If you haven't realised it yet, I am a perfectionist. This trait has been instilled in me since I was a child by my dad. Because of that, I want to not just make a kernel, but make a great kernel. I have created a chart (using Google Docs) comparing the voltage levels/values of each popular "Low Voltage" kernel who's source is available. I want your input on what values I should use for my kernel. Keep in mind if the voltage is too low it may become unstable. The lower the voltage value, the lower the overall power consumption. Should I take the average, should I go with the lowest value, should I make a new value, should I round high or low? What do you think? Comment below and let me know...
Update (2-21-11): After conducting more research on modifying kernels I have compiled another one that I am quite happy with. So far it is running amazing on my Droid. I disabled more debugging, added cpu temp monitoring, changed the slots to 225, 450, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, and appended _1GHz_LV to the kernel version. I thought compcache would be included in this release but it looks like it will have to wait until the next one. The lowest slot is still below stock at 250 yet seems to be a perfect minimum to eliminate the lag we experience in Gingerbread. I have tried 125, 175, and 200 as minimum slots but they just don't do the trick. Based on the chart below, I have selected what I think are great low voltage values for stability and less power consumption. After more trial runs and feedback from you all I will publish my values. This kernel is in Koush's anykernel.zip format meaning it will work on any Gingerbread ROM. Once again, I would like to thank RaidZero for helping me with my questions.
Download:
Update in my latest post!
Is this for gingerbread???
ReplyDeleteDownloaded and installed your build 19 kernel. So far so good. No issues in startup. Seems on par with Slayher for startup speeds. Wireless signal is fairly decent. I will need about a day to do a figure out how it does.
ReplyDeleteWith BB I had settled on ChevyNo1 Medium Voltage 1.1GHz Kernel. That seemed to give me the best battery life and speed combo for BB.
With GPA12, I havn't seen a 1.1GHz kernel yet I could try. But it is VERY sluggish below 550, so I had SetCPU keeping the speed between 700 and 1000. I have it set same for your kernel.
I would like to see a kernel that has the following slots(although I most likely will never use the lowest 2) 400,550,700,800,900,1000,1100 and Medium Voltage.
I think proper power management has more to do with the user than with a LV kernel. While a LV Kernel helps, things like turning off live wallpapers, dark themes, removal of services that run in the background(skype, facebook, ebay,...), screen brightness, wireless/bluetooth management have more to do with battery life than dropping the voltage in a kernel slot.
My Droid tends to bootloop on Low Voltage kernels when it gets to the 900-1.1GHz range. It just seems to need a it more voltage when it's up there.
So my recommendation for the 800+ slots is to average out the values and go with that.
Great Job!
-MansterRock(Twitter)
You forgot ChevyNo1, and P3Droid :/ they are both great
ReplyDeleteYou could give the option of a ulv,lv, and standard or medium then you cover all you bases . Because my friends droid wont run a ulv but my droid will running the same rom.
ReplyDeleteHey Pete,
ReplyDeleteTesting the new kernel and notice a couple things and I think they are related.
1. Lock screen slow to load on unlock (power button) but still useable and allows touch.
2. When screen is on, music plays fine. When screen is locked it skips and lags.
Might be underclocking too much when in sleep Status. Overall a great kernel!
Thanks!
Just flashed it onto my Droid1 + your distro. Very fast phone! The community of Android developers keep making these phones last longer with more features.
ReplyDeletemy 2 cents? Configurable within limits. move the voltages into a simple app. something that anyone can adjust to their own phone. But limit the upper range to stock values (the default).
ReplyDeleteI don't believe anyone has made it 'easy' yet.
Keep up the good work!
only making one? personally i use the RZ 1250 underclocked to 1100. long as it runs cool and stable. you should try to make a set.
ReplyDeleteI currently use Slayher kernels, and my phone is pretty stable. For the most part, he keeps the average.
ReplyDeleteI say push the envelope. Don't fall too far behind the average, but just try and see how low you can go. :)
Pete,
ReplyDeleteI am a Process Control Engineer so I always try to err on the side of stability. I use my phone mostly as a PDA so I need it to be stable, especially the alarming. The main reason that I changed from a Windows Mobile phone to the Droid was that the Windows mobile phone would periodically lock up and I would miss meetings and other daily events. I use both the calendar and alarm clock. I have avoided over-clocking the Droid because as you said this is the easiest way to make the phone unstable.
The only kernels that I have used are the stock one, the 1000 Hz Slayer that you recommended, and your 900 Hz kernel. You did not include your kernel in the chart so all that I have for comparison is the Slayer.
The average is always a good place to start. Just use standard rounding. If the number is below x.5 round down to x. If the number is x.5 or above round up to x+1.
In the chart you provided the Slayer kernel is just about average for the voltages below 400 Hz. If you drop the stock kernel from the average and just use the custom kernels the Slayer kernel is just about the average for voltages above 400 Hz. Perhaps you would like to use these values as a starting point. Just use 39 volts at 400 Hz.
R. David Hooper, PE
Control Systems
Trying it now. Installing from a full wipe.
ReplyDeleteAverage voltage column looks pretty nice (I'd round down to nearest even number b/c I don't trust odd numbered voltages :) ). Also, if you're looking for perfect kernel requests, I'd like to see you make the lowest slot the 200 speed as LV 125 slots cause my phone some probs. Thanks for working on perfecting our Droids.
ReplyDeleteInstalling now! Thanks Pete!
ReplyDeleteHi Pete. I'll load the 1Ghz this morning. I finally have a little $ on my PayPal and I owe you for all your work. Seriously without your mods, this Droid1 would be a glitchy, bloated, and response-less piece. Keep up the great work.. from all of your fans in Droid-Dom.
ReplyDeletep.s. Please use my donation to save for the Bionic.. we will all need your help there once it ships :)
If I knew how to report voltage levels I would. All I know is I installed this kernal and thus far it's stable and fast. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHey Pete, I'm trying out your latest 1GHz kernel today. I've been using your GB roms and am on GPA12 now, I've used the first RZKernel you recommended then the slayher one. I actually liked the RZ one better it seemed to have less screen redraws, and showed the "time in state" info in setCPU where as slayher didn't. Your new kernel as of now I haven't seen any homescreen redraws! The only thing I don't like is that setCPU doesn't show the CPU temp and the time in state section just says "null". I'll continue using it for now because i'm liking the performance, but viewing those stats could be helpful once in awhile. As far as picking voltage values for your kernel, I really have no idea on how those values will affect your kernel honestly, I just don't know much about kernels. I can just let you know my findings from testing...sorry I can't help with your nice chart.
ReplyDeleteWhy not take the lowest known working voltage and poll users on whether the kernel works?
ReplyDeleteInstalled it and so far so good, awesome post as usual.
ReplyDeleteFIRST!YAY!:D
ReplyDeleteand pete btw i noticed that with your 1ghz kernel that when coming out of sleep it took about 3 seconds, like it was underclocked and was speeding up
i would like to see what p3droids values are, his LV froyo kernel is the ONLY one that runs cool on gingerbread12
ReplyDeleteI've gotten along the best on my Droid with Slayher's kernels, specifically the LFY "SLV" series. RZ's make my phone unstable and my battery life was atrocious, though I've only run them with Liquid GB which could account for those things too. I've tried cvpcs kernels with Sapphire and P3Droid's here and there. I'd stick close to Slayher's numbers.
ReplyDeleteHow many/which slots are you putting in? I didn't realize you could have more than 7, but I see 12 on your chart there.
It's just a personal preference of mine, but the thing I worry about when I update a kernel that is improving the speed of the phone is how it's going to effect the battery. So I suppose whatever is going to give you the best performance while not sacrificing the battery in a major way would be the best.
ReplyDeleteI'd stay in the low 70s Pete. I've had a few bad experiences with super low voltage kernels (i.e CVPCS. To be honest I've been using the P3Droid kernels with your GPA series ROMs and I've been liking the results. Looking forward to your kernel! Thanks man.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I use the Slayher 1000 & 1200 kernels, and they are incredibly stable with good slots (except the 1200 only clocks down to 300 instead of 200). His voltages are just a hair below average according to your chart. Therefore I can say that's a good baseline to start with, then try inching the voltage down to see if you can get stability with even lower voltages. I am positive many would be willing to test kernels for you.
ReplyDeleteSlight tweak needs to be made as someone mentioned,
ReplyDeleteI do notice the lockscreen loads up slow when you press the power button. It takes 2 to 3 times longer than a Slayer 1ghz kernel. Using GPA12.
One more thing. Although it's off topic, please enable TUN and Advanced IP Routing in your eventual *official* kernel. Thant way people will be able to connect to Cisco VPNs via market apps. Thanks again Pete.
ReplyDeleteI would prefer you err on the side of stability. Your rom's are desirable because they are first, stable and second, they perform wonderfully. I have had some issues waking from a 125 slot so would like a 200 slot for sure. Each droid is a little different, so make a kernel that supports the vast majority. Then make one that pushes the limits for those who can use it.
ReplyDeleteI have been running GPA12 with your new 1GHz kernel since yesterday. It has been pretty problem free, I think. I had one complete lockup on the phone this morning when starting the browser (had to pull the battery on that one). Other than that, no stability problems. My phone has run successfully up to 1.1 GHz with ULV and LV kernels, I think.
ReplyDeleteI would like to echo what another user mentioned which is that the phone is sometimes slow to wake up the screen when pressing the lock/unlock button. I thought switching from a live wallpaper to a static one would help, but it has not. I'm not sure if it the kernel's doing or the ROM, in general.
Overall, though, I'm really happy with this ROM anf kernel so far. With the ROM, at least, it is stable enough for me to feel comfortable putting it on my wife's phone.
Keep up the good work!
-SR-
Definitely don't go too low. For instance, higher speed Chevy No1 ultra-low voltage kernels will actually slow down my phone and at some point just cause stuff to crash. jdlfg seems to be a happy medium, but I'm not sure what he's running.
ReplyDeleteBecause it doesn't read CPU temp, whenever I attempted to edit a setcpu profile that contained it, (from the previous kernel) I got a FC. Also time in state reads null. Everything else seems great, good job!
ReplyDeleteSo much better Pete...
ReplyDeleteNow I can say no lag... :')
This latest kernel is a keeper so far.. smooth and very cool even playing back HQ YouTube clips. Huge improvement from your earlier attempt! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSo far VERY impressed.
ReplyDeleteFinding the 1gz 2.21.11 kernel very nice. Smooth, responsive, less glitchy on my droid than previous kernels I've tried (slayer, raidzero, p3droid, chevyno1). Quadrant score of 1100. Interested to see how battery life is. Excellent job!
ReplyDeletePete,
ReplyDeleteThe monday morning kernel I flashed last from 9am to 9pm (12 hours running at 1ghz) with heavy use. I was on the road all day monday, about 2 1/2 hours of phone calls and email/texting all day. I avoided downloads, and I did bring a spare battery but I didn't need it. In comparison to ChevyNo1 it keeps about the same amount of run time maybe a tad bit longer.
Just flahsed the Tuesday morning version we will see how it goes. I lowered my minimim from 800Mhz to 400 today, I want to see if that gets me longer battery life and if it's sluggish on wake up.
You Rock!
Peter,
ReplyDeleteThis kernel and ROM work great! However.. 1Ghz isn't quite enough to stream some Youtube videos that have to be played back using flash in the browser due to content restrictions. I've found these are far smoother with 1.1Ghz kernels. Will donate $20 in your PayPal for link to a 1.1Ghz slotted version of your kernel:) Thanks!
Not sure if this has been posted but inside SETCPU app, under the "advanced" tab...it says null for "time in state". It usually has each slot listed and data show how long it has been in each slot...at least with slayher kernels (P3 seem to be broken a different way).
ReplyDeleteEven so...I REALLY like this kernel.
It would also be nice if Kernel developers turned on support for /proc/config.gz so that others can see how the kernels are put together...or if you are like me, remember what the heck you did when you created a certain kernel a week ago.
ReplyDeletedefinitely dont go to low in voltage. My D1, like many other, cannot load ULV - I get boot loops. LV to Medium I think are best for across the board.
ReplyDelete1ghz is a good start as it is often stable for most who OC. But, I would like to see at least 1.1 if not a 1.2, but 1.1ghz for sure.
225 is pretty low slot IMHO. I would never really go that low, 3-400 is where I like to be and I use a 1.2 with a low of 300 by JDLFG and it is very stable.
would love to see compache IF it can even work, as I see mixed results on the web about it.
1GHz_LV_2.21.11.zip is working well for me. Had some reboots with the Slayer kernel but no problems so far with this one. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWorks great so far, very happy. This plus GPA12 is a solid win Pete, great work!
ReplyDeleteWent all day on 1GHz_LV_2.21.11, no problems.
ReplyDeleteJust "pumped in" your kernel...........boot was quick and response VERY WELL when I slide out the keyboard or go to home screen. It use to show the wallpaper for 5-8 seconds BEFORE the apps and things would appear. The slayher kernel fixed this too so I'm going to give you THAT much right off the bat! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHow do you replace a kernel? I already installed slayer.
ReplyDeleteI have been running your 2/21 kernel for a full day now with the current CyanogenMod 7 nightly build. My phone hasn't run this smooth in a long time! :)
ReplyDeleteMy phone doesn't always like low voltage kernels, and this one hasn't caused a reboot today! I am running it with full 225-1000 range, with a Screen Off profile set at 225-450 and my phone is still at 60% 12 hours into the day, with a couple of short phone calls, and normal usage (downloading 2 pinball games and PewPew and playing them for 5 minutes each today). :)
I'm not an uber techie or anything so I don't know much about kernels, but I have to say things are running very smoothly for me with this one and GPA12! Seems to have rid me of the lag when waking it up that I was having with the others. Thanks
ReplyDeletePete,
ReplyDeleteFlashed the 2/21 kernel about two hours ago, and while I can't comment on battery life yet, I'm not having any issues with screen lag or homescreen redraws; however, the temperature does stay anywhere from 4 (idle) to 10 (in use) degrees (Celsius) warmer than Chevy's GB-updated ULV 1.0 ghz kernel. I'll report back tomorrow evening with battery life results.
Thanks for all your hard work, Pete.
ChevyNo1-1.2Ghz-ulowV-7slot-update.zip worked great for me. Flashed your 1 GHZ kernel. Seems to "flow" smooth when changing screens / looking at apps. Internet access is fast. Google maps super fast!!! Camera great!! Gallery: fast photo access. Camcorder app - camera app both took smooth video / Great job!!!! Still need a 1.2GHz Kernel please!! Great work Pete!!!
ReplyDeleteOK I feel like a total noob. My first flash was not on the Gingerbread rom. That is why I was getting the bootloop. After restoring GPA12 tried the kernel again works great so far.
ReplyDeletePete keep up the good work.
(ps) I think I'm going to change the m logo to a P or a PA
I'm running GPA12 and this kernel runs fantastic! I tried the 1ghz kernel you had up previously along with GPA12 and it was slow to come back from sleep, but running this 2/21 kernel is the fastest my Droid has ever been. I've been running it about 24 hours now, and battery life seems OK. Fully stock with froyo it was only slightly better, but didn't run nearly this well.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any issues using this so far. Are there any particular things to look out for and get you feedback on that would help in your development?
Couldn't get it to work on release day. Tried again today and had success. Now it's more smooth that slahyer 1250. Super work Pete. I bow!
ReplyDeletePeter, you are awesome!
ReplyDeleteI finally took the plunge and rooted once your Gingerbread ROM came out, and I'm loving it! I just installed your kernel and it's doing great!
1.20GHz_LV_V0.1.zip works great!!!
ReplyDeleteNotes:
1.25GHz_LV_V0.1.zip and Chevy's 1.25Hz kernels both don't work yet Radio Zero's 1.25 did.
DVD's made into MP4's with catalyst4 look amazing and run smooth on the Droid. I don't run antivirus or any task killer pgm; however, I believe it's the new gingerbread rom + your effect / changes that make this Droid a tremendous multimedia center.
People say there's an echo when I call that's sometimes there. I think it's Verizon's cell areas.
Thanks for your dedication to the Droid. Your work is brilliant!!