Really slow SETI times after Mandrake 8.0 install...
 

I have an AMD k6/2 333MHz, 96M, 4M video, 6G HD, etc...

I previously had Mandrake 7.X installed on this setup, and I didn't really use it for much, other than to occasionally run SETI on it, and to setup a Samba server, mostly to get some experience since we have one at work. My seti times were running about 24h to complete a packet (and I thought that this was about in line with my 933 Intel which takes about 8h). I was always run seti under KDE just in a shell window that I managed manually without an automated script. Note that all of these machines are/were runninng 3.03 command line client, NOT 2.X.

I wanted to get this machine up and running permanently because I would like to just generally be more knowledgeable about Linux, and don't want to loose all of the UNIX experience that I've gathered upto this point (we still have a UNIX server at work). With that being said, I decided to install Mandrake 8.0 on this machine.

Ever since doing that, my seti times are absolutely terrible. I'm talking a minimum of 38h, up to 45h!, almost double! I have gone into this machine and stopped ALL processes that I didn't need, and it didn't help. I stopped them all from loading in the rc dirs, and it didn't help. I've tried running it in KDE and text mode only, and it doesn't seem to matter at all.

I'm just about ready to wipe this machine clean, and go BACK to 7.X to since I know that it was faster. Also, it's not just seti that's slow on this machine. Everything is slower, but seti really seems to have taken a big hit.

any ideas????

cadman...

Hi there

You are running the i386 version arent you?

RecoilUK

...good question...

yes I am. I originally thought that I had the wrong version (I had not saved the original tar files, and had renamed the executable), so I went and go it again. When I got it the second time, I got both of the i386 versions, lib2.1 and lib1.static (I believe that was the name).

I've tried both of those, and neither one seems to make a difference. They both run about the same speed.

cadman...

Hi again

Those times seem fine to me to be honest with you. My K6-3 400 takes around 28 - 30 hrs wether its in Windows or Linux, which would make your system time look just about right.

I dont think its a problem with Mandrake 8.0 as I have that running on an AMD Duron 900 and it takes around 9-11hrs.

What mobo are you running this on??

L8rs

RecoilUK

Don't laugh at me, but it's a PC-Chips type motherboard, M571. I've had this thing around for a long time. I think that it has an Apollo TX chipset (I'm going off of memory), with integrated sound and video. I'm NOT using the integrated video, because it really slows this mobo down.

You mentioned that you didn't think that my SETI times were that far out of line, but I still can't help but wonder why they have gotten so much slower.

I also have a Pentium 233 running Win98, and it's SETI times are around 42h, pretty consistently. I just looked at my times on my linux box, and it's current completion estimate is now 47H!! It keeps going up and up. It seems that every packet that I run it's getting slower and slower.

One thing that I haven't mentioned is that when I installed Mandrake 8.0, I installed it as the only operating system on that machine. Nothing else. I also installed it as a SERVER version, not a client version when I was going through the install. I had originally planned on using this machine for some other things, but have decided not to. Is it then possible that there is a BUNCH of stuff that's compiled in my kernel that I don't need that's making it run that much slower? With Mandrake 7.X I was forced to install as a client machine because my disk set would not allow me to install as a server, so I never did install it as a server with 7.X. So I installed as a client, and didn't think too much about it.

cadman...

Hi again

I dunno then m8 to tell you the truth.

Is the machine exactly the same as when you were running Windows, or have you changed something, maybe got it from another machine, like a memory module or maybe changed a bios setting that you forgotten about.

As far as installing a server version goes, thats what I have installed and I see no difference, it wont slow it down any because daemons or programs in linux only run when they are called for. After a certain period of time they shut down and free memory until needed again.

Then there is allways the possiblity that you have found loads of data that needs checking down to 32 TTL in the latest data packets and it might speed back up again.

L8rs

RecoilUK

No, I haven't changed anything about this machine, EXCEPT to take Windows off of there, and make it a Linux boot only machine. I did that when I installed m8. Linux is the only operating system on that disk.

As for Windows, my 24h times were with Linux, not Windows, but it was Mandrake 7.x. When I had 7.x on there, and dual boot, I never did boot it into Windows and try seti for windows, I always ran seti on the linux side of things...

That gets me to thinkin' though. I have a spare 1G drive laying around that I could install Windows on, and run windows seti and see what happens. That way, I don't have to destroy my linux partitions to try Windows out. I think I'll do that and see what happens. If for nothing else, curiosities sake...

cadman...

Thanks for all your help and suggestions...