Configuring a BFQ kernel for desktop multitasking on an old Athlon XP
Low desktop latency comparison on an old machine. Ladies and gentlemen, on your left stands the mighty Linux-4.11-BFQ kernel with default settings, our present best-soldier-for-the-job. On your right is the same system and kernel but tweaked; Can it does better than default? Elements of comparison.
Follow a timeline, some detail about the hardware, the software, as well as a quick excerpt of the earlier stages of the game.
1. Timeline
0:00 System specs and (kernel) settings
0:50 Common daily multitasking test (Palemoon browser, session restore * and video streaming @ 02:15 )
06:10 Closing applications *
06:55 720p HD video
07:30 1080p HD video
moment when the diff between the two contenders is most visible.
2. Hardware
Circa-2002 PC: Athlon XP 1.5 Ghz with 512 MB RAM, 60 GB IDE hard drive, integrated GPU and a 1280x1024 px screen emulated as close to the physical one as possible with Qemu/KVM without SPICE.
3. Software
LibreOffice 5.1.6, Evince PDF reader, MPlayer and Pale Moon 27.3, all chosen for their superior efficiency over many of their alternatives.
OS is Bodhi Linux 4.2 (Ubuntu Xenial Xerus with Enlightenment/Moksha) that ships many of the bells and whistle of the better known desktop environments with a much lower resources footprint.
Settings applied: none (video to the left); Swappiness, zswap and virtual memory (video to the right).
4. Earlier stages: how did we came here
We did test many distributions on both emulated and physical oldies, e.g. Solus, Slitaz 3/5/rolling, Mageia, Lubuntu 12/14/16.04, eOS, Ubuntu Mate, Linux Mint, ConnochaetOS. Applications too. Then had them used for a while by our non-tech neighbors (still hopping our colleagues will find some little time for that ^^ ). Kept the most efficient e.g. « Testing the efficiency of six different browsers in real life on an Intel ATOM netbook »
https://pic.al/uploads/19/62/hybcpinm...
We now are testing different settings on the most efficient OS for old computers we found so far. E.g. you can watch the same OS all defaults : « Test: Athlon XP 1.5GHz avec Bodhi Linux 4.2 (1280x1024) - défaut » • Test Athlon XP 1.5GHz avec Bodhi Linux 4.2...
Sharing your thoughts and own experience would be much appreciated.
5. Credits
Videos :
Digital painting time-lapse : Lezard, created by David REVOY with Mypaint / Alchemy and Gimp on Linux.
trailer 1: The Idol / Ya tayr el tayer (original title), 2015, directed by Hany Abu-Assad
trailer 2: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE vs MISSION: PAS POSSIBLE (original title), 2015, Rogue Nation - PARODIE prod. Julien ALLARD, author Vincent Scalera, with Natoo, Squeezie, Kemar et Mister V.