Message-ID: <001001c20fb9$ae22fc50$1400a8c0@nicksgp7> From: "Nick Thompson" <nthompso@cae.wisc.edu> Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2002 09:29:28 -0400 Subject: Re: [suse-sparc] trying to compile 2.4.16 kernel on Sparc LX ..
On your Sparc LX, I wouldn't recompile unless you're a glutton for
punishment. 2.4 kernels are very difficult to compile & run correctly on
the 32-bit processors in your LX. I use the standard SuSE kernel on all of
my 5 Sparc machines. You'll only save about 500k of RAM by recompiling.
I've recompiled kernel on several x86 machines and that rarely has any
significant impact on speed UNLESS you have a severely limited amount of
RAM. It's *usually* the number of running processes that slows the machine
down. I usually boot my 32-bit sparcs to level 2 (console) mode. Then use
'top' to figure out what is running that is unnecessary. Check your CRON
jobs in /etc/crond, /etc/cron.daily, /etc/cron.hourly.... to see what
might be running regularly in the background.
You can always ask the persons on this list whether a particular service is
required. For example, you should edit your apache configuration to only
start 1 process instead of 10. Samba is unnecessary unless you're using
with Windows machines (and then ONLY when it's configured properly). Reduce
the number of TTY terminals available in /etc/inittab (you should only need
3 or so). Cups is only useful if you'll be printing and don't have a
postscript printer available. If you do have a PS printer, using lpd or
other smaller printing package is advisable. You don't need to run a DNS
(bind / named) on your local machine.
Unless you're using these, kill them:
nscd
at
cups (see note above)
nfsserver (NFS network shares)
pcnfsd (related to NFS)
routed (for routers only)
smbfs (part of Samba)
xntpd (for time syncronization, useful but only necessary if you're
gonna use it)
autofs (for automounting of network shares)
nfs (NFS network shares)
snmpd (for SNMP which it's not likely you're using)
portmap (handy but unnecessary)
idedma (not used on our old SCSI Sparc machines)
webmin (administration of your system using Web browser instead of
Yast, I love this, but if you're not using it, kill it)
squid (web proxy)
And by all means DONT USE KDE. Its OK to have installed....many of it's
utilities are handy but it has many many many helper processes that get
started anytime you run a KDE related app.
I use Windowmaker on all my Sun boxes. It's pretty, configurable, & easy.
Blackbox is also nice. Openwin is VERY light on memory and is easy to
configure the menus via text files in /usr/openwin/libs (or /usr/openwin/bin
?).
PS: you can only use 8-bit color on these old machines, so bitmaps can
sometimes look ugly...gotta choose your colors wisely.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Francis Demierre" <Francis@Swissmail.com>
To: <suse-sparc@suse.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 09, 2002 8:31 AM
Subject: Re: [suse-sparc] trying to compile 2.4.16 kernel on Sparc LX ..
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ingo T. Storm" <suse-sparc@computerbild.de>
> To: "Francis Demierre" <Francis@Swissmail.com>
> Cc: "suse sparc" <suse-sparc@suse.com>
> Sent: Sunday, June 09, 2002 9:50 AM
> Subject: Re: [suse-sparc] trying to compile 2.4.16 kernel on Sparc LX ..
>
>
> > > BTW: I am trying to recompile the kernel because my machine litteraly
> > > crawls on its knees with the "out-of-the-box" Suse 7.3 installation.
> >
> > You aren't using KDE, are you? That needs a LOT of memory. Please try
> > WindowMaker, XFCE or some other lightweight desktop/wm combo.
> >
> > I run WindowMaker on all my sun4m machines and they feel fine;-)
> >
> > Ingo
>
> ahem ... YES Ingo I was running KDE ... I will try another one.
> Surely KDE is awfully slow on this LX with 32Megs ...
>
> I was trying to compile the Kernel and it was crawling to .. I will
> disable Xwindows all together and try compile see if gets any better.
>
> Which utility should I use to really see what is going on with
> memory and swap allocation ? Tried vmstat but that's a bit cryptic to me !
>
>
> Tks for your help.
> Francis
>
>
> --
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-sparc-unsubscribe@suse.com
> For additional commands, e-mail: suse-sparc-help@suse.com
>
>
>
-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-sparc-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-sparc-help@suse.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.0 : Sun Jun 09 2002 - 15:29:43 CEST