Preferred video card

[Charles Steinkuehler]

Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
> Quoting JD Runyan <JRunyan.Lists at dms.nwcg.gov>:
> 
>> > Also, remember that if you've installed generic RedHat, you have a lot of
>> > debugging code and generic one-compile-runs-all stuff in X.  We have good
>> > reports on the effectiveness of compiling X and the kernel to get really
>> > nice improvements in efficiency.
> 
>> That's what you want to do.  Just throw someone into compiling all their
>> code. Not everyone wants to go this route.  
> 
> Hey, the guy wants to optimize.  Last time the XWindows performance thread came 
> up, that was the best suggestion anyone had.  If you have a better one, post 
> it.  Don't just bitch that the suggestion isn't for everybody.  Linux isn't for 
> everybody - what's your point?

I didn't find the suggestion to compile the code out of line, as I did 
mention I was intentionally using new (and likely tricky to support) 
hardware, and had already gone through a round of kernel compiles to get 
various features working (like on-board IDE DMA...went from 3 MB/s to 
30+ MB/s according to hdparm!).

I probably won't re-compile X just yet, however, as the slow-down I'm 
seeing in "degraded" mode is like a 10X performance hit...it's something 
that's just *BROKEN* with NVidia's current drivers, and not the sort of 
thing I'd expect to fix with a tweaked compile.

I will probably be compiling X from source in the not too-distant 
future, however, as it looks like I'll have to make a custom X server 
(that doesn't try to attatch to a virtual console) in order to get my 
dual-user mode running (an alternate approach is to patch the kernel so 
there are multiple "real" local consoles, with each attached to a 
seperate KB/Mouse/VGA card), but even then it looks like the X server 
needs to be patched so it doesn't go haywire...

Anyway, X is running OK for now as long as I stay away from anthing that 
uses Gtk/Gnome heavily, so I'm running KDE, and off to see if I can get 
mplayer or ogle to compile/run on RH8 without too much hassle.

If/when I do re-compile X, I'll report on the percieved difference in 
speed from a RH8 default install and a re-compile optimized for my 
machine.  Any advice on a good X performance test for some objective 
numbers?

-- 
Charles Steinkuehler
charles at steinkuehler.net