Ideal kernel configuration for Dell Inspiron 8200 ...

[Marcin Jessa]

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 21:45:40 +0200
Kiffin Gish <kiffin at gish.demon.nl> wrote:

> On Fri, 2005-09-16 at 21:42 +0200, Rainer Duffner wrote:
> > Kiffin Gish wrote:
> > 
> > >Hello everyone.
> > >
> > >I would like to know if there is a good example somewhere of an
> > >optimized kernel configuration for my Dell Inspiron 8200.
> > >
> > >I've got FreeBSD 2.4 running on the GENERIC but want to maximize
> > >usage/resources for my laptop which is also running the Gnome 2.10
> > >desktop and tools.
> > >
> > >Can anyone help me?
> > >
> > >  
> > >
> > 
> > 
> > I don't think there's a lot to maximize.
> > I've still got a Inspiron 4000 and 512 MB (Celeron 800 or so) that's 
> > quite happily running KDE3.x.
> > Of course, the newer Lifebook E8010 is much snappier, the additional 512 
> > MB RAM also do help.
> > 
> > If you want more speed, change to XFCE4.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Rainer
> > 
> 
> Well maybe not, but one (big) improvement I would think would be to
> change to the CPUTYPE?=i686 and removing all those device references
> that are not used, e.g. SCSI, ATAPI tape drives, MD_ROOT, etc.
> 
> Or am I just doing alot of crazy work with minimal improvements and
> possible disaster?
> 
You're correct as long as your cpu type is i686.
Normally you do not gain much on configuring make.conf with something else than pentiumpro:
CPUTYPE?=pentiumpro
CFLAGS=         -O -pipe -march=pentiumpro
CXXFLAGS+=      -O -pipe -march=pentiumpro
COPTFLAGS=      -O -pipe -march=pentiumpro

Recompiling your kernel with only the options you need will also help a bit. 
Adding more RAM will usually make your box snappier as it does not have to write to your SWAP.
Normally you tweak your kernel to do some server specific tasks. 
A workstation will have a lot of different functions and I can't think of any particular enhancemend that will make much noticable difference
BTW, I still can't find anything about your laptop's specifications in your email.

Marcin.