mittendorfer.com/rm/temp/l110ct.txt btw: this use of cflags is quite debatably, but i use -O3 -fforce-mem -ftracer -pipe -fexpensive-optimizations when i compile 2.6 (and some 2.4) kernels. IMHO they are faster then.. i dont't use this flags on productive systems only privatly and havn't seen any problems: [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ uptime 21:57:41 up 142 days, 1:41, 3 users, load average: 0.82, 0.29, 0.28 [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ > > the CFQ shcheduler is somewhat smaller than the default AS. might > > give you better performance. deadline is also there, but this one is > > IMHO better at working databases. > > > > I've heard good things about cfq, but it's even more rough around the > edges than anticipatory. Deadline's great on RAID arrays and the > like, though I've got an entire spiel about 2.4, 2.6, Opterons, RAID, > and the like that has nothing to do with the Libby. i used the CFQ some time, put i am switching between CFQ and AS now. ide performance is that bad on the lib - a good scheduler helps. messured with hdparm -t shows the old 2.4. ide driver still (lill' bit) ahead of the 2.6 elevator. > > > > question: > > has anybody a working thermal sensor on the lib? i get a > > value > > at bootup which looks valid, but it doesn't change then. even > > unloading and then modprobe thermal doesn't reread it. if it boots > > up cold it say's about 20 degrees. if boot up hot, 50-60 degrees > > seems quite possible rihgt. > > i don't even know if there _is_ a thermal sensor in there. > > > > GKrellm indicates a temp of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit under normal > situations, spiking to around 140 if I don't force ACPI throttling to > 100CT clock speeds. cat /proc/acpi/prozessor/CPU0/throttling the 110ct seems to have 15 throttling states. what do you use to throttle the cpu. AFAIK cpudyn or cpufreq don't work on the moblie pentium mmx, do they? i've clocked mine to 266MHz and it stays quite cool. these mere 33MHz don't do much, but i'm one of those dangerous sysadmins with a screwdriver and a soldering iron in the hand :> i get this temperatures from /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature. exactly once. time over. how to you read the temperatures? if you get them via ACPI, can you please post the dmesg part about ACPI and $ cd /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM $ for i in *; do echo -n " $i = "; cat $i; done thanks a lot - i really want to get the thermal part working. i have tried various kernels, some selfmade patches and also tried a custom dsdt - no avail. > > > > i compile on a faster local machine which is also the server for > > bigger remote apps like audacity, openoffiice, firefox, gimp,... > > > > I do this as needed, but the stuff that I want has been abandoned by > most people, sadly. > > I did just rediscover Galeon, and GNOME's been getting on my nerves > lately with that. It seems that nothing I do resets all these Gnome > apps' desire to show toolbars with icons AND text. I'm sorry, but at > 800x480, that eyecandy goes right out the window. As do most pixmaps, > since I honestly don't need to suck up more RAM and CPU time loading > and drawing those everywhere. It *is* possible to get a clean, good > looking environment without all the blasted pixmaps, but apparently no > one cares anymore. galeon was great. i just spotted it in my debian sarge sources again. version 1.3.20. firefox is ok too (but not on a lib). i used gnome some time ago, but switched away because all the ad-ons that come with it but which i don't need just take away resources.. felt like back in ms times. i use a lightweight wm now also on fast machines. most time i'm in aterm anyway - aterm is my favorite. it's small and can do pseudo-transperency :) xfce is a good looking and light environment too. but it's based on gtk(2) too. gnome is IMO too heavy, but you could try to use this "gconf" tool to get those menues right. IIRC it's called gconf-editor or that like. i prefer openbox or fluxbox. xfe as filemanager. > Thanks for the tips! > CK sl ritch.
