Con Kolivas Announces First Major Release Of MuQSS, Successor To BFS

[liam]

i have had terrible experiences with nouveau(cant even set correct resolution) but that was years ago. also the driver is huge. Also it doesnt even utilize the hardware you have properly. So it doesnt "work out of the box" since no distro will ship the blob out of the box. And when you install it you have no wayland support.

Sorry to hear about your past issues. For me, nouveau always* works, but I don't game (and it's not my laptop).
If using your hardware to the fullest is important for you, and you care about gaming, linux (even nvidia on linux) just isn't going to meet those desires.
Even now, there are parts of your hardware that no linux DE is properly utilizing (though, for some of hardware, there are changes you can make to enable that functionality in a limited way).
I'm not sure why you brought up the size of nouveau's module.

*nouveau doesn't always work....especially on macs which have dual video cards that have a hardware mux---with those, and assuming you want to use the nvidia card as opposed to the intel iris pro (which would be fantastic IF it wasn't so damn hard to setup AND maintain---it seems to break BADLY, VERY VERY VERY BADLY after each kernel update). I am happy to report that fedora 25 actually works quite nicely with nouveau (gt 750m), and, for the first time, it handles changing the backlight properly!

[cj.wijtmans]

Sorry to hear about your past issues. For me, nouveau always* works, but I don't game (and it's not my laptop).
If using your hardware to the fullest is important for you, and you care about gaming, linux (even nvidia on linux) just isn't going to meet those desires.
Even now, there are parts of your hardware that no linux DE is properly utilizing (though, for some of hardware, there are changes you can make to enable that functionality in a limited way).
I'm not sure why you brought up the size of nouveau's module.

*nouveau doesn't always work....especially on macs which have dual video cards that have a hardware mux---with those, and assuming you want to use the nvidia card as opposed to the intel iris pro (which would be fantastic IF it wasn't so damn hard to setup AND maintain---it seems to break BADLY, VERY VERY VERY BADLY after each kernel update). I am happy to report that fedora 25 actually works quite nicely with nouveau (gt 750m), and, for the first time, it handles changing the backlight properly!

I go by fine with xorg-server and nvidia. The only issues are the famous ones when scrolling in browsers being a bit stuttery and screen tearing. But funny enough i get screen tearing when vsync is on in minecraft and i dont get it when its off. I can live with it for a few more years especially since i game less, i have other things to do.

[dimko]

So you get the same score/fps by say compiling the kernel in the background while running Valley, on both CFS and Con's BFS, right?

I actually did.
Feck da kernel compilation. I am on Gentoo, did you try chromium compilation?
So yes, I did try loaded CPU with nice -n 20 on compilation process + nice -n -19 steam and no difference whatsoever.

[dimko]

Did it make any difference to minimum fps? I expect this scheduler to have worse max peak fps and max average fps but better minimum fps, which I imagine would be priority for tournament machines.

I run tests a few times, on with load and without load, difference is negligible.

[dimko]

The scheduler is about multitasking (managing multiple processes running on your computer), not about the performance of a single process.

If you just play a game and the game is the only thing actively wanting to use your CPU, then what scheduler you use should make no difference, exactly as you said (if it does, then something is *very* wrong).

However, if you are running multiple things at once (such as background tasks (compiling, some other calculation, etc) using your CPU + the foreground game or app you are using), then the scheduler will make a difference. If you want to be able to have background tasks running, loading up your CPU, and still be able to play games / listen to music / browse the web / whatever, while all of that is happening, then BFS *will* make a difference. BFS brings you better responsiveness and interactivity (so you feel like your computer is running smoother and responds faster to input), at the cost of lower actual performance/throughput for the processes, compared to the stock kernel.

So, if you try to compile the kernel or run some CPU benchmark or other heavy load in the background, and play a game at the same time:

- Stock kernel: your background compilation will complete slightly faster, and your background benchmark will get a slightly higher score, and your game might get slightly higher *average* FPS, but it will be stuttery and inconsistent, and your input might lag, and you will overall not have a very good experience.

- BFS: your background compilation will complete slightly slower (but very slightly), and your background benchmark will get a slightly lower score, and maybe your game will get slightly lower *average* FPS, but it will be more consistent, not as stuttery, and your input will feel more responsive, making for a better overall experience.

Thank you, someone may as well take advantage of text you put above. I did not put earlier, but i tried renice + different schedulers on system under heavy load and no load.

I did not know what to expect, and I still don't.
I had 8 core AMD FX8350 and now i have FX6350(CPU burned out and took MOBO with it, MSI did replace motherboard, so good on them)
With that I tried vanilola kernel + CK + BFQ, under load all of them sucked.

Now I will admit, I abused CPU to full. make -j 20 on 8core CPU and -j 14 on 6 core one.
And performance went down the crapper. To what extend - I did not look nor cared. As gamer I know that renice will not solve my problems.

The ONLY way I can take better advantage of my multiple CPU is to use taskset to limit compilation to one CPU only.

[paulpach]

MuQSS is an unfortunate choice for an acronym. Am I the only one that pronounces it "mucus" in my head?

[liam]

I go by fine with xorg-server and nvidia. The only issues are the famous ones when scrolling in browsers being a bit stuttery and screen tearing. But funny enough i get screen tearing when vsync is on in minecraft and i dont get it when its off. I can live with it for a few more years especially since i game less, i have other things to do.

Well my point was that Linux, for anything other than HPC loads, is a second-ish class citizen to nvidia. They don't fully support everything the hardware can do on Linux, and you seemed to be saying that was important to you.
The vsync thing is a bit weird. Does that happen when it's both full screen and windows?

[stiiixy]

MuQSS is an unfortunate choice for an acronym. Am I the only one that pronounces it "mucus" in my head?

Con is an anaesthetist by trade. ie in the medical industry. Kind of a double-entrendre. And while I have no premise for this, I take Con as a bit of a cheeky bugger and a smart-arse. I smell my own kind.

Anyway, again, here's how he pronounces it

Multiple Queue Skiplist Scheduler, referred to as MuQSS from
here on (pronounced mux)

Like Linux (I say lie-nuhx, not linnux), Linus went on record long ago (paraphrase) 'call it what you want'.