Subject: Re: Performance on Transmeta Crusoe
To: None <current-users@NetBSD.org>
From: Lasse Kliemann <lasse-list-current-users-netbsd-2004@plastictree.net>
List: current-users
Date: 01/15/2005 18:10:01
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* sigsegv@rambler.ru writes:
> Lasse Kliemann wrote:
> >
> >I am using 2.99.11 on my notebook, a Desknote A530 with a Transmeta Crus=
oe=20
> >processor. I know that this notebook isn't the fastest one in the world,=
=20
> >but the performance was always acceptable under Linux. However, with=20
> >NetBSD it seems to be significantly slower in some aspects. The Crusoe i=
s=20
> >clocked around 600 MHz, and I run NetBSD on an 650 MHz Athlon just fine=
=20
> >with excelent performance. Hence, I believe it must be some special issu=
e=20
> >for the Crusoe.
> >
> >In particular, Mozilla and Firefox (from Pkgsrc) are very, very slow. Fo=
r=20
> >one, the user inteface responds with large delays. Opening a menu can ta=
ke=20
> >about 3 seconds. I first see a black recangle (where the menu is to=20
> >appear) and then, after some more moments, the menu pops up, finally.
>=20
> You don't say how much RAM you have, firefox eats up a lot of memory,=20
> sounds like your processes are being swapped to disk very often

dmesg talks about 224 MB available memory, but I am having trouble matching=
=20
this with the output of top:

Memory: 101M Act, 56M Inact, 1260K Wired, 39M Exec, 57M File, 12M Free
Swap: 512M Total, 9532K Used, 503M Free

I do not believe that Firefox is doing a lot of swapping, because the LED f=
or=20
the harddisk is quiet most of the time, and obviously there is very few=20
swapspace used.

However, I found something else (which I should have noticed before) in the=
=20
output of dmesg:

NetBSD 2.99.11 (GENERIC) #0: Tue Dec 21 12:53:55 UTC 2004
	netbsd@stargazer:/home/netbsd/obj/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC
total memory =3D 239 MB
avail memory =3D 224 MB
BIOS32 rev. 0 found at 0xfda40
mainbus0 (root)
cpu0 at mainbus0: (uniprocessor)
cpu0: Transmeta Crusoe (586-class), 599.31 MHz, id 0x543
cpu0: Processor revision 1.3.1.3
cpu0: Code Morphing Software Rev: 4.2.7-8-278
cpu0: 20011004 02:04 official release 4.2.7#7
cpu0: LongRun mode: 1  <600MHz 1600mV 100%>
cpu0: features 84893f<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,CX8,SEP>
cpu0: features 84893f<CMOV,PN,MMX>
cpu0: "Transmeta(tm) Crusoe(tm) Processor TM5600"
cpu0: serial number 0000-0543-0000-3118-0E05-A7A1
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1
pci0: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, rd/mult, wr/inv ok
pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0
pchb0: Transmeta LongRun Northbridge (rev. 0x01)
Transmeta SDRAM Controller (RAM memory) at pci0 dev 0 function 1 not config=
ured
Transmeta BIOS Scratchpad (RAM memory) at pci0 dev 0 function 2 not configu=
red

That doesn't look good, does it? Maybe my RAM is not accessed properly and=
=20
hence very slow? That would explain why memory-hungry applications run so s=
lowly.
But then I did some digging on this and found
http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-i386/2002/10/11/0003.html
which suggest that this is normal.


Another idea of mine is that it is connected with the LongRun support. I've=
=20
read that it can be configured via sysctl. Anyone knows an example to tune =
for=20
more performance this way? Energy consumption is no problem (as long as the=
=20
notebook does not become too hot), because it is almost always connected to=
 a=20
power socket.


I include the rest of dmesg for completeness:

rtk0 at pci0 dev 5 function 0: Realtek 8139 10/100BaseTX
rtk0: interrupting at irq 5
rtk0: Ethernet address 00:0a:e6:ba:e8:bb
ukphy0 at rtk0 phy 7: Generic IEEE 802.3u media interface
ukphy0: OUI 0x000000, model 0x0000, rev. 0
ukphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
autri0 at pci0 dev 6 function 0: Acer Labs M5451 AC-Link Controller Audio D=
evice (rev. 0x02)
autri0: interrupting at irq 5
autri0: ac97: C-Media CMI9739 codec; no 3D stereo
audio0 at autri0: full duplex, mmap, independent
midi0 at autri0: 4DWAVE MIDI UART
pcib0 at pci0 dev 7 function 0
pcib0: Acer Labs M1543 PCI-ISA Bridge (rev. 0x00)
Acer Labs product 0x5457 (modem communications) at pci0 dev 8 function 0 no=
t configured
vga1 at pci0 dev 9 function 0: Silicon Integrated System product 0x0325 (re=
v. 0x00)
wsdisplay0 at vga1 kbdmux 1: console (80x25, vt100 emulation)
wsmux1: connecting to wsdisplay0
uhci0 at pci0 dev 10 function 0: VIA Technologies VT83C572 USB Controller (=
rev. 0x50)
uhci0: interrupting at irq 11
usb0 at uhci0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0 at usb0
uhub0: VIA Technologies UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1 at pci0 dev 10 function 1: VIA Technologies VT83C572 USB Controller (=
rev. 0x50)
uhci1: interrupting at irq 5
usb1 at uhci1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1 at usb1
uhub1: VIA Technologies UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0 at pci0 dev 10 function 2: VIA Technologies VT8237 EHCI USB Controlle=
r (rev. 0x51)
ehci0: interrupting at irq 9
ehci0: EHCI version 0.95
ehci0: companion controllers, 2 ports each: uhci0 uhci1
usb2 at ehci0: USB revision 2.0
uhub2 at usb2
uhub2: VIA Technologie EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub2: single transaction translator
uhub2: 4 ports with 4 removable, self powered
aceride0 at pci0 dev 16 function 0
aceride0: Acer Labs M5229 UDMA IDE Controller (rev. 0xc4)
aceride0: bus-master DMA support present
aceride0: primary channel configured to compatibility mode
aceride0: primary channel interrupting at irq 14
atabus0 at aceride0 channel 0
aceride0: secondary channel configured to compatibility mode
aceride0: secondary channel interrupting at irq 15
atabus1 at aceride0 channel 1
Acer Labs M7101 Power Management Controller (miscellaneous bridge) at pci0 =
dev 17 function 0 not configured
ohci0 at pci0 dev 20 function 0: Acer Labs M5237 USB 1.1 Host Controller (r=
ev. 0x03)
ohci0: interrupting at irq 10
ohci0: OHCI version 1.0, legacy support
usb3 at ohci0: USB revision 1.0
uhub3 at usb3
uhub3: Acer Labs OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub3: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
isa0 at pcib0
lpt0 at isa0 port 0x378-0x37b irq 7
com0 at isa0 port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4: ns16550a, working fifo
pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60-0x64
pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot
wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard, using wsdisplay0
pms0 at pckbc0 (aux slot)
pckbc0: using irq 12 for aux slot
wsmouse0 at pms0 mux 0
pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
midi1 at pcppi0: PC speaker
sysbeep0 at pcppi0
isapnp0 at isa0 port 0x279: ISA Plug 'n Play device support
npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0-0xff: using exception 16
isapnp0: no ISA Plug 'n Play devices found
Kernelized RAIDframe activated
uhidev0 at uhub1 port 2 configuration 1 interface 0
uhidev0: Sun Microsystems Type 6 USB keyboard, rev 1.00/1.01, addr 2, iclas=
s 3/1
ukbd0 at uhidev0
wskbd1 at ukbd0 mux 1
wskbd1: connecting to wsdisplay0
wd0 at atabus0 drive 0: <FUJITSU MHS2030AT>
wd0: drive supports 16-sector PIO transfers, LBA addressing
wd0: 28615 MB, 58140 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 58605120 sectors
wd0: 32-bit data port
wd0: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 5 (Ultra/100)
wd0(aceride0:0:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 5 (Ultra/100) (using DM=
A)
atapibus0 at atabus1: 2 targets
cd0 at atapibus0 drive 0: <Slimtype COMBO LSC-24081, , 3ME2> cdrom removable
cd0: 32-bit data port
cd0: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 2 (Ultra/33)
cd0(aceride0:1:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 2 (Ultra/33) (using DMA)
boot device: wd0
root on wd0a dumps on wd0b
root file system type: ffs
wsdisplay0: screen 1 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 2 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 3 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 4 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)

--=20
Lasse Kliemann
      private homepage: http://plastictree.net
   NO software patents: http://swpat.ffii.org
do NOT use M$ products: http://plastictree.net/articles/noms

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