Kernel 2.6 Real-Time Benchmarks

An anonymous reader writes "This whitepaper at LinuxDevices.com includes benchmarks comparing the real-time performance of the vers. 2.4 and 2.6 linux kernels, based on LynuxWorks' BlueCat Linux 5.0 beta. The graphs compare the results for average and worst-case measurements of both interrupt response and task switch performance for the two kernels, running on a 1GHz Pentium III under relatively heavy load. Check it out -- there's an enormous improvement. The article also includes a rundown of other features of the new kernel that seem likely to be welcomed by embedded developers."

Comments

Wider Application?

[4of12]

I'm hoping the benefits of these performance improvements aren't limited to single-purpose embedded devices.

Better interactive response (framebuffer, keyboard, mouse) would help desktop users, while some of the enterprise warehouse folks could use less interruption of important I/O tasks.

Maybe those aims can be achieved somewhat by these kernel improvements.

it doesn't say

[Tirel]

which version they were using exactly.. test2-mm2? test3-ac1? test1? this is supposed to be a serious article?

Re:What about the interactivity patches?

[StarBar]

Playing music on a 2.6 kernel is certainly not perfect, especially in the first 30 seconds of a song with xmms. During this time xmms is probably loading the song and the disk access holds back the music stream.

That only shows that xmms is not taking advantage of the new possibilities on the 2.6 kernel. It is up to the application to set priorities between tasks/threads, it is not something the kernel will do by itself. Properly set priorities will get you a much better sound experience on the 2.6 kernel. The preemptiveness of the 2.6 kernel will get rid of the lagging cursor movements, among other things, and that has nothing todo with priorities, so you will get it automatically. This might get you a feeling of better performance but infact it is just a better system response to your interaction. // Starbar