Re: Slowing down an XO-1.5

2010-03-30 Thread John Watlington

On Mar 30, 2010, at 9:56 AM, Mikus Grinbergs wrote:

>>   Is there a simple way from OFW (or ACPI) to restrict
>> the operating frequency of the processor in the XO-1.5
>> to be the lowest possible ?
>> 
>> The relevant comment from a deployment was that they
>> can't use full speed XO-1.5 motherboards as replacements
>> for XO-1 motherboards.  They think kids would break their
>> laptop to get it upgraded...
> 
> I would expect any kid enterprising enough to break a laptop in order to
> get it upgraded -- to also be enterprising enough to "hack" the
> replacement to bypass any software restrictions.  Only when the
> replacement (despite determined attack) cannot be made better than the
> original would the risk of kids "breaking their laptop" be diminished.

In Uruguay, the kids can't get to OFW.

And if you read further, the software hack is more tor testing the
viability of motherboards using lower cost scrapped processors.

wad
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Re: Slowing down an XO-1.5

2010-03-30 Thread Mikus Grinbergs
>Is there a simple way from OFW (or ACPI) to restrict
> the operating frequency of the processor in the XO-1.5
> to be the lowest possible ?
> 
> The relevant comment from a deployment was that they
> can't use full speed XO-1.5 motherboards as replacements
> for XO-1 motherboards.  They think kids would break their
> laptop to get it upgraded...

I would expect any kid enterprising enough to break a laptop in order to
get it upgraded -- to also be enterprising enough to "hack" the
replacement to bypass any software restrictions.  Only when the
replacement (despite determined attack) cannot be made better than the
original would the risk of kids "breaking their laptop" be diminished.

mikus

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Re: Slowing down an XO-1.5

2010-03-30 Thread Mitch Bradley
The "4" is 406 is for 400 Mhz.  The normal value is "a06", where "a" is 
decimal 10 for 1000 Mhz.

The "6" is the voltage selection code; this processor only supports the 
value "6".

Mitch Bradley wrote:
> ok 406. 199 msr!
>
> The period after 406 is mandatory - it forces the number to be 
> 64-bits, suitable as the data operand to msr!.
>
>
> John Watlington wrote:
>> Mitch,
>>Is there a simple way from OFW (or ACPI) to restrict
>> the operating frequency of the processor in the XO-1.5
>> to be the lowest possible ?
>>
>> The relevant comment from a deployment was that they
>> can't use full speed XO-1.5 motherboards as replacements
>> for XO-1 motherboards.  They think kids would break their
>> laptop to get it upgraded...
>>
>> Cheers,
>> wad
>>   
>
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Re: Slowing down an XO-1.5

2010-03-30 Thread Mitch Bradley
ok 406. 199 msr!

The period after 406 is mandatory - it forces the number to be 64-bits, 
suitable as the data operand to msr!.


John Watlington wrote:
> Mitch,
>Is there a simple way from OFW (or ACPI) to restrict
> the operating frequency of the processor in the XO-1.5
> to be the lowest possible ?
>
> The relevant comment from a deployment was that they
> can't use full speed XO-1.5 motherboards as replacements
> for XO-1 motherboards.  They think kids would break their
> laptop to get it upgraded...
>
> Cheers,
> wad
>   
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Re: Slowing down an XO-1.5

2010-03-30 Thread John Watlington

On Mar 30, 2010, at 2:48 AM, James Cameron wrote:

> They'd also notice the graphics performance differences, and that
> wouldn't be amenable to a simple fix.

Correct, and they would still get twice the memory and roughly
1.5 times the storage (JFFS2 is compressed).

What I didn't mention is that in the course of manufacturing the
processors, some of them can't run at full speed.  These are
lasered into a different product ID, clamped at the lowest speed,
and sold as separate product with a lower price.

I'd like to see/demonstrate what the performance of such a laptop
would be.

Cheers,
wad

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Re: Slowing down an XO-1.5

2010-03-29 Thread James Cameron
They'd also notice the graphics performance differences, and that
wouldn't be amenable to a simple fix.

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.linux.org.au/
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Slowing down an XO-1.5

2010-03-29 Thread John Watlington

Mitch,
   Is there a simple way from OFW (or ACPI) to restrict
the operating frequency of the processor in the XO-1.5
to be the lowest possible ?

The relevant comment from a deployment was that they
can't use full speed XO-1.5 motherboards as replacements
for XO-1 motherboards.  They think kids would break their
laptop to get it upgraded...

Cheers,
wad
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