Re: [gentoo-sparc] 64-bit gentoo-sparc, how to make it happen?

[Ferris McCormick]

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On Mon, 26 Jun 2006, 张~_武 wrote:

> 在 2006-06-25日的 17:18 +0200，Etaoin Shrdlu写道：
>> On Sunday 25 June 2006 06:01, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
>>
>
> Thank you for the answer. Just another smaller question: from pruely a
> user's view (who simply wish to use it, rather then from developer view
> who might gain knowledge and fun doing it), is it worthy to try it
> (64bit sparc)?
>
> The original idea is the system as a print server is too slow (capable
> of doing fast dithering for the inkjet printer, but not fast enough to
> do real-time even-tone dithering to server the printer, usually cause
> printer to wait for server), a rough gain of 20% to 30% CPU power, by my
> guessing of observing top(1), should be enough for the printer.
> Dithering is always a CPU intensive job and we do a lot of printing.
>
> I observed kernel is taking only a very small percentage of CPU usage,
> if I try hours to get 64-bit kernel running but only obtain 5% speed
> gain, that may not be worth.

I think there is a miscommunication here.  On sparc64 you are running the 
kernel on 64-bit mode.  It's user programs which run only in 32-bit mode 
(without a fair amount of effort, that is).  Since 32-bit user mode is 
FASTER than 64-bit user mode, for your application, you don't want 64-bit 
user mode in any case.

> Or should I try Solaris 10? Should Solaris
> provide better performance in this very case? (how much performance gain
> might happen? 10%? 20%?) I don't need a very close estimation, just if
> someone can give me a very rough estimation is very helpful, for I am
> not techincally able to do the decision:)
>
> If switch to Solaris for performance (no offensive, I am a 5 year's
> hardcore Linux user), generally speaking, is Solaris very compatible
> with PCI cards like NEC USB controller, Promise IDE controller and
> ethernet cards?
>
>
> And thank you a lot for you time,
> Etaoin Shrdlu
>

I can't comment meaningfully on your other questions.

Regards,
Ferris

- --
Ferris McCormick (P44646, MI) <fmccor@g.o>
Developer, Gentoo Linux (Devrel, Sparc)
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