Re: tlug: Sparc/Linux speedup hints?

[gaijin@example.com (John Little)]

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tlug note from gaijin@example.com (John Little)
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   Again, I've been away, but can't see any other replies so far, so...

% 
% (1) Does it help to upgrade to the development (2.1) kernel series?
%     If so, which version is stablest on the Sparc architecture?
%

   The jury is still out on this one. Reports on the SPARC-Linux list
   have it that the 2.1.* series can be a little faster, but are
   definitely more unstable (as you'd expect).

%
% (2) Memory upgrades?  What am I looking for?  Just the next size up 
%     same speed of the current SIMMs?
%

   This is the best initial step. ELCs will accept 16MB SIMMs for a total
   of 64MB (SLCs are limited to 4MB SIMMs... I have a couple of ELC
   boards available for anyone who wants to upgrade).

%
% (3) Hard drive upgrades.
%     (a) I've got the boat anchor drive and a CD-ROM hanging off the
%         external drive enclosure.  There's space for at least one more 
%         drive and two free power lines.  But John Little's article
%         stated buying a Seagate Barracuda (or the like) was a bad idea 
%         for the "pizza-box" enclosures.  I assuem this doesn't apply
%         to the separate drive enclosure, but let's not destroy any
%         drives here....
%     (b) If that's OK, I suppose I can just get a 3 or 4 drive ribbon
%         cable?
%

   SCSI-2 drives are the next best step. The "boat anchor" is a fairly
   slow SCSI-1. I'm currently using a 1.2GB Seagate on my IPC and an
   ex-Mac 160MB 2.5" drive on the ELC.

   Seagate Barracudas and a few of the other 7200RPM drives do run very
   hot. They need to be in well ventilated cabinets. They should be
   fine in the "P-Box" enclosure you got with the SPARC (you'll need a
   3.5" bracket).

   If you use a ribbon cable to connect multiple drives, try to keep it
   as short as possible and terminate it at the end furthest from the
   system.

%
% (4) Sound.  Is there sound support?  XEmacs detects "soundcard.h" but
%     evidently there is no real sound device driver in the kernel.
%     True?  False?  (I can always look at the source, but the source by 
%     definition is useless for hardware questions like (1-3), so as
%     long as I'm here :-)
% 

   There's no sound support in the revision of SPARC-Linux you currently
   have loaded. Look in ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/sound/ to get the latest
   modules for Red Hat releases.



			-John-

Next TLUG meeting is Saturday October 11, 1997
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