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Siyah Gingerbread kernel (v2.x)

Well guys (and girls)... have given 2.2beta1, 2, 3 and 4 a go.

I find it difficult to quantify kernels. Oh sure, there's Battery Usage, BetterBattery Stats, AnTuTu, SmartBench and CPU Spy to give you the statistical breakdown of what a particular kernel is, or is not, doing but there is also, as I call it, the "feel" of the kernel and how it interacts with your particular ROM and, more importantly, how each person uses their phone.

Sure, we've all seen battery lives of 3, 4 or 5 days being posted but I like to use my phone every now and then and not leave it in a catatonic state with everything disabled just to get an extra few hours.

I don't really see the point in having a great smartphone like the SGSII and then not using the features and effectively crippling it. So, I have Homescreen live widgets, news and weather updates, email polling, GPS, Auto and Background syncing as well as WiFi enabled.

The same applies to "speed tests". Great, set your phone at 1600MHz and performance governor and then go flat out to get the highest scores. Whilst interesting, that setting will shorten your battery life in no time.

I suppose, in a perfect world, we'd all like a 3 day battery life with top notch speed but instead we have to make compromises that we can live with such as undervolting or choosing a governor that will give a little extra when you need it or enable smoother scrolling or faster page loading.

So, when I see postings that say, "what's the best kernel" (or indeed, the best ROM) the simple answer is... whatever suits you best I guess.

Now we've had 4 beta kernels out in a couple of days, which really isn't long enough for me to give a definitive opinion as some of them I've only used for half a day.

However, for my real life usage and my ROM, so far the best kernel is beta1.

It was the best for me on battery life and wakelocks (or lack of) and felt quite smooth. A similar thing happened with Siyah 2.1. In the end the 2.1 rc2 kernel was better for me than the final release.

All I can say is that I've had no Forced Closes or Screen of Death with the 4 beta's and that any of them are good enough for day to day use and are an improvement, for me, on previous versions.

Having said that, it will be interesting to see what Siyah beta5 with Tegrak's second core application enabled.

UPDATE

Now that I have had a little longer with beta4 I have to say that I can put it on a par with beta1. This is because in the 3-4 hours I monitored it originally it did not appear to go into as deep a sleep as beta1 and seemed to show more awake time.

All my observations are based on "smartassv2" governor, 100-1200MHz, no Profiles, stock voltage and my medium to heavy usage.
 
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so far the best kernel is beta1

That'll do for me. :D

I'm delighted with how b1 is working here and am in no hurry to update it. I'll use synthetic benchmarks as like-for-like comparisons to eliminate variation, but proof of the pudding is always in the eating. Using the exact same setup and configuration as I've had for months this is far and way the best blend of performance and economy I've seen.
 
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That'll do for me. :D.

That's the last time I write a tome for Slug! :D

My version of Shakespeare's, "Romeo and Juliet" for Slug... they die!

Well said indeed iron ass. You are the voice of reason.

I'm framing your quote Sydney99. AFD's, (Alcohol Free Day), aren't all bad then. :)

And after a few pints there is no reason for his voice! :)

Oh, cheers hawker! Mine's a large one and I'll shut up! ;)

*Note update in my previous post.
 
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The Siyah beta5 kernel will support Tegrak's, "second core" application which, from what I can gather, means that using the, "2nd Core" app from the Market, means that we can select to either use both cores, as we do now, or just a single core for greater battery life or a mix of the two to give us a sort of halfway house between them.

More details, here:-

TEGRAK: 2nd Core

I believe the Lulz kernel, build 15 and above, already supports this.

Has anybody any views or real life experience in the 2nd Core app and does it really help in the long run?
 
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Well, the good news is that it loads and boots up OK and is showing the dual core options.

Think I'll start off with Dynamic hotplug to begin with as this intrigues me and I want to see what it does to performance, stability and battery. :)

Scrolling is fine. Browser is fine. 1080p HD video recording/playback is OK.

Am using it in conjunction with SetCPU on smartasv2, 100-1200MHz. No profiles. Stock voltage.

It occurs to me that I don't know if this should be used with SetCPU... anyone know?

The phone is showing only one core being used in standby and does switch, automatically, to dual core when called on.... think that answers Slug's earlier question.
 
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Same as me butty.
i might try putting it to single core overnight.
shame there isnt an option for "single core when screen off" or similar, but perhaps this is what the dynamic option does as standard.

EDIT: In fact, it looks like dynamic mode is quite intelligent. Doing a bit of screen processing then going into the app shows 2 cores active. Leave it there for a couple of seconds doing nothing then 1 cpu active.

Exciting times!!! :)
 
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Yes, that seems to be about the size of it when using Dynamic hotplug.

It uses single core when phone is quiet and switches, very quickly, to dual core when required. Therefore, screen off, should automatically be single core.

However, like you, I will monitor my battery usage for awhile as I want to see if this is a gimmick that uses more battery than it saves.

Still uncertain as to whether I should be using SetCPU and smartassv2 with it though! :thinking:
 
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I'm using it with voltage control but like you I'm not sure if I should. If my phone screws up then I guess I will have my answer.

I say old boy... do be good enough to post, very quickly, any screw-up's. :eek:

Have posed the SetCPU usage on the XDA kernel forum but am not hopeful of getting an answer.

I'm just wondering if the kernel should be left alone to do its thing on Dynamic hotplug or does it need to be guided by the governor settings.

Seems to be going great using it as it is with SetCPU, so will leave it at that until I am either advised otherwise or I toast my phone. :D
 
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Do you need to instal tegraks 2 core app to change to the dynamic setting?

Yes dear! :D

I'm wondering whether to use Tegrak's CPU app that I have installed (but frozen), instead of SetCPU.

UPDATE Just answered the Tegrak question. Tegrak Ultimate doesn't seem to recognise it.

Seems that there are problems with "odexed" ROM's and "possibly", GO Launcher and ADW. Early, and confused, days yet.

Seems the lag is more to do with odexed ROM's than the launcher.
 
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Well that was a bit strange. I just tried to load a webpage and a line of black and white squares appeared down the left side of the screen. This gradually got smaller and spread out over the entire screen leaving my phone with a black and white chequered effect. They disappeared after a few seconds and everything seems fine now but I'll have to keep an eye out for any other problems.
 
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man. siyah kernels do not agree with my phone (on checkrom rev 2.0).

lag galore on scrolling (side and vertical):mad::mad::mad::mad:

get higher antutu scores compared to my speedmod, but if it doesn't behave so smoothly in day to day use, think I'll be heading back. (or might try lulz 15)

unless anyone has any ideas on how i might reduce lag by altering settings - tried smartass, lagfree, on demand etc etc - all the same:thinking:
 
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