[K12OSN] More feedback on Fedora 10 + LTSP

[Robert Arkiletian]

On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 1:54 PM, James P. Kinney III
<jkinney at localnetsolutions.com> wrote:
...
> Note also that CentOS kernels are by default tuned more for big
> installation stuff than is the Fedora kernel.
>
> Again, I strongly suspect you are having a serious kernel issue and
> recommend compiling your own.

I recommend against that. There are MANY settings in configuring and
compiling a kernel. You could end up making things worse and spend a
lot of time doing it. I think (for the most part) the default settings
should be fine.

>
> The bridge interface is also a serious slowdown hog. It doesn't seem to
> support gigabit traffic at all. More like 230-400 Mbps. So the idea of
> ditching the bridge and going straight, physical nic is the best,
> fastest route to a speed up. Dig on the Brandon elementary pta site for
> a write up by William Fragakis on how to turn of the bridge process.

*****If this is true, then this needs to be fixed******
Does anyone have any evidence/experience that the virtual bridge
causes a slowdown?

>
> Lastly: you mentioned hyperthreading cpu's. If they are _really_
> hyperthreaded and not full multi-core, turn _off_ the hyperthreading.
> The F10 kernel threading will thrash royally doing stupid task swapping
> as it seems to not understand that the second cpu is a fake one. There
> is a kernel /proc flag to help this but I can't find it right now
> (again).

The bios should provide you with an option to turn it off. But I have
tested HT and I get a slight benefit with ltsp.

>
> Also be sure to turn off EVERY process not actively used. Some are more
> of a drain on cpu throughput (avahi, a zillion python applets running
> desktop applets for notification - system monitor should be removed!! so
> students won't load it up - it's a HOG)
>

Good point. That's why I use Icewm.

-- 
Robert Arkiletian
Eric Hamber Secondary, Vancouver, Canada