FBDEV Console Patches Optimize Performance - Print Directory Listing ~25% Faster

With there being some renewed development interest around FBDEV with the kernel subsystem now having a maintainer, restoring hardware-accelerated scrolling, and other patches pending to clean-up and optimize the frame-buffer device code, there is also a new performance optimization series.

Thomas Zimmermann of SUSE's graphics team posted his latest patches on Monday for improving the performance of the FBDEV console for common cases around software-based clearing and image blitting.

With a test case of running finding all files in /usr/share/doc to cause lots of printing to the FBDEV console, Zimmermann found his optimization patches led the run-time from taking 6.1 seconds to now just 4.7 seconds for the real time. He's seeing roughly ~25% faster performance for printing the directory listing.

More details for those interested in a speedier FBDEV console can see this patch series with all the details.