..benchmarks

..benchmarks
=============

Few days ago Logout [1] send me links to the relevant versions of the GeekBench
2 for some of my machines. I tested only my iMac G5 (it's 1.8 MHz version
of the earliest model) and it has score 1051. My Intel Compute Stick has about
2309 [2] (the Windows version but I can assume that Ubuntu version will not be
better as it has lower specs).

Well, and for a real-life (sort of - it's my testing example) finite element
method computation I can get these numbers:

iMac G5 (1800 MHz CPU): 39 s
Compute Stick (1333 MHz CPU): 51 s
SGI O2 (250 MHz CPU): 320 s

That's a bit surprising: the O2 is a low-end workstation from 1998 which has
well-known limitation of floating point computations performance (a SGI Octane
with the same CPU is 2x faster) so it's results are fair. But the iMac is a
home computer from 2004 which was not designed for maximum CPU power. The
Compute Stick has similar purpose (a home computer) but it's from 2015. I have
expected that there has to be more visible progress in CPU speed...

-------

But when I searched for a better SmallBASIC version for my Sony Clie then I
have found an yCPUbench [2] program for the PalmOS. The author declares
compatibility for OS version 3.0 - 6.0 (anyone ever seen Palm OS 6.0 in the
wild?) and it works.

For now I only have tested 3 machines that were already available and only for
the first test from the suite (sieve8192). The results is in bogo_68k_MHz (I
have no clue what it is but I assume that in is relative speed to the basic
m68k processor at 1 MHz):

Palm IIIx: 15
IBM Workpad (should be just re-badged IIIx): 14
Sony Clie PED-UX50/U (m68k emulation mode): 29
Sony Clie PED-UX50/U (native ARM mode): 993

The Palm IIIx has 16 MHz DragonBall CPU (it's a low-power Motorola CPU from
m68000 serie). The same should be in the Workpad. It is interesting that the
IBM one consistently gives worse results. The Sony is an ARM-based computer
with a 123 MHz CPU (designed by the Sony itself). It is about 4 years younger
than the 1999 Palm machines of the III serie.

Of course it can be interesting to thy more tests and to use more machines (at
the moment I have rather complete Palm III line available: a basic III, a IIIx,
a IIIe, a IIIxe, a TrgPro and the Handera PDA and possibly other
Palm-compatible machines, too).

References:
[1] gopher://i-logout.cz
[2] http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/palm/