Re: [linux-audio-dev] Linux 2.6 not a latency panacea?

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Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Linux 2.6 not a latency panacea?
From: Christian Henz (chrhenz_AT_gmx.de)
Date: Thu Aug 14 2003 - 03:48:40 EEST


On Wed, Aug 13, 2003 at 03:09:10PM -0700, Joshua Haberman wrote:
> I am distressed. It was my understanding that the 2.5/2.6 kernel branch
> was undergoing significant scheduler and latency work, and that 2.6
> would eliminate the kernel from the list of obstacles of low-latency on
> Linux. It will have the preemptable kernel patch, the new scheduler,
> and all of Ingo Molnar's low-latency work. Claims were being thrown
> around that 2.6 would be the lowest-latency operating system on the planet.
>
> So how is it that we're in the 2.6.0-test series and people are
> complaining about audio skipping in **XMMS**, which uses three second
> buffers by default?? If people are getting skips from high-latency
> playback, what hope is there for low-latency audio? A series of patches
> are coming from both Ingo and Con Kolivas attempting to address this,
> but the fact they are just now throwing around potential solutions
> erodes at my faith that they really understand the problem or how to
> solve it.
>
> Is 2.6.x going to be suitable for low-latency (or even reliable
> high-latency) audio? Or is it going to be more of the same: patching
> the kernel, tweaking parameters, reading magical incantations, and
> hoping for the best?
>
> Reassure me please!
>
> Josh
>

I also found 2.6.0-test[123] to be less responsive than 2.4.x-ll, or even stock 2.4.x. I've also experienced XMMS dropouts under load (for example compiling Muse)

Some behaviour I've noticed is that under heavy load the desktop/audio doesn't freeze for a certain block of time, but rather in short (~2 seconds) intervalls...

cheers,
Christian Henz


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