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lullu
Joined: 13 Dec 2007
Posts: 3
Location: Czech Republic
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 Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 2:03 am Post subject: Linux performance & distros |
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Hello everyone! :)
In my first post at these great forums, which I believe I placed to right thread, I would like to ask You all few simple questions related to linux usage. A short time ago I was deciding wheter to buy a low-end new pc or PS3 - great HTPC due to linux possibility and all other kind of staff - my precious :). I believed it would provide enough performance for all basic apps.. I tried Ubuntu, ub. with XFACE and also installed RSX driver, now I am running OpenSuse 10.3.. What makes me a litle bit angry is how my system perform. I always stop unrequired services, remove unnecessary apps and try to do my system as light as possible but I still experience mouse lags, firefox is slow as hell and also calling mp3 player from bar is a punishment for me.. So now my questions :)
1)Which distros and which environment do You use?
2)How does Your system perform?
3)Feel free to discuss related staff :)
PS: Excuse my english :) And thanks to all members for their work and effort. lullu |
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DrP
Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 1
Location: Auckland
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:52 am Post subject: |
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I used Ubuntu 7.1. I too disable all unwanted services. It runs ok I guess but not like PC. Lack of system RAM seems to be the problem. That and the software rendering video. I found on my second install things seemed to run a little better. I was running a slightly lower video resolution and increased the swap partition from 512 to 1024Mb. My aim of installing Ubuntu was to see how quick video file conversion could be (e.g. DivX -> PSP format) seeing as the PS3 uses the Cell BE chip. Turns out the PS3 is slower than my Intel P4-HT!!! Sux! Conclusion. 1) Need more RAM!, 2)Need RSX driver (I have FW2.1 thus why I cant use), 3) Better support for the Cell BE.
If anyone can tell me how to get full potential of the Cell BE I'd appreciate it!
DrP. |
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ps2devman
Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Posts: 265
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Write specific code for SPU's |
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lullu
Joined: 13 Dec 2007
Posts: 3
Location: Czech Republic
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:06 am Post subject: |
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I decided to reinstall my system and now I´m running ps3 Xubuntu, performs much better than suse and it´s much closer to be used as regular desktop..
lullu
_________________
PS3 - 60GB - FW2.01
HP 2408w - 1080p
Logitech - z5500 digital |
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leonhong
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 8:21 pm Post subject: Re: Linux performance & distros |
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| lullu wrote: | Hello everyone! :)
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1)Which distros and which environment do You use?
2)How does Your system perform?
3)Feel free to discuss related staff :)
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1) Ubuntu+PS3RSX1.04
2) Slower in loading, but quite acceptable when running
3) The south bridge of PS3 is a SONY made CXD2973GB, which won't exceed 1.5 Gb/s or 192 Mb/s transferring speed. What is more, no driver optimization was adaptable to this I/O controller due to the lack of its spec data. This means: no burst r/w, no DMA block r/w, no any known accelerated r/w could be achieved if using the present PS3 Linux disk I/O driver. So it is apparent that the PS3 has a slower disk I/O rate under Linux if compared to a Intel based computer using the PIIX driver module. Don't try to improve the performance, unless SONY would be willing to release these accelerating drivers!!
IMHO, change to a quick HDD will be a little better, but won't go too far. Change to a quick driver is the right answer, that could never be achieved... |
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jimparis
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Posts: 1179
Location: Boston
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| Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:04 am Post subject: Re: Linux performance & distros |
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| leonhong wrote: | | 3) The south bridge of PS3 is a SONY made CXD2973GB, which won't exceed 1.5 Gb/s or 192 Mb/s transferring speed. |
In my tests PS3 has no problem attaining the hard drive's maximum transfer rate.
| Quote: | | What is more, no driver optimization was adaptable to this I/O controller due to the lack of its spec data. This means: no burst r/w, no DMA block r/w, no any known accelerated r/w could be achieved if using the present PS3 Linux disk I/O driver. So it is apparent that the PS3 has a slower disk I/O rate under Linux if compared to a Intel based computer using the PIIX driver module. Don't try to improve the performance, unless SONY would be willing to release these accelerating drivers!! |
That's just not true. Linux does not have it's own low-level I/O driver, it asks the hypervisor to perform all I/O operations. The hypervisor does all of the DMA stuff itself, and the missing specs don't affect us. Sony does a good job with the hypervisor and both GameOS and OtherOS benefit. |
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IronPeter
Joined: 06 Aug 2007
Posts: 207
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| Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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As far as I know it is possible to plug your SATA HDD into PS3. HDD is encrypted ( encryption on reserved SPU ), so all DMAs are perfomed by HV.
Probably, it is possible to extend XDR memory. Devkits have 512 MiBs of XDR memory ( it is open info, you can google it ). Probably devkits and retail consoles have the same XDR scheme. |
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jimparis
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Posts: 1179
Location: Boston
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| Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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| IronPeter wrote: | | As far as I know it is possible to plug your SATA HDD into PS3. |
Yes, the PS3 HDD is standard SATA.
| Quote: | | HDD is encrypted ( encryption on reserved SPU ), so all DMAs are perfomed by HV. |
The Linux partition is not encrypted. The OtherOS block of flash (4MB) is also not encrypted. |
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IronPeter
Joined: 06 Aug 2007
Posts: 207
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| Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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>The Linux partition is not encrypted
Thanks, I did not know. |
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leonhong
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 3:54 pm Post subject: Re: Linux performance & distros |
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| jimparis wrote: | | In my tests PS3 has no problem attaining the hard drive's maximum transfer rate. |
Dear jimparis:
How to test the drive performance really get my attention. Do you have a tool to do this? Because I don't have such kind of tools, I use Ubuntu Live CD + partimage backup time to estimate its performance. On my PC (Pentium D 945 3.4Ghz) using the same Toshiba 120 GB 2.5" HDD as the source to backup to a external USB disk, it takes only 2/3 the time to backup the whole system!! Of course, the 2 Ubuntus installed on my PC and PS3 occupied resembled spaces. (PS3: 9.7Gb, 3hrs20min, PC:10.5Gb, 2hrs17min)
We all know that HV doing low level I/O for PS3 Linux, yet I doubt whether HV fully optimized or not.
Regards
PS: I know this is not a fair test because they differ even in system levels. Yet I don't have a better way to determine the HDD performance of PS3, and the result turned out to be so obvious. Maybe you can try it, and you will find out the difference!! |
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jimparis
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Posts: 1179
Location: Boston
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| Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:40 am Post subject: |
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I don't know, it's been a while :)
If I remember right I just tested it with "hdparm -tT /dev/ps3da" or similar.
If you dont care about the data on the disk you can also try "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ps3da bs=1M count=100 oflag=direct" to test write speeds. |
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