[MPlayer-users] a kernel compile

[Nikos Chantziaras]

PO wrote:
> Nick Koretsky wrote:
>>   
>> For ati it should be "does -vo gl/gl2 work for you?" If not, play with Xorg,
>> drivers, mesa etc until it works. And, generally, stay away from ati if you
>> are using linux....
>>
>>   
> -vo gl /gl2 works well, though there is a high amount of blurring in 
> motion scenes. -vo xv produces tearing and flickering.
> I could swap the card with a nvidia 9600GT. I went with the ati because 
> the fonts were more readable.  I should note this is my first experience 
> with a 2.6 kernel which is why I was looking for some advice on cflags 
> and /proc and such. Tweaks and things I can do to the kernel to maybe 
> speed things up for mplayer, as it will be the primary use for this box.

"I've heard" that for multimedia, you should build a kernel with a 
1000Hz timer and make it preemptible.  I never benchmarked this 
(wouldn't even know how), but here the steps to get an "optimized" 
multimedia, low-latency kernel:

General Setup:
  Disable "Optimize for size"
  Disable "Control Group support"
  Disable "Group CPU scheduler"

Processor type and features:
  Enable "Tickless System (Dynamic Ticks)"
  Enable "High Resolution Timer Support"
  Choose your CPU type in "Processor family"
  Choose "Preemptible Kernel (Low-Latency Desktop)" as "Preemption Model"
  Choose "1000Hz" as "Timer frequency"

Then build and boot it and check on whether it made a difference or not.