[OLPC-devel] Re: pygtk performance issue

[Jordan Crouse]

On 06/09/06 04:53 -0700, Mitch Bradley wrote:
> The processor on OLPC is inherently slower than the processors that are 
> used in modern laptops.  To get ultra low power you have to sacrifice 
> something.  It seems unlikely that we would be able to hide that 
> inherent speed differential by a kernel change.  In the short term, I 
> don't know of any planned hardware changes that would substantially 
> increase the performance of file system activity on USB drives.

We should also recreate these tests on other Geode platforms running either
Insyde or geodrom to ensure that any performance hits are not due to 
misconfiguration in LinuxBIOS.

> I believe that "work smarter" is a key component of the OLPC plan.  It 
> looks like you have found some "low-hanging fruit" that is ripe for the 
> picking.  Improving pygtk to start up in a less "brute force" way would 
> benefit not only OLPC, but everybody else as well.

Indeed.  Fast processors have given us much room in which to be lazy.  We
knew from the start that this work would need to be done.  Instead of
lamenting our poor luck at not having a $100 2 Ghz machine, let us instead 
embrace the challenge.   If you can make pygtk that much better by only
opening 100 files, then all will be grateful, regardless of the clock speed
of their processor.

Jordan