Linux: Volatile Performance

> I'm obliged to try the CFS kernel. I'm a bit rusty

Great! Fair warning -- 3D FPS is one area where the CFS hasn't necessarily proved its worth yet. That's a 2-way street, however. It's been getting tweaked as Ingo goes along, so it may well be wonderful now. And, early reports may not have been reliable.

Either way -- you either get good performance or a corner case to report. Worth a look.

Because of the paravirtualization option being flagged "GPL Only" and enabled by Debian in 2.6.19-21, the Nvidia proprietary module would not compile.

So I've recently had a refresher course in kernel compiling. I must say that the Debian scripted build is very easy, compared to the vanilla kernel 2.2.19 on RedHat in 2001 which is the last time I had done it by hand.

I'm quite curious about the CFS's effects. Thanks for bringing it up.

hmm, this is interesting enough I may have to try my hand at doing a kernel in Sabayon/Gentoo. I'v done it half a dozen times or so under Debian, but none since the switch. Since I am one of those types who is a gamer and also has a nasty habit of running both the cores up to 100% for extended periods even when not gaming I think I'd like to see the results of CFS first hand.

>adds new kernel to project list in the sometime in the next 2 weeks category.

Wow, good times - compiled a kernel for the first time in years -

lucy: /home/jjs (tty/dev/pts/1): bash: 1001 > uname -a Linux lucy 2.6.23-rc4-default #1 SMP Tue Aug 28 22:59:25 PDT 2007 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

No surprises, and everything works - just did a make cloneconfig with my vendor kernel source, then moved the .config to the new source dir and did a make oldconfig, and we were off to the races.

Played a quick game of q3a and it certainly feels smoother, but I know, that's subjective. We'll see how it goes...

> that's subjective

Don't undervalue subjective feel.

We tend to emphasize the "objective", but that's because we can measure it, not because it's more important.

> > that's subjective > Don't undervalue subjective feel.

One of the great insights of Austrian economics is that all value is subjective. No two people value a thing the same, nor does one person value it the same over time.

>One of the great insights of Austrian economics

I didn't know it at the time, but I was lucky to get my econ undergraduate at Michigan State. I never even thought about economics before college, and only chose the major after acing a required course and having my professor suggest I consider it.

The lucky part? Folks at MSU seemed to have more interest in the underlying psychology of economics than other places. I would never forget the huge pile of assumptions that underlies all of the fancy models.

> the huge pile of assumptions that underlies all of the fancy models.

Yep. Another reason the Keynsians hate the Austrians, the Austrians reject the quantitative models.

I'm very glad to now know that my impression about your economics lessons from the last time this subject came up was wrong.

>I'm very glad to now know that my impression about your economics lessons from the last time this subject came up was wrong.

Me too. Equally glad to see your economics background is more entertaining than many: not the "dismal art" school.

> I was lucky to get my econ undergraduate at Michigan State.

I was even luckier. Mine was from the University of Illinois. ;-)

> my impression about your economics lessons

A lot of people are forced to take macroeconomics as one of their first classes and then they decide to hate econ. It doesn't have to be like that. One of the most interesting classes I've ever taken in my life was "The Economic History of the U.S.".

I think the last online quiz I took on the subject indicated I was more closely aligned to the Chicago school of econonics that any other, but as I remember they are as equally dismissive of Keynesian economics as the Austrians. I took two semesters of economics in college, but that was the limit of my formal education. I've sometimes considered that fortunate.

Quoting:but I was lucky to get my econ undergraduate at Michigan State

Now I see the good side in you. :)

>Now I see the good side in you. :)

Are you kidding? I'm nothing but good sides ;0)

Quoting:Are you kidding? I'm nothing but good sides ;0)

So why you make them so hard to see! Don't be so modest you devil's advocate you. :)

It seems to be a nice day around here. How is it in Chicago Illinois?

>How is it in Chicago Illinois?

Can't speak for downtown, as I'm 30-40 miles due west, on the Fox river, but...

It's a pretty nice day. A bit overcast, but a bit cooler than yesterday. Certainly better than last week's storms and floods.

JD, I recall what might have been the same quiz. The "bell curve" for responses was somewhere toward the low-end of government intervention, then the Chicago school was not so many, but there was a large spike right up against the "anarchy" end of the spectrum, complete "separation of economy and state."

Hang on....

http://www.mises.org/quiz.asp?QuizID=4

There ya go.

> Can't speak for downtown, as I'm 30-40 miles due west, on the Fox river, but...

You're near Chicago dino? Small world - I was there for some IBM training recently and I'd have stopped by with a virtual beer if I'd known...

>virtual beer

Me no drink no virtual beer. I have, however, downed more than a few liquid versions at Blackie's, which is down by the two big loop train stations.

> Me no drink no virtual beer. I have, however, downed more than a few liquid versions at Blackie's, which is down by the two big loop train stations.

Haha, that's the beauty of virtual beer, it can be always converted into your choice...

Next time I'm going back to Chicago I'll ping you.

Bob:

I'm not sure if it's the same quiz or not, but it's similar. I'll try to take it when I have more time and see if I still come out the same or not.