ARM vs. Desktop Performance?

[nko]

Just a question: if you had, say, 512 MB RAM on a higher-end ARM platform, how would performance compare to a common desktop setup (my underclocked 600 MHz Athlon + 512 MB is great, for example)? Could you (hypothetically) load up OO.o and whiz around a relatively complex document without skipping a beat? Watch a theora video? Etc?

[ph34r]

Abiword works great on my Nokia 770. 64mb useable ram (rest is disk space), 32mb of swap. 200mhz-ish ARM cpu. Video works fine too, only lag is slooow network coming from a NFS share. Same symptoms as when I run mplayer from my desktop (dual 1200s) exporting the display to the nokia.

[nko]

Really! I'd love to hear more. 200MHz, 64MB, Abiword is usable? I'm wondering about the performance of everything else. I'm also wondering about the Nokia 770. I'm guessing you can't just install KDE or GNOME on there, or can you?

[ph34r]

Gnome is already installed. :) Or rather, maemo is, which is a port of gnome for the 770.

Here's some output of some stuff from mine -


Nokia770-51:~# free
total used free shared buffers
Mem: 61828 60252 1576 0 152
Swap: 32760 0 32760
Total: 94588 60252 34336
Nokia770-51:~# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mtdblock4 2.0M 1.9M 96.0k 95% /mnt/initfs
none 512.0k 28.0k 484.0k 5% /mnt/initfs/tmp
/dev/mtdblock4 123.5M 92.9M 30.6M 75% /
none 512.0k 28.0k 484.0k 5% /tmp
none 1.0M 52.0k 972.0k 5% /dev
/dev/mmcblk0p1 60.9M 48.3M 12.7M 79% /media/mmc1

Nokia770-51:~# uname -a
Linux Nokia770-51 2.6.12.3-omap1 #1 Wed Dec 14 10:57:24 EET 2005 armv5tejl unknown

Nokia770-51:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor : ARM926EJ-Sid(wb) rev 3 (v5l)
BogoMIPS : 125.03
Features : swp half thumb fastmult edsp java
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 5TEJ
CPU variant : 0x0
CPU part : 0x926
CPU revision : 3
Cache type : write-back
Cache clean : cp15 c7 ops
Cache lockdown : format C
Cache format : Harvard
I size : 32768
I assoc : 4
I line length : 32
I sets : 256
D size : 16384
D assoc : 4
D line length : 32
D sets : 128

Hardware : Generic OMAP1510/1610/1710
Revision : 17100016

[nko]

What kind of battery life can you get with the wifi off? How's input? Can you attach a keyboard? Have you spent any time hacking code on it?

[ph34r]

Not using a lot of wifi, I get about 3 days between charges. Wifi use really drops that down - about 3 hours with it constantly on. Input with the virtual keyboard is OK, there are a few rearrangements I'd like to do for working in the xterm (to get a pipe takes 4 clicks, etc). I think attachign a bluetooth keyboard is easy, haven't cared to buy one and try. Only "hacking" I've done on it is enable root access, add some swap, add some extra shell scripts to mount/unmount NFS shares and the swap, etc.

Didn't even really get it for hacking on - just got it as a palm type device that is really useable for more than notes and contacts. Its everything I expected of it and then some. My only real complaint is that it was near impossible to get one on a purchase order - since I work in .edu and my Boss got it for me :)

[nko]

I might- just might- have to get one of those! Three days of battery power? I'd be happy with 5 hours!

[ph34r]

Oh, and if you have a cell phone that supports connection sharing via bluetooth, you can use it to dial up to GSM or GPRS or whatever and surf on the 770 via the phone's connection. I'd say get one - if you have the 350 to spend.