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Benchmarks
| Date | kernel | Hardware ver. | eMMC size | File system | encryption | Read (bw) | Write (bw) | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-02-23 | 5.10 | 1.1 | ext4 on eMMC | – | 8150kB/s | 2727kB/s | kernel 5.11 performed very similar | |
| 2021-03-01 | 5.10 | 1.1 | f2fs on eMMC | – | 7247kB/s | 2425kB/s | ||
| 2021-02-23 | 5.10 | 1.1 | ext4 FS on SD card (Sandisk 64GB Class 10, XC I) | – | 2427kB/s | 812kB/s | ||
| 2021-02-23 | 5.11 | 1.2b | ext4 on eMMC | LUKS | 3812kB/s | 1275kB/s | upgraded factory image | |
| 2021-03-01 | 5.10 | 1.2a | BTRFS on SD (Sandisk 32GB Class 10 HC I) | – | 2018kB/s | 675kB/s | ||
| 2021-10-28 | 5.10 | 1.2b | 32GB | BTRFS on eMMC | – | 6705kB/s | 2244kB/s | Mobian Bookworm |
| 2021-10-28 | 5.10 | 1.2b | 32GB | BTRFS+LZO on eMMC | – | 6884kB/s | 2304kB/s | Mobian Bookworm |
| 2021-10-28 | 5.10 | 1.2b | 32GB | EXT4 on eMMC | – | 5419kB/s | 1813kB/s | Mobian Bookworm |
| 2021-10-28 | 5.10 | 1.2b | 32GB | EXT2 on eMMC | – | 6049kB/s | 2024kB/s | Mobian Bookworm |
| 2021-02-27 | 5.9 | Librem5 (Evergreen) | ext4 on eMMC | – | 17.1MB/s | 5708kB/s | for comparison with Pinephone | |
| 2021-03-11 | 5.11 rc5 | bq Aquaris X5 (paella) | ext4 on eMMC | – | 8276kB/s | 2769kB/s | for comparison with Pinephone |
Notes for reproducibility
(Based on https://wiki.debian.org/PinePhone/Benchmarks). The interesting output is in those lines:
READ: bw=6551KiB/s (6708kB/s), 6551KiB/s-6551KiB/s (6708kB/s-6708kB/s), io=47.0MiB (50.3MB), run=7496-7496msec WRITE: bw=2192KiB/s (2245kB/s), 2192KiB/s-2192KiB/s (2245kB/s-2245kB/s), io=16.0MiB (16.8MB), run=7496-7496msec
Tests run with:
fio --randrepeat=1 --ioengine=libaio --direct=1 --gtod_reduce=1 --name=test --filename=test --bs=4k --iodepth=64 --size=64M --readwrite=randrw --rwmixread=75 --loops=2
"Real-life" Benchmarks
In order to get a better view of the performance difference between filesystems, it's possible to measure the time it takes to boot for each part and also how much time Firefox takes to start.
| Date | kernel | Hardware ver. | eMMC size | File system | encryption | / compression gain | FSBL | SSBL | Linux | Init | Total | Firefox firstPaint | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-11-11 | 5.10 | 1.2b | 32GB | BTRFS on eMMC | – | – | .87s | 3.95s | 3.62s | 13.29s | 21.73s | – | Mobian Bookworm |
| 2021-11-11 | 5.10 | 1.2b | 32GB | BTRFS+LZO on eMMC | – | 44% (2.7GB–> 1.5GB) | .87s | 3.95s | 3.62s | 14.05s | 22.49s | 9120ms | Mobian Bookworm, Firefox 78.14 |
| 2021-11-11 | 5.10 | 1.2b | 32GB | BTRFS+ZSTD on eMMC | – | 48% (2.7GB–> 1.4GB) | .87s | 3.96s | 3.60s | 13.52s | 21.94s | 10706ms | Mobian Bookworm, Firefox 78.14 |
| 2021-11-11 | 5.10 | 1.2b | 32GB | BTRFS+ZLIB on eMMC | – | 48% (2.7GB–> 1.4GB) | .87s | 3.96s | 3.60s | 13.28s | 21.71s | 10397ms | Mobian Bookworm, Firefox 78.14 |
| 2021-11-11 | 5.10 | 1.2b | 32GB | F2FS on eMMC | – | – | .87s | 3.96s | 3.60s | 13.08s | 21.51s | 11164ms | Mobian Bookworm, Firefox 78.14 |
Details:
(Based on https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/How_to_optimize_the_boot_time#Using_a_serial_console).
As a side node, /boot filesystem is by default ext4 and when the filesystem is changed for example to BTRFS, /boot filesystem stays with ext4
Step 1: switch your Pinephone to serial mode by switching off the sound switch on the main board. Connect the serial cable to your Pinephone and your Linux computer
Step 2: install in a directory as described on the Wiki above, the utility “p2f”: http://p2f.tuxfamily.org/
Step 3: copy the measuring Bash script in a directory and modify the path for “p2f” to reflect your installation:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
export PATH=$PATH:p2f-v0.4.0
echo 'Waiting for board reset...'
p2f-wait 'NOTICE:' 'U-Boot SPL'
t0=$(</proc/uptime)
p2f-wait 'U-Boot 20'
t1=$(</proc/uptime)
p2f-wait 'Starting kernel ...'
t2=$(</proc/uptime)
p2f-wait 'init process'
t3=$(</proc/uptime)
p2f-wait 'mobian login:'
t4=$(</proc/uptime)
t0=$(echo "$t0" | awk '{print $1}')
t1=$(echo "$t1" | awk '{print $1}')
t2=$(echo "$t2" | awk '{print $1}')
t3=$(echo "$t3" | awk '{print $1}')
t4=$(echo "$t4" | awk '{print $1}')
echo ''
echo ''
echo 'Timing results:'
echo "FSBL: $(echo "scale=2; $t1 - $t0" | bc)s"
echo "SSBL: $(echo "scale=2; $t2 - $t1" | bc)s"
echo "Linux: $(echo "scale=2; $t3 - $t2" | bc)s"
echo "init: $(echo "scale=2; $t4 - $t3" | bc)s"
echo "total: $(echo "scale=2; $t4 - $t0" | bc)s"
Step 4: Install “microcom” on your Linux computer
Step 5: Run the following command line: microcom -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | bash Measure-timing.txt
Step 6: Reboot your Pinephone, you should get something like:
Timing results: FSBL: .87s SSBL: 3.95s Linux: 3.62s init: 14.05s total: 22.49s
In order to have something reproducible, it's always a fresh install of Mobian with all updates applied and then some small modifications (at your own risk):
sudo apt install openssh-server sudo apt remove gnome-software sudo apt update sudo apt dist-upgrade sudo apt autoremove sudo apt clean all sudo reboot
Regarding Firefox starting time, for reproducibility one needs to do the following:
Configure Firefox so that the starting page is set to blank Reboot Mobian Wait a few minutes Open your session in Phosh Check from ssh that no process is eating the CPU Start Firefox (after reboot it should be the first time you start Firefox otherwise it's already cached in the RAM) Type in the URL bar: about:telemetry#simple-measurements-tab Get the value "firstPaint" (it measures the time Firefox needs to display the starting page)