Hard float armv7 optimized Slackware.


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Hi !

I'm testing the build of a new development version:

http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/armport/

So far, i can't really tell the difference with the standard SL4P armv5 soft float.

I was actually surprised to see that the .pnd system is working, and many pnd too, more or less.

For example, pcsx works perfectly, metal slug has no sound, mame4all has bad colors and dirty sound, cannonball has a bad sound...

I don't know how to properly bench the system, but seeing xmms cpu usage, it's not a huge boost.
 

Using the bootstrap system, i'm also actually testing the re-creation of a much more optimized version from scratch, with cortex-a8 and neon things.
 
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That is good news, though I was under the impression that SL4P already used an armv7 optimized build is that not correct?

Also, if a specific full build of SL4P with different optimization options is going to be created are there any plans to support SL4P in a more traditional Slackware way, such as having all the Pandora specific pieces distributed as packages so the could be upgrade separately? I've done some explorations in this direction and would like to see the option to update SL4P via packages instead of rewriting the entire root FS.
 
Nope it's based on Slackware ARM which is armv5te.

I have no plan for an optimized build, i'm just checking different options for the future:

-Using Slackware ARM armv5 soft float as usual (safe choice, but i need a kernel newer than 3.2.x)

-Using the new armv7 hard float port

-Building my own new armv7 + cortex-a8 + neon hard float port

-Building my own new armv7 + cortex-a8 + neon soft float port

You can update SL4P via packages since the very first 13.37 release, the same way you update any Slackware distro:

http://pandorawiki.org/Software_projects/OS/Slackware#Updates

But i rebuild rootfs only when new OP-specific features are added to Zaxxon, it's less work for me and more straightforward than doing patches.

And it's better for users. Just take a look at Zaxxon's "update from inside the OS" feature state: reflash, reflash, reflash.

Not that i criticize, but i don't want this to happen with SL4P.
 
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