Subject: Re: making old sparcs run fast
To: None <fender@earthling.net>
From: Volker Borchert <bt@insiders-fs.com>
List: port-sparc
Date: 05/21/2001 18:14:19
In message <15113.9659.786965.926036@maes.adc-itcl.ce.philips.com> you write:

|> a while ago i got my hands on a SS1+ and tried RH6.2.
|> wasted a couple of good weekends on it but couldn't even get it to
|> boot properly.

And if you had, its performance wood have been poor compared
to *BSD or SunOS.

|> i'm intending to use this as a small router.

How small? I.e. just a 9k6 analog, or a 622m ATM?

|> does this make any sense ? or is the poor old thing just way too slow.

It should handle a 56k analog or 128k ISDN fine, depending
on the complexity of your filtering/NAT/whatever rules.

|> a simple ping returns w/ a delay of 2-3 ms. while on my other pc's
|> it's less than a ms.

Do these other pc's have 100 MBit network cards?

Keep in mind that the SS1+ has only a 10 MBit network on board.
(Its CPU wouldn't be able to handle a 100 MBit card anyway.)

Besides from decreasing raw network throughput compared to a
100 Mbit el-cheapo PC card, thus increasing the time needed to
transmit a packet of given size, it may also force your switch
or dual-speed hub into store-and-forward mode which may add a
delay more or less noticeable depending on the device's design.

	Volker