Optimizing pixman for Loongson: Process and Results
The Lemote Yeeloong is a small notebook that is often the computer of choice for Free Software advocates, including Richard Stallman. It's powered by an 800 MHz STMicroelectronics Loongson 2F processor and has an antiquated Silicon Motion 712 graphics chip. The SM712's acceleration features are pretty subpar for today's standards, and performance of the old XFree86 Acceleration Architecture (XAA) that supports the SM712 has slowly decayed as developers move to support newer hardware and newer acceleration architectures. In short, graphics performance of the SM712 isn't very good with new X servers, so how can we improve it?
Read More – – Tags: freedesktop gentoo linux loongson mips pixman xorg yeeloong
New multilib N32 Gentoo MIPS Stages
Gentoo/MIPS has been in, well, not great shape for quite some time. When I was going through Gentoo recruitment, there were no stages (used for installing Gentoo) newer than 2008, so this was one of the main things I wanted to improve, specifically by creating new N32 ABI stages. Even though the N32 (meaning New 32-bit) ABI was introduced in IRIX in 1996 to replace SGI's o32 (Old 32-bit) ABI, Linux support for N32 has lagged behind until the last few years. Now, I'm pleased to unofficially announce new multilib N32 stages and that we'll be supporting as the preferred ABI.
Read More – – Tags: gentoo linux mips
My Google Summer of Code proposal
I've been involved with X.Org for a few months now. I want to increase my involvement, and at the same time learn the ropes. I also need something to do this summer–and that's why I've applied to the Google Summer of Code.
Read More – – Tags: glint gsoc kms linux xorg
The Case for Open Sourcing Alpha-Optimized Libraries
As long as I've been interested in Alpha hardware, I've been intrigued by Compaq's Alpha-optimized compilers and libraries. In some cases, the compilers produce code multiple times faster than by gcc. The math library, libcpml, contains functions that execute in half the time of their glibc equivalents. Since the abandonment of the Alpha platform, this code has languished. In some cases, the performance gap between Compaq's tools and their open source counterparts has shrunk. In others, the benefits of hand-tuned assembly still shine. This prompted me to contact HP and request the release of the code. They unfortunately concluded that an old MIPS license prevented them from releasing the compilers. I've recently contacted HP once again to persuade them to release libcpml and libots as free software, as libraries containing nothing but hand-tuned Alpha assembly could not be encumbered by this license. I also attached the following benchmarks as evidence of why this code is still valuable so many years after it was written.
Read More – – Tags: alpha linux
UP1500's and 833 MHz Alpha CPUs For Sale
One of the hardest things about using an Alternative Architecture like the Alpha is the small userbase. Since very few people have Alpha hardware, relative to other architectures, if one encounters a problem there are exceedingly few users able and willing to help. Even worse, if the problem is specific to your model, the chances of getting help are slimmed even more. Another issue is the difficulty in finding replacement parts. Want replacement Slot B CPUs? How about the impossible to find UP1500? In most cases, you'd have a terrible time even finding the parts and when you do, watch out for the price tag. Fortunately for you, I've got both of these areas covered. I've got brand new, sealed, in the box, latest revision UP1500 motherboards and unused, in the box 833 MHz 4MB Slot B CPUs for sale! Edit: Sold out.