[Consortium] Benefit of Compiz to audio work?

[Pieter Palmers]

Cory K. wrote:
> The Ubuntu Studio team is considering shipping Compiz (with a minimal
> config) in Ubuntu Studio-Hardy 8.08.
> 
> Some have said that moving the drawing of windows off the the GFX card
> would help the load on the CPU and thus keep xruns to a minimum.
> 
> Any thoughts/ideas on this one?

My stance would be that xruns are not that much dependent on load as 
they are on interrupts. If your machine is not at the maximum of its 
capabilities, xruns only seem to occur when certain I/O related events 
are happening. One of the most problematic I/O types in my experience is 
the video card I/O. So the question is whether you're not making things 
worse.

When running a properly configured RT-patched kernel that prioritizes 
the video card IRQ low enough, it could be a good idea. When the config 
is bad, it will IMHO only increase the problems.

Greets,

Pieter Palmers