[PD] devel_37 CVS compile error [solved, but not really...]

[derek holzer]

Hi Tim,


Tim Blechmann wrote:
>>derek 21:59:12> cat /proc/cpuinfo
>>processor       : 0
>>vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
>>cpu family      : 15
>>model           : 2
>>model name      : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.60GHz
>>stepping        : 4
>>cpu MHz         : 1600.381
>>cache size      : 512 KB
>>physical id     : 0
>>siblings        : 1
> 
> 
> you seem to have  a very early stepping of the processor ... 4 ... i
> read, that early versions of the p4 can't handle the DAZ and FTZ flags
> on the sse unit ... this might be a problem (sorry for that bad news)

I suspected it might be something like that. I can't imagine that 
*anybody* could run PD on a computer which performs as badly as this 
one. I do maintain, however, that PD ran better under windoze on *this* 
laptop than it does under Linux [i.e. no crashing denormal freezes, 
etc], leading me to wonder why this is the case.

> thomas musil told me about the approach he used ... adding noise~ *~
> 1e-14 to every feedback loop, filter ...

Yes, Thomas was the first to point out this Pentium bug. I laughed when 
I heard it at first, but then the processor had its revenge after all 
when my patches started to evolve.

> could you try that? (of course you can't do that if the feedback loop
> is in poorly written externals or plugins)

I could try to tear everything apart and track down the individual 
offenders, but I've tried this before and it's a bit of a waste of time. 
I've also noticed that objects like [line] sometimes give trouble when 
set to very long interpolation times, and other such nonsense which only 
affects this laptop. Seems like a more "structural" solution is in 
order. If PD and other Linux audio apps can't be made more 
denormal-tolerant for this laptop, then it's probably time to replace 
it, espc if others aren't having the same degree of problems with their 
own P4s. I've been suffering for two years now with this machine, and I 
think that's long enough.

Thanks for your help and patience in trying to sort this out,
d.

-- 
derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl
---Oblique Strategy # 30:
"Change specifics to ambiguities"