Boost GMA 950 Speed in Linux!

Discussion in 'Modding and Customization' started by Vladimir, Apr 16, 2009.

  1. Vladimir

    Vladimir

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    I bet most Linuxoids do not yet know that there exist an ability to manage GMA 950 speed in Linux.
    Because this ability has arrived 2 days ago.
    So, a preliminary version of a free (donateware) tool called "GMABooster" is out.
    With GMABooster, You can manually select between 166 (default for A1), 200, 250 and 400 MHz.
    P.S. I created this tool. As it is *free*, this is clearly not an advertizement. This is "Just an FYI".
     
    Vladimir, Apr 16, 2009
    #1
  2. Vladimir

    subsonic

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    Well, this seems to be a teaser.
    Got a link?
    Would you expand on how this is accomplished?
     
    subsonic, Apr 17, 2009
    #2
  3. Vladimir

    dattaway

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    Location:
    Kansas Citeeeeeeeeee, MO
    and...
     
    dattaway, Apr 17, 2009
    #3
  4. Vladimir

    Vladimir

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    www.gmabooster.com
    I thought forum users are aware of Yahoo or Google or in general of a fact that internet is searchable :shock:
     
    Vladimir, Apr 18, 2009
    #4
  5. Vladimir

    SlCKB0Y

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    Riiight. Really helpful attitude.

    Plus this is basically shareware which expires every week (according to your website). Good luck with linux users liking that
     
    SlCKB0Y, Apr 20, 2009
    #5
  6. Vladimir

    Vladimir

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    Not correct. Yes, current beta will expire on April, 26th, but then there will be a new permanent version, available for every Linux user at no charge.
    Actually, the program is "donateware". You CAN endlessly use it without charge.
    To the contrary, "shareware" assumes You have no choice but to pay (after some period).
     
    Vladimir, Apr 22, 2009
    #6
  7. Vladimir

    Funfood

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    Anybody here who tested the boost? I have to admit, that I am not willing to run a program as root without a chance to have a look in the source what is is really doing. Call me paranoid :roll:

    But I really would be interested in a better Graphics performance, especially running Second Life under Linux on the AAO. So if somebody dared to try it , please report!

    Heiko
     
    Funfood, Apr 22, 2009
    #7
  8. Vladimir

    dattaway

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    I wouldn't run a program as root either without compiling from the source. Its a habit from over 15 years.
     
    dattaway, Apr 22, 2009
    #8
  9. Vladimir

    mailman1175

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    So, Vladimir, any response to concerns about the trustworthiness of your program? Anything that's not snarky? Enquiring minds want to know...
     
    mailman1175, Apr 30, 2009
    #9
  10. Vladimir

    Vladimir

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    Program writes to hardware. Does some complex writes, in fact. Reprograms chipset's clock control mechanism. But change is not permanent, so it's 100% safe to try. On restart or return from standby, setting will be reset to default - in any case.
    P.S. While the others are already enjoying the speed up, we are still discussing should we try or not... :shock:
     
    Vladimir, May 2, 2009
    #10
  11. Vladimir

    mailman1175

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    Ok, so wait a minute: You have to run ./GMABooster everytime you restart, if you want the acceleration?
     
    mailman1175, May 3, 2009
    #11
  12. Vladimir

    Vladimir

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    Yes. The change is not permanent. However, it's easy to make GMABooster run automatically on Linux startup.
     
    Vladimir, May 19, 2009
    #12
  13. Vladimir

    fweigel

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    Vladimir

    I backed up one of my Aspire Ones, and tried your software. Note that this machine is running Linpus, fully up to date. Results:

    [user@ariel x]$ sudo ./GMABooster
    ./GMABooster: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.9' not found (required by ./GMABooster)
    [user@ariel x]$ ldd ./GMABooster
    ./GMABooster: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.9' not found (required by ./GMABooster)
    linux-gate.so.1 => (0xb7fa9000)
    libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0x4d112000)
    libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0x4cc94000)
    libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x4d013000)
    libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x4cb2e000)
    /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x4c063000)
    [user@ariel x]$

    You may need to statically link this utility, or include a local copy of the library or prepare a build for Acer Linpus.

    For your reference, the libstdc++ support (ABI levels) on the Acer are:

    GLIBCXX_3.4
    GLIBCXX_3.4.1
    GLIBCXX_3.4.2
    GLIBCXX_3.4.3
    GLIBCXX_3.4.4
    GLIBCXX_3.4.5
    GLIBCXX_3.4.6
    GLIBCXX_3.4.7
    GLIBCXX_3.4.8

    CXXABI_1.3
    CXXABI_1.3.1

    Your code appears to be built on SuSE. All functions conform to GLIBCXX_3.4 ABI except for symbol

    _ZSt16__ostream_insertIcSt11char_traitsIcEERSt13basic_ostreamIT_T0_ES6_PKS3_i@@GLIBCXX_3.4.9

    (appears to be a use of STL character traits -- you probably used STL string handling).

    CXXABI level required is 1.3, which is ok. Now, I believe the binary can be patched to make it Acer Linpus compliant, but...

    A Linpus based Acer should NEVER have been able to run this binary. I am curious about your testing process?
     
    fweigel, Jul 9, 2009
    #13
  14. Vladimir

    fweigel

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    I was also curious about the file "data.bin"

    I ran it through an entropy checker (crypto tool):

    [user@ariel x]$ elmar data.bin
    0x00000000000008B2 sectors analyzed.

    Analysis Summary
    ----------------

    Number of sectors analyzed: 2226 (0x00000000000008B2)

    Number of all-zero sectors found: 0
    Number of all-zero 8-byte blocks found: 0
    Number of repeated 16-byte blocks found: 0
    Number of repeated 8-byte blocks found: 0
    Number of low entropy sectors found: 0

    Number of repeated sectors found: 0

    Repeated bytes analysis:

    * Byte 0 (0x00 ' ') Run length: 7 - 1 run found

    Run # of Occurrences
    Length Values @ Run Length
    ------ ------ ------------
    2 235 3992
    3 20 20
    7 1 1

    --------------------- end of report --------------------------

    [user@ariel x]$

    And, this shows that it is a pretty good approximation to random data, and so it may actually be encrypted. There don't appear to be any direct references to this file in GMABooster. What is it?
     
    fweigel, Jul 9, 2009
    #14
  15. Vladimir

    fweigel

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    WARNING

    Given that Vladimir has not addressed my concerns about the GMA 950 Boost utility, I have no choice but to warn away users. This utility will NOT function on a stock Acer Linpus installation, and comes with a data file whose purpose is very suspect.

    DO NOT USE THIS UTILITY.
     
    fweigel, Jul 23, 2009
    #15
  16. Vladimir

    mali

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    If someone is interested I can post the changes GMAbooster makes in the chipset registers(or just check the chipset datasheet yourself(register F0 of the graphics adaptor)). I'm no Linux expert, but I suppose that there are other ways to edit PCI registers in Linux. BTW, the main bottleneck of the system is processor speed. A higher GPU clock won't make any difference in performance in games. The graphics performance scales with CPU speed because it relies heavily on the CPU. GMA950 is not comparable to 'real' GPUs made by Nvidia or Ati/AMD for example.
     
    mali, Jul 23, 2009
    #16
  17. Vladimir

    fweigel

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    mali

    If you post the changes made, I can generate an open-source program to implement those changes.

    fweigel
     
    fweigel, Jul 24, 2009
    #17
  18. Vladimir

    mali

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    I can't check right now, because my AAO is disassembled(I'm handcrafting a new copper heatsink).
    While doing research for overclocking my AAO I found a Russian site where someone created a Windows application for switching GPU frequencies, maybe this will short the work needed. Here is the source code:

    http://aspire1.ru/_fr/8/a1video_src.rar
     
    mali, Jul 24, 2009
    #18
  19. Vladimir

    Vladimir

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    Hey. First of all, I was on a vacation, that was the reason for non-responding.

    Windows utility from Rus forum relies on a documented-only fuctions of chipset, writing new values into hardware without telling the chispet to aplly them. Fake program.

    According to your analysis, data.bin is never referenced, right? So how it can be suspicious being not used at all???

    I would recommend either openSuse or Ubuntu or even Slax - no library issues on those fine Linux distros.
     
    Vladimir, Aug 13, 2009
    #19
  20. Vladimir

    mali

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    @Vladimir

    Are you planning to create a tool for 4500MHD in GS45 chipset?
    There are coming out a bunch of new CULV Notebook-Netbook thingies now. The 4500MHD is reduced to 320MHz but supports a function called "HD turbo" to clock at 533MHz AFAIK.
    It would be interesting to see if it makes a difference in games because CULV chips are much faster than Atom and might not be such a limiting factor.
     
    mali, Aug 14, 2009
    #20
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