Speeding up a machine

[Jeremy Fowler]

I agree that a preemptable kernel probably won't help start up times. It
will help his overall system latency, which he was complaining about
also.

However, I have to correct you on your statement. Preemptable kernel
configurations are hardly a week step when you consider a twenty fold
increase in process-level responses in some cases. 

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/5600

"The theory is that when I/O data becomes available, a preemptive kernel
can wake an I/O-bound process more quickly. The result is higher
throughput, a nice bonus. The net result is a smoother desktop, less
audio dropout under load, better application response and improved
fairness to high-priority tasks."

However, Billy, I just realized you have a Core2Duo. Most package
distros compile for lowest common denominator. Which means your probably
not using the full potential of your processor. Which has dual cores and
a 64-bit architecture. Here is a good wiki to point you in the right
direction on setting up your kernel:

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Intel_Core2_Duo

It's a Gentoo wiki, but should be valid for all distros.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason D. Clinton [mailto:me at jasonclinton.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 11:23 AM
To: Jeremy Fowler
Cc: Billy Crook; kclug at kclug.org
Subject: RE: Speeding up a machine

Since no one else corrected this statement I feel that I should.
Preemptible kernel configurations are specficially made available as a
weak stepping stone to a time when the Linux kernel offers real-time
scheduling. The pre-emptible feature will only increase the rate at
which the kernel responds to hardware interrupts and even then only by a
few milliseconds at most. This would mostly be visible in things like
mouse cursor responsiveness when the system is under heavy IO load. It
will not help the start up time of any application.