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* Re: 2.4.18-pre7 slow ... apm problem
@ 2002-01-28  0:15 Thomas Hood
  2002-01-28  0:32 ` Alan Cox
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 27+ messages in thread
From: Thomas Hood @ 2002-01-28  0:15 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: linux-kernel; +Cc: Stephen Rothwell

> 1) keyboard rate is a bit slow on 2.4.18-pre7 compared to
>    2.4.18-pre6.
> 2) On vmware 3.0, ping localhost is very slow. 2.4.18-pre6
>    has not such problem.
>
> After disabling CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE, the system works fast again.
> With pre6 or earlier versions, system works fine though even with
> CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE enabled.

Idle handling in the apm driver was modified in 2.4.18-pre7 .
Back to the drawing board ...

Note that you can disable apm idle handling by setting the
apm idle_threshold parameter to 100.  You don't need to
recompile the kernel.




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 27+ messages in thread
* Re: 2.4.18-pre7 slow ... apm problem
@ 2002-01-29 18:53 Petr Vandrovec
  2002-01-29 22:47 ` Stephan von Krawczynski
  2002-01-30  0:44 ` Jeff Chua
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 27+ messages in thread
From: Petr Vandrovec @ 2002-01-29 18:53 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Jeff Chua; +Cc: jdthood, Alan Cox, Linux Kernel, sfr, skraw

On 29 Jan 02 at 20:36, Jeff Chua wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Jan 2002, Thomas Hood wrote:
> 
> > Suggestion: Try setting the idle_threshold to a higher value,
> > e.g., 98.  (The default value is 95.)
> 
> With 98, "ping localhost" on "guest" os showed 2 responses, then pause for
> few seconds, then response, ...
> 
> With 95, I got the 1st response, then nothing. 98 seems better, but still
> slow...
> 
> With 100, it's perfect.

I've got an idea - if you were saying that ping host->guest is fine,
but other way around it does not work. Can you apply 
ftp://platan.vc.cvut.cz/pub/vmware/vmware-ws-1455-update5.tar.gz
to your VMware 3.x? Stock vmware-3.x modules use netif_rx() instead
of netif_rx_ni(), and so network bottom half was not run under some 
conditions.

Patch also allows you to run VMware on 2.5.3-pre5, BTW.
                                                Best regards,
                                                    Petr Vandrovec
                                                    vandrove@vc.cvut.cz
                                                    



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 27+ messages in thread
* Re: 2.4.18-pre7 slow ... apm problem
@ 2002-01-28 23:22 Petr Vandrovec
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 27+ messages in thread
From: Petr Vandrovec @ 2002-01-28 23:22 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Alan Cox; +Cc: Jeff Chua, Linux Kernel, Stephen Rothwell, skraw

On 28 Jan 02 at 22:20, Alan Cox wrote:
> > Question to all: Would it be a good idea to de-idle the CPU
> > inside interrupt handlers?
> 
> If you call APM routines from inside APM routines weirdness occurs - so
> the answer is no. I'd say that unless this is shown to be occuring in
> non vmware stuff its up to vmware to handle the apm situation right

Hi,
  unfortunately, majordomo kicked me yesterday evening, so I had to
follow this discussion through web archives, and I have some problems
with understanding why problem happens...

  When vmmon switches out of the Linux to the virtual machine, it disables
all (APIC) NMI sources, disables IRQ on the CPU, completely replaces CPU 
context (GDT/IDT/...) and switches to VMM, which does not physically
access anything except main memory and things emulated inside VMM
(like accesses to VGA/SVGA framebuffers). When an IRQ arrives to virtual
machine, it disables all IRQs, restores Linux kernel contexts, reenables
NMI sources, and restarts IRQ from vmmon by using INT xx instruction. 
And everything this happens in process context (when VMM_RUN ioctl is
invoked).

  So this behavior should be completely transparent to Linux kernel,
it should just see VMware process as a HLT instruction executed in vmmon
module, which delays interrupt confirmation/delivery a bit. Only thing
which could cause troubles is SMI arrival - but SMI handler cannot notice
any difference (except that APIC IRQ sources delivered as a NMI to CPU
are disabled), as paging is turned off during SMI handler, and physical
memory contents is same under both vmware and Linux kernel.

  So I'm really puzzled.
                                                Best regards,
                                                    Petr Vandrovec
                                                    vandrove@vc.cvut.cz
                                                    
P.S.: I'm not trying to say that it is not VMware fault. It probably
is, as I saw same behavior on my old Pentium 120MHz notebook two years
ago - but as problem disappeared as it appeared...

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 27+ messages in thread
* 2.4.18-pre7 slow ... apm problem
@ 2002-01-27 10:08 Jeff Chua
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 27+ messages in thread
From: Jeff Chua @ 2002-01-27 10:08 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Linux Kernel; +Cc: Jeff Chua


Found the problem.

After disabling CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE, the system works fast again.

With pre6 or earlier versions, system works fine though even with
CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE enabled.

System is IBM X22 800MHz notebook, 640MB ram.

Thanks,
Jeff
[ jchua@fedex.com ]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 14:49:06 +0800 (SGT)
From: Jeff Chua <jeffchua@silk.corp.fedex.com>
To: Linux Kernel <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: 2.4.18-pre7 slow



1) keyboard rate is a bit slow on 2.4.18-pre7 compared to 2.4.18-pre6.

2) On vmware 3.0, ping localhost is very slow. 2.4.18-pre6 has not such
problem.


Thanks,
Jeff
[ jchua@fedex.com ]



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 27+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2002-02-01 13:24 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 27+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2002-01-28  0:15 2.4.18-pre7 slow ... apm problem Thomas Hood
2002-01-28  0:32 ` Alan Cox
2002-01-28  2:37   ` Thomas Hood
2002-01-28 10:14     ` Alan Cox
2002-01-28 11:25       ` Thomas Hood
2002-01-28 13:03         ` Stephan von Krawczynski
2002-01-28 13:18         ` Alan Cox
2002-01-28 16:19           ` Thomas Hood
2002-01-28  3:22   ` Thomas Hood
2002-01-28 20:11   ` Jeff Chua
2002-01-28 20:28     ` Thomas Hood
2002-01-28 22:20       ` Alan Cox
2002-01-29 12:36       ` Jeff Chua
2002-01-30  1:12         ` Thomas Hood
2002-01-30  9:22           ` Jeff Chua
2002-01-28 21:14     ` Thomas Hood
2002-01-28 21:17     ` Jeff Chua
2002-01-28 23:09     ` Stephan von Krawczynski
2002-01-29 13:01       ` Jeff Chua
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2002-01-29 18:53 Petr Vandrovec
2002-01-29 22:47 ` Stephan von Krawczynski
2002-01-30  0:44 ` Jeff Chua
2002-01-30  5:50   ` Stephen Rothwell
2002-01-30  9:27     ` Jeff Chua
2002-02-01 13:20     ` Jeff Chua
2002-01-28 23:22 Petr Vandrovec
2002-01-27 10:08 Jeff Chua

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