Ubuntu 8.10 significantly slower than previous versions

[Bryce Harrington]

On Thu, Nov 06, 2008 at 03:58:51PM +0100, mr wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> According to the recent benchmarking article by Phoronix, the previous two
> releases of Ubuntu are significantly slower than Feisty Fawn. In some cases
> this can be seen as up to 50% performance drop with certain desktop tasks.
> 
> I can confirm that this is true in that my girlfriends desktop used to be
> quite capable of playing a 1080p x264 video but since upgrading to gutsy and
> then hardy it has become unwatchable, even mplayer reports that "YOUR
> COMPUTER IS TOO SLOW"
> 
> I think that the reasons behind this reduction in performance across the
> board needs some serious investigation and work done to reverse this trend.

Indeed, half the reason I suggested Phoronix do these tests is to
stimulate more investigation into performance issues.  We've had
anecdotal evidence of performance reductions since Gutsy at least, and
Phoronix presented a good opportunity to get some solid numbers.

I've spoken with upstream about -intel performance previously.  They've
indicated their focus is on the current git version of the driver, and
so would ask that anyone wishing to provide feedback on performance to
first run the git-head version of the driver.  This would enable the
user to update and give swift feedback to the developers on any
performance changes they are experimenting with.

Beyond that, I'd encourage anyone wishing to help improve -intel
performance on Ubuntu to join the ubuntu-x mailing list to discuss it in
additional detail.

Bryce