[ Thanks to Jeremy
Andrews for this link. ]
“By popular request, Con Kolivas has backported Ingo Molnar’s
earlier interactivity improvements to the 2.4.20 stable kernel. The
interactivity patch was first added as an enhancment to Con’s
desktop oriented patchset in 2.4.20-ck4. I immediately downloaded
the patch myself and gave it a try, disappointed to discover it was
less responsive than Con’s plain -ck4 patchset. By switching tab
views in GnuCash I could consistently skip music that was playing
with XMMS, something I’ve rarely experienced since I started using
Con’s patchset back in September. The only improvement I noticed
was that the system responded very well when performing the
less-than-scientific ‘wiggle test’ (grab a window and wiggle it
around on the screen quickly).“Fortunately, 48 hours later Con has released 2.4.20-ck5, adding
a host of improvements. I quickly compiled a new kernel with his
-ck5 patch and Rik van Riel’s rmap15e VM applied, and then booted
into an improved desktop experience. I tried really, really hard to
get XMMS to skip again on my aging PIII 550, but try as I might, it
refused. And the system continued to respond well when performing
the wiggle test. Con describes the desktop tuning changes he
made:“‘It became clear that even with the interactivity changes audio
skipping could occur so I’ve added some more desktop tuning to this
version far less drastic than the previous kernels. The desktop
tuning patch just changes a few of the default settings and these
are all able to be modified at config or after boot if so
desired…'”