Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Knoppix Performance on USB with ReiserFS

  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    6

    Smile Knoppix Performance on USB with ReiserFS

    Hi people, this is my first post of this forum; i have experimented a knoppix configuration in a ReiserFS formatted USB Stick, where the performance and boot.

    I Have not used the "flash-knoppix" script, because it only creates FAT32/vfat filesystem. So i firstly did a mkfs.reiserfs on there, then manually copied Knoppix files. After that i copied the grub directory from a knoppix environment (/boot/grub) and ran the grub shell to install manually on the MBR of that USB Stick. Then i edited the grub file manually with my desired options for boot.

    The result is that the knoppix boot only took nearly 15 seconds, and the knoppix persistent image only 3 seconds (Note that my laptop is a dell inspiron 1525 with 2GB RAM and 2.1 GHz dual core CPU, also without a hard disk connected)

    These steps are very useful.

  2. #2
    Senior Member registered user
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Columbia, Maryland USA
    Posts
    1,631

    Welcome

    Greetings and welcome to the forum, fmateo.

    I'm very interested in your effort for a number of reasons.

    1. My setup is a 2 Gb LiveUSB on a 1545 with a time to on-line
    with wifi of about 43 seconds. I would be nice to compare
    these times under the same assumptions, boiling it down to
    just fat32 vs Reiserfs, if possible.

    2. I'd been wondering about the 0wn 'hard drive install' that
    uses Reiserfs. I've not understood KK's reason for using Reiser
    for that variant of Knoppix.

    Tell us more.
    Last edited by utu; 01-16-2012 at 08:00 PM.

  3. #3
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    6
    Its a good idea to do that comparison in 2 recorded videos on same laptop hardware resources.. I will going to format another USB stick, using Fat32 filesystem

  4. #4
    Senior Member registered user
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Columbia, Maryland USA
    Posts
    1,631

    Here's how I go about estimating 'time-to-online'

    .
    Estimating time to on-line with wifi:

    I use ntpdate, and have /var/log/syslog re-activated.

    You can use Synaptic to add ntpdate.

    If you need to re-activate syslog, see my 'Tweak #3' at:
    http://www.knoppix.net/forum/threads...ghlight=syslog

    I have added a hidden file '~/.bashrc, (in /home/knoppix) which contains:
    alias sl='less /var/log/syslog'
    alias timeto='sl|grep -m 1 ntpdate; sl|grep restart'

    Open up a terminal to 80 columns, enter 'timeto' and look at the first 15 characters
    in each of the two lines. If you subtract the minutes and seconds,
    and disregard the (your.hrs) hours difference between (your.st)ST and GST,
    then that is my estimate of the time it takes to get on-line with wifi.

    Using 'Class 2' SanDisk SD Cards, I get about 43 seconds.
    Class 2 means 2 Mb/sec minimum, but nominal r/w speed for these inexpensive cards
    are not specified, nor guaranteed by SanDisk.

  5. #5
    Moderator Moderator
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Germany/ Dietzenbach
    Posts
    1,124
    I've not understood KK's reason for using Reiser
    for that variant of Knoppix.
    KKs answer:
    This would be the "install knoppix on harddisk" option, instead of "flash-knoppix".

    It creates swap and at least one reiserfs partition.

    To answer the next upcoming question already ("why reiserfs?"): I use this because it automatically repairs itself during mount in case of a previous crash, which may be less confusing and time-consuming for beginners than a file system check in ext3.
    http://lists.debian.org/debian-knopp.../msg00007.html

  6. #6
    Senior Member registered user
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Columbia, Maryland USA
    Posts
    1,631
    Thanks, Werner; but,

    That is the explanation by KK that I don't understand:
    1. Would Reiserfs be a good idea as well for LiveUSB?
    2. If so, why aren't we using it now?
    3. For the 'usual' crashed LiveUSB should one try a fsck to repair it?
    4. In case 3, I've alway just burned a new copy & brought it up-to-date
    with a backup of home/, etc/ and 'syslinux.cfg

    What is KK saying here, anyway?
    I was hoping fmateo (or anyone) had an explanation I could understand.
    __________________________________________________ _____________________

    Also, in my post #4 here, the units are MB/s not Mb/s.
    B/s are 8 b/s, in SanDisk documentation. I have the feeling that
    the USB is not slowing things down, but I'm not sure of the math.

  7. #7
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    6

    Post

    I did the syslog and ntpdate procedures, and the result was 42 seconds on my laptop (with wifi), should be some seconds less with wired conection...

    Next step is to compare briefly with a vfat formatted usbstick and another one formatted as reiserfs

  8. #8
    Senior Member registered user
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Columbia, Maryland USA
    Posts
    1,631
    Greetings, fmateo.

    In regard to times-to-get-on-line, It looks like we get about the
    same result for 'timeto', if you're using that for your estimate.

    You may have noticed that 'timeto' is not a great estimate if you
    use a watch and count the seconds from 'enter' at the Knoppix boot
    prompt until the time the network manager icon says you are on-line.
    I get somewhere between 50 and 60 watch-seconds depending, possibly,
    on which and how many USBs are plugged into the laptop.

    'timeto' just tells us how long the first syslog takes. I don't think
    it accounts for the initial USB searches and kernel loading, all
    happening before there is any terminal record of events.

    I think the un-accounted for time may be in the vicinity of 15 to 22 seconds.
    Last edited by utu; 01-19-2012 at 01:05 AM.

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


MITS Altair 8800 Computer Bamboo Reproduction Untouched W/ Simulator Manuals picture

MITS Altair 8800 Computer Bamboo Reproduction Untouched W/ Simulator Manuals

$1500.00



S-100 backplane motherboard bare PCB 9 slot (for Altair/IMSAI) picture

S-100 backplane motherboard bare PCB 9 slot (for Altair/IMSAI)

$30.00



MITS ALTAIR 8800  Original Vintage Microcomputer with 14 boards - Buy It Now picture

MITS ALTAIR 8800 Original Vintage Microcomputer with 14 boards - Buy It Now

$9500.00



Technical Design Labs System Monitor Board TDL SMB S-100 Altair IMSAI EPROM Mod picture

Technical Design Labs System Monitor Board TDL SMB S-100 Altair IMSAI EPROM Mod

$349.99



MITS ALTAIR 8800  Original Vintage Microcomputer  S-100   Buy It Now $5999 picture

MITS ALTAIR 8800 Original Vintage Microcomputer S-100 Buy It Now $5999

$5999.00



MITS Altair Computer Notes Magazine Aug . 1976 Volume 2 Issue 3 ORIGINAL VTG picture

MITS Altair Computer Notes Magazine Aug . 1976 Volume 2 Issue 3 ORIGINAL VTG

$75.00



MITS Altair Computer Notes Magazine Oct . 1976 Volume 2 Issue 5 ORIGINAL VTG picture

MITS Altair Computer Notes Magazine Oct . 1976 Volume 2 Issue 5 ORIGINAL VTG

$75.00



MITS Altair Computer Notes Magazine Nov./Dec. 1975 Volume 1 Issue 6 ORIGINAL VTG picture

MITS Altair Computer Notes Magazine Nov./Dec. 1975 Volume 1 Issue 6 ORIGINAL VTG

$125.00



VINTAGE DEC 1975 VOL 1 ISSUE 1 SCCS INTERFACE MAGAZINE MITS ALTAIR COVER & ADS picture

VINTAGE DEC 1975 VOL 1 ISSUE 1 SCCS INTERFACE MAGAZINE MITS ALTAIR COVER & ADS

$359.99



1980 Build an Intel 8080 Microcomputer TIL311 LED Altair 8800 IMS Vintage picture

1980 Build an Intel 8080 Microcomputer TIL311 LED Altair 8800 IMS Vintage

$32.99