Voodoo v1.0 results

I just got done checking out the Voodoo v1.0 kernel. I'm very impressed. This is great work. The kernel isn't without its problems, though. In fact, I trashed my MacOSX filesystem. I didn't spend any time to try and fix it - it may have been trivial. I had a recent, full-image backup so I just restored to that. But you do need to be careful. Anyhow, here are the results of an experiment I did. My system is a 10.5.5. iDeneb install with the kexts to make my Aspire One happy. 9.5.0 vanilla kernel and v1.0 Voodoo 9.5.0 xnu.

I ran glxgears and mplayer (same xvid each time) alone, and simultaneously on the Voodoo kernel (cpus=1 and cpus=2) and the vanilla Apple kernel (cpus=1 only, obviously). This is what I got:

Vanilla: glxgears (alone: 930fps/40% cpu) (together: 530fps/25% cpu)
Vanilla: mplayer (alone: 34% cpu) (together: 34% cpu)
Voodoo1: glxgears (alone: 950fps/35%) (together: 530fps/23%)
Voodoo1: mplayer (alone: 34%) (together: 34%)
Voodoo2: glxgears (alone: 1020fps/45%) (together 645fps/35%)
Voodoo2: mplayer (alone: 36%) (together: 41%)

The voodoo kernel with cpus=2 is ahead numerically, and when running both together provides for a noticably smoother feel than with the vanilla kernel. The numbers for mplayer with cpus=2 are puzzling, but do seem to be slightly higher, though the numbers above may be somewhat exagerrated as well. All around, you should at least give it a try.

The downside, for me - and how I hosed my filesystem: the SBCL Common Lisp compiler. Something about this program and the voodoo kernel don't like each other. I think it may have something to do with the rewriting techniques the Voodoo kernel uses. Anyhow - running sbcl results in an instant crash. I ran it while I had some other things happening with the filesystem - upon reboot, the system hung. So I re-imaged from my backup and just put together these benchmarks.

For casual use, Voodoo seems quite good (mplayer, safari, and friends all work fine) and can give improved performance. If you have any critical apps though, make sure you test them well before working/relying on it.