Hi Eric, Rugxulo,
Short answer: CPU idle ratio is still (reported as) about 50% on
notebooks.
Now the details.
>> (Me:)
>> Texts (mainly Aurora editor), databases (DataPerfect),
>> spreadsheets (SuperCalc).
> (Eric:)
> Interesting, I know none of those :-)
Aurora and DataPerfect are truly remarkable.
>> DEVICE=C:\FDOS\JEMM\JEMFBHLP.EXE
> (Eric:)
> FB as in framebuffer? Does this really help you?
> (Rugxulo:)
> I forget exactly, (don't use this often, probably should), but I think
> this is the "fastboot" helper (speeds up rebooting) since FreeDOS
> needed a little extra help (unlike MS).
That's right. This is Japheth's explanation: "JEMFBHLP is a tiny
device driver only needed if both FreeDOS and Jemm's FASTBOOT option
are used. FreeDOS does not provide the information which Jemm needs
for FASTBOOT to work [...] It saves the values for interrupt vectors
15h and 19h at 0070h:0100h, which is the MS-DOS compatible way to do
it."
>> SHELLHIGH=C:\RECURSOS\4DOS\4dos.com C:\RECURSOS\4DOS /P=C:\fdauto47.bat
> (Eric:)
> Does it make a difference to use SHELL without HIGH
> or to use FreeCOM, for memory and idleness purposes?
> (Rugxulo:)
> The shell probably does make a difference for idleness, but I'm
> assuming he's using 4DOS on all machines.
I tried SHELL (instead of SHELLHIGH), and FreeCOM. No difference.
>> loadhigh DISPLAY con=(EGA,,1)
>> MODE con codepage prepare=((850) C:\RECURSOS\FONTTELA\sanse_38.cpi)
>> loadhigh MODE con codepage select=850
> (Eric:)
> A user of codepages :-) With a custom font?
Indeed! Based on a font by Horst Schaeffer, which I improved for my
native Portuguese language with help of FontHack.com by Pierre Jelenc.
>> DEVLOAD /H C:\FDOS\UIDE\UIDE.SYS /S25 /H /PM
> (Eric:)
> If you use UIDE, did you try loading it earlier?
> Not sure what the docs recommend about relative
> loading time compared to EMM386, though...
To simplify things, I tested with LBAcache instead of UIDE. LBAcache
was loaded in FDCONFIG.SYS. No difference: typical CPU idle percentage
is still around 50%.
>> loadhigh C:\RECURSOS\4DOS\kstack.com
> (Eric:)
> A command history? Or just more keyboard buffer?
> The former is built-in with FreeCOM and for the
> latter you could try a FDCONFIG option, see the
> docs of the kernel (fdconfig.txt?)...
> (Rugxulo:)
> I don't use this either (it comes with 4DOS, right?), but I think it's
> to allow programs to pre-load the buffer with specific keys at
> runtime.
That's right. The 4DOS help says: "KEYSTACK takes a series of
keystrokes and feeds them to a program or command as if they were
typed at the keyboard." Just in case, I tested without Keystack too,
but there was no difference.
> loadhigh c:\fdos\bin\FDAPM.COM APMDOS
> (Eric:)
> FDAPM is small in RAM, so you can try if
> it works more efficiently outside UMBs.
I tried without loadhigh. No change in results.
>> (Robert:)
>> Does this also happen with a clean boot (no drivers loaded)?
> (Me:)
> Yes. The Aurora editor, for instance, usually reaches 98-99% idle
> time on desktops, but only 50% on the ThinkPad with nothing
> loaded except COMMAND.COM and FDAPM.
> (Eric:)
> Quite interesting! Does the ThinkPad use any
> fancy BIOS stuff such as extra energy saving
> or USB-to-PS2 or similar BIOS based drivers?
My ThinkPad is model 380Z.
Bios version IGET25WW
Bios date 1999-02-10
Processor Pentium II 300 MHz
Some of the settings:
network
wake disabled
flash disabled
quickboot enabled
I could not find any information about "fancy BIOS stuff such as extra
energy saving or USB-to-PS2 or similar BIOS based drivers".
> (Me:)
> Another intriguing fact is that I've already seen -- albeit very
> rarely -- high numbers on the notebooks such as 90%, and low ones
> on the desktops such as 3%.
> (Eric:)
> That is indeed unusual. It sometimes happens
> when software has idle loops which are not
> supported that well by FDAPM, e.g. SSH2DOS
> or other networked software, but if you mean
> very different idle ratio even with the same
> software then it is of course unexpected :-)
> How idle you get in part depends on which IRQ
> sources are active on your system and in part
> on what your BIOS does and whether you have
> hardware energy saving such as CPU throttle.
Sorry, that wasn't clear in my previous message. Yes, I meant
different idle ratios with the same software.
Regards,
Marcos
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Offer-- Download ArcSight Logger for FREE (a $49 USD value)!
Finally, a world-class log management solution at an even better price-free!
Download using promo code Free_Logger_4_Dev2Dev. Offer expires
February 28th, so secure your free ArcSight Logger TODAY!
http://p.sf.net/sfu/arcsight-sfd2d
_______________________________________________
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
