Re: Low Latency Patch

[Robert Dinse]

On 1 Jul 2000, Yoann Vandoorselaere wrote:
> 
> Khimenko Victor just explained to you that this patch is broken by design,
> so it isn't acceptable on long term.
> 
> If you want to start recoding it the right way, feel free to do it,
> but do not bother people that know it must not be included 
> saying that it should be because it work for you.
> 
> Understand that even if it improve things for the user it 
> may broke things for the kernel.

     Do you read what I wrote?  I explained my original reason for the post.
I think other people will find value even if they don't only have real time
needs.

     I was hoping to encourage people to try it.  Because I think if more
people tried it they'd realize the value.

     I wish I had the time and competency to recode core portions of the
kernel to fix things like this, but if I did I'd go after the stability issues
first to be frank.  However, I don't so it's moot.  There is just too much in
the kernel that I don't yet understand.  Maybe some day.

     I am a heavy user of Linux however, and I hope that the development
community is not disinterested in input from the user community.  If that is
not the case, then Linux is dead.

     The thing I hate most about Windows is that I can't do anything for an
hour without the machine locking up on me, or at least anything non-trivial.  I
also hate the fact that with Windows I'm restricted to one platform, Intel. 

     I use Linux to get work done, but you know I also still use some antique
Unices here, because: 

	A) They have support for devices that Linux doesn't support,
	   most significantly FDDI hardware I have is not supported by Linux.

	B) Some antique Unices are more stable on SMP platforms that Linux
	   is and the applications are such that crashes every 4-5 days are
	   not acceptable.

     If I had an absolute realtime need, as opposed to just liking the fact
that systems aren't hurky-jerky under load with these patches, then I suppose
I'd have to look at a different OS for that.

     If you ignore the needs of the end users, pretty soon you don't have a
user community anymore.

     But for me alone?  Don't fix it, leave it broken if it looks prettier. 
But I would suggest that people who haven't tried the patch because they don't
have a need for realtime performance, particularly if they have occasionally
heavily loaded boxes, try it.