[PD] [OT] Thinkpad + Fireface [denormal debate again...]

[Tim Blechmann]

> hmmmmm.... my last year of using PD on a P4 had been *nothing* but 
> denormal problems! I can pretty much guarentee that any complex patch
> I make will crash on my 1.6 Ghz laptop and run flawlessly on my 1.8Ghz
> AMD shuttle.
which version of pd? have you compiled pd / externals / ladspa-plugins
with -mfpmath=sse?

> In fact, this problem is not only with PD, but also with many other
> core Linux sound apps, such as Jamin, and a boatload of LADSPA
> plugins. It's gotten to the point where my options are either to get a
> new Athlon-based laptop or to find a kernel-patch which deals with the
i have the same problems with jamin and with a couple of ladspa plugins
... i fixed some of steve harris's plugins that i was using ... they
where a big problem i had ...

> Can you show me some documentation on this? I'd like to check this out
> before I have to go shopping for a new computer ;-)
intel provides two very interesting pdfs:
intel processor identification and the CPUID instruction 
and
intel architecture software developer's manual

> I think we chatted about this once... Debian, Red Hat and Gnetoo all 
> give me the same denormal CPU leaps and freezes. SuSE *must* be doing 
> something special to their kernel. So perhaps it's available as a
> kernel patch somewhere. Either that, or they compile everything with a
> proprietary Intel compiler. Using an Intel compiler on PD alone didn't
> really give me any big gains, so it must be done on the level of the
> kernel.
i don't think that suse is doing something with their libc/kernel/(???)
...
some time ago i read something on the lkml, that 2.4 used to switch DAZ
on, but 2.6 doesn't ... i suppose it was related to that ...

if i find some free time, i'll try to add a piece of code to switch DAZ
on during the startup of pd ... (probably after graz) 

cheers ... tim

-- 
mailto:TimBlechmann at gmx.de    ICQ: 96771783
http://www.mokabar.tk

After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space 
would say "I want to see the manager."
				      William S. Burroughs