Pre-emptible kernels...

DesiLILO · 04-03-2005, 08:58 PM

Hi,

I just read about pre-emptible kernel support in newer linux kernels. Does kernel pre-emption really attribute to any noticeable performance difference in normal desktop linux boxes?

How do I find out if the kernel I'm running has been compiled with pre-emptible support? I'm using Mandrake 10.1 CE

Thanks in advance,
Harish

Tinkster · 04-03-2005, 10:33 PM

pre-emption is mainly a feature of the 2.6 kernels.

Personally I can't really tell the big difference ;)

Cheers,
Tink

__J · 04-03-2005, 10:39 PM

if you have the kernel-source and the .config file for your kernel you could load the config back up during your new kernel compile.

( This is an opinion )
Personally, I can't stand it. I've tried it numerous times ( both with patches and official sources) and on my hardware I always took a performance hit. YMMV.

chbin · 04-03-2005, 10:52 PM

I notice a huge difference with the pre emptibel kernel. My desktop respondes right away no matter what is going on in the backround and is a lot smother overall. I only have a pentium 2 so maybe this is why I notice should a big difference.

SciYro · 04-04-2005, 12:01 AM

preemption is one of the 2 main patches from 2.4 that decrease lag time. As i recall from a study, the preemption patch was not as good as low-latency patch at the start, but after the system got going, the low-latency patch got worse and worse, it apparently had a little problem with keeping the latency time down, the preemption patch however, was best at keeping the latency down for long periods of time.

DesiLILO · 04-04-2005, 01:37 AM

Quote:

I notice a huge difference with the pre emptibel kernel. My desktop respondes right away no matter what is going on in the backround and is a lot smother overall

I think in an ideal situation, this is what should be happening! Even though things may not run faster, the response time of an application should be faster. So I guess its a trade-off between the two?

About running it on old hardware, what you say is interesting! Has anyone tried running it on better hardware?

/Harish