Test kernel for Orion with performance patches available

<p>

Marvell posted some performance patches for ARM that speed up the
<tt>copy_to_user</tt> and <tt>clear_user</tt> functions which are used
to copy data around.  I see quite a bit of performance increase with
these patches on Orion, and I've prepared a test kernel so you can try
them out too.  This kernel should be treated as experimental, but I'm
looking for testers with Orion-based hardware (e.g. QNAP TS-109, TS-209,
and TS-409) who are interested in giving it a go.

</p>

<p>

If your system has a rescue mode (the QNAP devices and the HP mv2120
do), I suggest you first make a backup of your flash.  On the QNAP
devices, you can do this with:

</p>

<div class="code">
<pre>
cat /dev/mtdblock1 /dev/mtdblock2 /dev/mtdblock3 &gt; qnapimg.bin
</pre>
</div>

<p>

Then edit the file <tt>/etc/apt/sources.list</tt> and add the following
line:

</p>

<div class="code">
<pre>
deb http://people.debian.org/~tbm/orion lenny main
</pre>
</div>

<p>

Load the key used to sign this repository so that apt can verify it:

</p>

<div class="code">
<pre>
gpg --keyserver pgp.earth.li --recv-keys 68FD549F
gpg --export -a 68FD549F | apt-key add -
</pre>
</div>

<p>

Now you can install the new kernel:

</p>

<div class="code">
<pre>
apt-get update
apt-get install linux-image-2.6-orion5x
flash-kernel
</pre>
</div>

<p>

After the installation of the kernel, reboot and do some tests: Do you see
any speedup? Do you see any problems?

</p>

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