Softwares on X86 and ARM , What causes the difference in experience?

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CoolPerson:-)

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Sep 8, 2014, 11:41:37 AM9/8/14
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Now I had been trying out Ubuntu on BBB and PC. 
Some softwares tend to behave unnatural and crash on the BBB. yes, I understand BBB is a computer with less processing power and less RAM. but I once had a computer which had 512mb ram and lesser processing speeds in which I ran ubuntu much better with a much better GNOME experience. 

Why is GNOME not possible with Ubuntu? the installer crashes when we use Shell commands and try to install.

I am more interested in the reason this happens. 

Is it because , in computer the BIOS initialises some peripherals and in BBB there is no BIOS only a bootloader? Am I correct? 

What brings out this difference between ARM  GNU/Linux and X86 GNU/Linux Experience?

I am so interested in all answered! 

Cant wait to see some light shred on this matter and thank you so much! 


Robert Nelson

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Sep 8, 2014, 11:47:48 AM9/8/14
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On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 10:41 AM, CoolPerson:-)
<amalind...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Now I had been trying out Ubuntu on BBB and PC.
> Some softwares tend to behave unnatural and crash on the BBB. yes, I
> understand BBB is a computer with less processing power and less RAM. but I
> once had a computer which had 512mb ram and lesser processing speeds in
> which I ran ubuntu much better with a much better GNOME experience.

The key work here is "once"... Retry again using the same release
version of ubuntu with a single core P3 with 512mb with a graphics
card with no "2d/3d" video acceleration...

You'll be surprised how crappy slow it is on x86...

Regards,

--
Robert Nelson
http://www.rcn-ee.com/

CoolPerson:-)

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Sep 8, 2014, 11:52:02 AM9/8/14
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please dont get me wrong. I love BBB although I dont like Ubuntu. I recomend Ubuntu to my friends all the time and even the people who come seeking for me help.

but I need this piece of information for my knowledge. 

Why do some softwares run without error in the PC world and they dont run so well in the ARM world. OK, i hope I narrowed the question to a less offensive way? :P My question is, they both are the same Ubuntu version. 

does the processor architecture matter for a software? if the software is for Debian, cant i guarantee it WILL run in ARM or in X86? 

Robert Nelson

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Sep 8, 2014, 12:00:33 PM9/8/14
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On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 10:52 AM, CoolPerson:-)
<amalind...@gmail.com> wrote:
> please dont get me wrong. I love BBB although I dont like Ubuntu. I recomend
> Ubuntu to my friends all the time and even the people who come seeking for
> me help.
>
> but I need this piece of information for my knowledge.
>
> Why do some softwares run without error in the PC world and they dont run so
> well in the ARM world. OK, i hope I narrowed the question to a less
> offensive way? :P My question is, they both are the same Ubuntu version.
>
> does the processor architecture matter for a software? if the software is
> for Debian, cant i guarantee it WILL run in ARM or in X86?

I'm not going to go thru all the nitty details..

On your x86, you either have Intel or AMD/Nvidia graphics right? They
provide 2d/3d acceleration... GNOME is written for that..

We don't have that on the BBB.. (we do have opengl es, but we don't
have full opengl whch gnome needs..)

Thus the "experience" is different, as GNOME targeted devices with
opengl graphics acceleration.

Amalinda Gamage

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Sep 8, 2014, 1:03:43 PM9/8/14
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hey thanks for that reply. exactly what I was expecting for. thats answers my question and clears all my doubts. So I guess the open source community will soon release or try working on improving the open gl es experience. 

So can you please tell me what type of graphical user interfaces are more likely to run perfectly in Ubuntu or GNU/Linux for ARM V7? 

Is there anything better than KDE? or is it the best so far? 

Regards,
Amalinda Gamage

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William Hermans

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Sep 8, 2014, 2:30:28 PM9/8/14
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Why do you two ( or are you the same person ) want to run X11 on the Beaglebone black ? This really is not the intended purpose of this hardware. The intended purpose of this hardware as I understand it - is an entry level development board meant for users of all ages to learn about embedded Linux, and electronics in general.

This hardware will never run X11 fast, and neither will i386 hardware of "equal" design with the L2 cache disabled.

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Amalinda Gamage

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Sep 8, 2014, 8:19:34 PM9/8/14
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Thank you so much William Hermans for giving me additional feedback. Well I can assure you I am not the person who replied to my post :P :P  Although I wish I had the GNU/Linux Knowledge you people do. If you are asking that question because of the technical terms I am using in this very simple question, the reason is I am learning GNU/Linux from "SCRATCH". Meaning from the boot process. Had been doing it for like 2 months now. Following up the free EDX course and a series of YouTube Video Tutorials on RBP  to give me practical sense. (Even though I love TI technology/ BBB I couldn't find a single course that explains things from the beginning for a beginner to learn Embedded Linux). 

Some questions I have are not answered. And they haven't been asked on the forum before. 

So getting back at the question, from your answers, I can figure two reasons some software may not work in embedded Linux Systems,

1. Lack of OpenGL,ES support which is still being improved
2. We do not have L2 cash in the TI ARM 335X processors. 

what more reasons are there can we think of ? 

ok, one more question :P :P

Do we have some sort of a cash in the ARM Processor to help? 

once again, thanks to all your replies. 

Robert Nelson

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Sep 8, 2014, 8:28:05 PM9/8/14
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On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 7:18 PM, Amalinda Gamage
<amalind...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thank you so much William Hermans for giving me additional feedback. Well I
> can assure you I am not the person who replied to my post :P :P Although I
> wish I had the GNU/Linux Knowledge you people do. If you are asking that
> question because of the technical terms I am using in this very simple
> question, the reason is I am learning GNU/Linux from "SCRATCH". Meaning from
> the boot process. Had been doing it for like 2 months now. Following up the
> free EDX course and a series of YouTube Video Tutorials on RBP to give me
> practical sense. (Even though I love TI technology/ BBB I couldn't find a
> single course that explains things from the beginning for a beginner to
> learn Embedded Linux).
>
> Some questions I have are not answered. And they haven't been asked on the
> forum before.
>
> So getting back at the question, from your answers, I can figure two reasons
> some software may not work in embedded Linux Systems,
>
> 1. Lack of OpenGL,ES support which is still being improved

We have "OpenGL ES 1.x/2.x)

> 2. We do not have L2 cash in the TI ARM 335X processors.

The am335x has 256KB of L2 Cache

> what more reasons are there can we think of ?
>
> ok, one more question :P :P
>
> Do we have some sort of a cash in the ARM Processor to help?
>
> once again, thanks to all your replies.

Remember you said "experience when running gnome"..

In a server environment with no x11, a single core cortex a8 running
at 1Ghz can knock the pants of a p3 also running at 1Ghz.. Especially
when you factor how much power that P3 took

Amalinda Gamage

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Sep 8, 2014, 9:06:39 PM9/8/14
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yeah thats very true! 

Thanks Robert Nelson!
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