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On Fri, Jul 27, 2012 at 04:10:30PM -0400, Allan Gottlieb wrote |
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> I am getting a new laptop. (likely dell 6430). |
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> The two graphics options are intel HD 4000 and nvidia NVS 5200M. |
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> Dell is as expected suggesting the 5200M. |
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> |
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> I do not need 3D or fast response. Dell hinted that DVDs might not play |
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> with the intel HD 4000. This seems weird to me as the 4000 is supposed |
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> to be a big improvement over the 3000 and I can't believe dell or others |
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> would have sold laptops that can't play dvds |
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> |
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> Any comments or experiences? |
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2 personal experiences... |
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1) I have a Dell D530, over 4 years old, that could not keep up with the |
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slowest feed of hockey games on NHLGameCenterLive. The feed runs via |
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Flash. This was just after I had done a fresh install, and most of the |
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system was lowest-common-denominator i686 code from the i686 install CD. |
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After I ran "emerge system" and "emerge world", optimised with CFLAGS... |
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CFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -mfpmath=sse -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe" |
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...the machine was able to keep up stutter-free on the low-speed feed. |
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BTW, my current CFLAGS are... |
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CFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -mfpmath=sse -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe -fno-unwind-tables -fno-asynchronous-unwind-tables" |
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2) I have an early ASUS Atom netbook, 2 gigs ram, with a Poulsbo GMA500. |
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With the in-kernel GMA500 driver, it plays 720p HD from Youtube no |
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problem. By setting "mem=1920mb" in the boot parameters, I now have it |
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playing 1080p just fine even in Youtube's "large player", but not in |
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fullscreen mode. If this old POS can play 1080p Youtube clips, a newer |
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machine should easily be able to handle it. |
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Additional comments... |
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1) Dell is probably thinking Windows built with lowest-common-denominator |
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i686 code, running with full visual eye-candy. Yes, that would slow it |
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down to a crawl. |
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2) Gentoo optimised to your machine has a huge advantage over any binary |
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distro, be it Windows or linux. |
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3) I run ICEWM, a lightweight but powerful WM with minimal eye-candy. |
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This allows the CPU and GPU to devote their power to doing stuff you |
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really want/need. See my sig. |
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4) Use mplayer to play DVDs. It is much lighter than other popular |
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linux players, and it can be optimised to your machine. My setup... |
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[ebuild R ] media-video/mplayer-1.1-r1 USE="X a52 alsa dga encode |
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gif iconv jpeg mmx mng mp3 opengl png quicktime rtmp sse sse2 ssse3 |
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theora truetype vdpau vorbis win32codecs x264 xv xvid -3dnow -3dnowext |
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-aalib (-altivec) (-aqua) -bidi -bindist -bl -bluray -bs2b -cddb -cdio |
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-cdparanoia -cpudetection -debug -directfb -doc -dts -dv -dvb -dvd |
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-dvdnav -dxr3 -enca -faac -faad -fbcon -ftp -ggi -gsm -ipv6 -jack |
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-joystick -jpeg2k -ladspa -libass -libcaca -libmpeg2 -lirc -live -lzo |
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-mad -md5sum -mmxext -nas -network -nut -openal -osdmenu -oss -pnm |
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-pulseaudio -pvr -radio -rar -real -rtc -samba -sdl -shm -speex -tga |
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-toolame -tremor -twolame -unicode -v4l -vidix -xanim -xinerama |
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-xscreensaver -xvmc -zoran" VIDEO_CARDS="-mga -s3virge -tdfx" |
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Note... do *NOT* blindly copy my flags. Select the ones appropriate to |
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your CPU and GPU and playback/recording needs. |
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-- |
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Walter Dnes <waltdnes@××××××××.org> |
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I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications |
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