Trim Enabler cannot support miniPCI-e SSD with SATA2 adapter ?

KingSpec KSM-SMP.5-064MJ is a mini PCI-express type SSD (not mSATA) for some EeePC models.

Trim is also supported.

I tried to install KSM-SMP.5-064MJ into my imac with SATA2 adapter.  

I bought it via Amazon which brand or model number was unknown.

mini PCI-express to SATA adapter (left)

mSATA to SATA adaper (right)

Trim Enabler said "The patch is active but Trim is not working...." even if several rebootings were done.

On windows machine, Trim is supported through miniPCIe-SATA adapter.

And its speed was presented.

Benchmark test of Windows7 on QEMU / PowerPC linux

At the request, benchmark tests were performed on QEMU-Windows7 on my PowerMac G5.
However, recent releases of PPC-ubuntu were so buggy that most of benchmarking tests became frozen before finishing.

At first, XBENCH score of my PowerMac G5 (2.0G Dualcore, late2005, GeForce6600LE) was shown.
Results 95.64
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.8 (9L31a)
Physical RAM 9216 MB
Model PowerMac11,2
Processor PowerPC G5x2 @ 2.00 GHz
L1 Cache 64K (instruction), 32K (data)
L2 Cache 1024K @ 2.00 GHz
Bus Frequency 1 GHz
Drive Type ST3250310AS ST3250310AS
CPU Test 120.88
GCD Loop 91.38 4.82 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 133.56 3.17 Gflop/sec
AltiVec Basic 263.29 10.49 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 106.01 3.50 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 103.06 17.95 Mops/sec
Thread Test 87.05
Computation 103.77 2.10 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 74.97 3.23 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Memory Test 129.95
System 133.54
Allocate 195.34 717.36 Kalloc/sec
Fill 174.08 8464.22 MB/sec
Copy 86.19 1780.24 MB/sec
Stream 126.55
Copy 125.04 2582.70 MB/sec [G5]
Scale 122.30 2526.64 MB/sec [G5]
Add 127.96 2725.90 MB/sec [G5]
Triad 131.25 2807.67 MB/sec [G5]
Quartz Graphics Test 140.32
Line 111.16 7.40 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 130.28 38.90 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 124.51 10.15 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 124.38 3.14 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 345.94 21.64 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 86.62
Spinning Squares 86.62 109.88 frames/sec
User Interface Test 122.17
Elements 122.17 560.71 refresh/sec
Disk Test 52.98
Sequential 137.98
Uncached Write 153.24 94.09 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 137.09 77.57 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 108.05 31.62 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 169.08 84.98 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 32.78
Uncached Write 10.70 1.13 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 85.85 27.48 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 95.67 0.68 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 155.33 28.82 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Next, the rarely finished result of HDBENCH (japanese) among numerous trials.  The settings were as follow;
           qemu-system-i386 -m 2047 -smp 2,cores=2,sockets=1,threads=1 -localtime -vga std -hda diskimage.qcow2

This is the result of EEEPC 4G-X (celeronM 630MHz, Memory 2GB, GPU Intel 910GML / Intel GMA900), as contorl.

Needless to say, the Windows7 virtual machine by QEMU-PPC linux is very slow.  

Added at 5/21/15

HTML5 benchmark test

(This result of HTML5 benchmark test is NOT comparable with HDBENCH)

Mavericks on iMac late 2006

In this time, Mavericks was installed on my iMac late2006 according to here.

Check the board-ID and compatible value.

For making an installation image, some files needed to be replaced or modified.  Because I made it from the bootable ISO image, some file permissions had to be changed by "sudo chflags -r nouchg [filename]".

Installing Mavericks.

Installation was failed on the final step but it did not matter.

Mavericks works fine on iMac late 2006.

In my case, a audio fix was needed.  I installed the latest VoodooHDA.pkg, executed Kext Utility.app, and rebooted.

SSD upgrade of iMac late 2006

SSD upgrading was perfomed on My iMac late 2006 according to IFIXIT's guide.

I replaced HDD by mSATA SSD 32G with mSATA-SATA converter.

Moreover, internal cleaning was done.

Installing Mavericks.

Ubuntu MATE on INTEL-iMac late 2006

I tried to install Ubuntu-MATE 14.04 (ubuntu-mate-14.04.2-LTS-desktop-amd64+mac.iso) on my iMac late2006 (core2duo 2.16GHz), which had been retired recently.
Ubuntu was installed with pure EFI booting instead of Bootcamp because OSX was no longer used.  Unlike the case of PPC-Mac, the installation was easily done.

But, the long-time whiteout screen appears before booting when turn on the power.  According to here,  this boot delay occurs when installed by Mac-EFI mode.  Immediately, I tried to remove the boot delay by this instruction.

However, I couldn't run efibootmgr because "modprobe efivars" was never effected.

Next, I tried easyUEFI on bootable windowsPE, but the bootable disk created by easyUEFI didn't boot on my iMac. 

The Bootcamp mode (MBR) rather than EFI mode seems to be troubleless when using ubuntu on Intel-Mac.

Lubuntu 14.04.2 for PowerPC

I installed the second point release of lubuntu 14.04.2 cleanly on my powermac G5 (2.0G Dualcore, late2005, GeForce6600LE).  After installation, the openbox syntax error was shown.

On investigation, "lubuntu-rc.xml" file was missing on the specified location.  I copied this file from live CD to the specified location, then it works fine (till now ?).

On live CD

sudo cp /home/lubuntu/.config/openbox/lubuntu-rc.xml /media/lubuntu/[installed drive]/home/[username]/.config/openbox/

In addition, the yaboot parameter "nouveau.noaccel=1" was needed for 3.16.0-30 kernel (the original installed kernel of lubuntu 14.04.2), but unneceessary in updated 3.16.0-33 kernel, and the sound problem must be fixed manually in the same way as lubuntu 15.04.

Ubuntu MATE for PowerPC

I tried to install Ubuntu-MATE, newly released for PowerPC, on my powermac G5 (2.0G Dualcore, late2005, GeForce6600LE) following Lubuntu 15.04.
Unfoutunately, my powermac always froze and couln't be installed neither 14.04LTS nor 15.04 beta-1 although I used many yaboot parameters such as "video=ofonly", "nouveau.noaccel=1" and "nouveau.modeset=0".  

Lubuntu 15.04 for PowerPC

Unfortunately, Lubuntu 14.10 had not been released owing to several bugs.  I tried to install Lubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) Daily Build for PowerPC on my powermac G5 (2.0G Dualcore, late2005, GeForce6600LE).
Though it was easy to install from the live CD (DVD), booting OS needed the yaboot parameter "nouveau.noaccel=1" for disabling acceleration.  Problem about sound must be fixed according to PowerPCKnownIssues.

In my feeling, stabilities or unstabilities of lubuntu 15.04 (daily build) are almost as same as Lubuntu 14.04.

lubuntu 14.04.2

SATA and USB3.0 upgrade on PowerMac G5

The late 2005 models of PowerMac G5 have PCI-express slots while a few PCIe boards for powerpc-Mac were sold out.  But, on linux, the radeon HD videocard for WIN-PC was reported to be work fine (link, link).  I tried to install Transcend PDC3 (USB3.0 / SATA III combo card for WIN-PC), which I used on my WIN-PC.  This PDC3 is compatible to PCI-express 2.0 1x but PowerMac G5 has only PCIe 1.0.

The Samsung 840EVO SSD was connected to PDC3.

Lubuntu 14.04 recognized my SSD without trouble, then I run a benchmark test by  "hdparm" command.

On the benchmark test, the SSD proved twice as fast as the one connected to internal SATA I slot.  However, that speed is almost as same as SATA II because of PCIe 1.0 of PowerMac G5.  SSD connected to PDC3 is of course unable to be used for a boot drive. 

Next, USB3.0 was tested.  From my experience, newer kernels of ubuntu cannot recognize USB3.0 while the older kernels (e.g. 3.13.0-36) are good.  Moreover, SATA and USB3.0 don't seem to work together at the same time on PDC3.  

I used SANDISK extreme USB for a benchmark test, that was connected to PDC3 and internal USB, respectively.

On the benchmark test, the USB3.0 proved ten times as fast as the internal USB2.0 although it wasn't match for the full speed of USB3.0.
If using PCIe x4 cards, more better paerfomances may be seen.

SSD (samsung 840EVO) on PowerMac G5

As far as I know, Samsung 840EVO is one of the compatible SSD for PowerMac G5 whereas only some models of SSD can work with PowerMac G5.  I bought and installed it for my PowerMac G5 (late2005 model).  The 840EVO, whose firmware was updated on WIN-PC, is very fast and quiet while PowerMac G5 has only SATA I.

I tried to run a benchmark but the standerd benchmark test of PPC-lubuntu couldn't work disappointingly. 

Then, the hdparm command was used for a quasi-benchmarking.

Expectedly, the speed of 840EVO on PowerMac G5 was only as SATA I.  However, I am satisfied with the present tweaking.

Windows7 running on Powermac G5 (experimental) - part4

Recently, Lubuntu powerpc becomes stable and QEMU also becomes more stable and compatible.
I found the report of windows7 running on qemu / macport of OSX but it was reported to be still slow compared with VirtualPC for Mac 7.02
Then, I tried to run windows7 on QEMU2.0 / Lubuntu 14.04,1.

First, install qemu
           apt-get install qemu
    for sound emulation
           apt-get install pulseaudio

Second, I converted the previous disk image file installed windows7 starter (VPC for Mac 7) to qcow2 file.

           qemu-img convert -f vpc -O qcow2 diskimage.vhd diskimage.qcow2

QEMU for PPC-linux can simulate at most 2047 MB RAM while VPC7 can do max. 512MB.  QEMU can also be simulated multi-processor or -core, however windows7 starter supports only uniprocessor.
For sound emulation, "-soundhw ac97" option is needed and the driver must be installed manually (link).

          qemu-system-i386 -m 2047 -smp 2,cores=2,sockets=1,threads=1 -localtime -vga std -soundhw ac97 -hda diskimage.qcow2

Unfortunately, Windows7 on QEMU/Linux was slow as same as on VPC7 with ramdisk.
Sounds also work ....but with severe delay.

On my several trials, a little speed-up could be observed when a disk image file was on high-speed USB drive (I used SANDISK EXTREME) than on the internal SATA HDD.

Other faster devices (SSD or RAM disk) may show better perfomance.  I hope for the future updates, for expamle more RAM could be assign.

PowerPC Lubuntu kernel

When the new updates including kernel 3.13.0-35-powerpc-smp were installed, the bug appeared again.  I felt the kernel 3.13.0-33 and 3.13.0-34 were very stable.  So, the kernel was changed to 3.13.0-34 and it's working good.

Lubuntu 14.04 for PowerPC becomes stable ?

The first point release of ubuntu 14.04.1 was disclosed.  In original release of lubuntu 14.04, there were some troubles around Geforce 6600LE videocard on my PowerMac G5 (late 2005).  Especially, the bug of mouse cursor with noise often appeared and caused the kernel panic.

Although the yaboot parameter "video=ofonly nouveau.noaccel=1" was used, I didn't feel a remarkable change.  However, this bug seems to disappear after recent updates !?

after story

lubuntu 14.04.2

Windows7 running on Powermac G5 (experimental) - part 3

Unfortunately, the sound emulation (soundblaster 16) couldn't work on windows7 and VPC 7, although i also tried to install SB16 driver manually.  

Then, I examined if a usb audio device could work.  

When pluged, LED was initially ON and windows started searching its driver.  However, LED was turned off soon and the device couldn't be recognized properly.

Windows7 on VPC for Mac has a problem of USB emulation, too.

Windows7 running on Powermac G5 (experimental) - part 2

Windows7 running on Powermac G5 (experimental) - part 1

According to here and here, there are some possible uses for the old PowerPC Mac.  I tried to install windows7 on virtual pc for mac 7.03 and PowerMac G5 (2.0GHz Dual) before my PowerMac may become horrible appearances like this or this.

There are many limitaions on VPC.

    Virtual PC could never assign more the 512 MB RAM even if over 2GB memory were installed on Mac.

    Microsoft won't support the latest version of Virtual PC 7.03 in Leopard. 

    etc..

However....

    RAM disk can improve the performance of VPC7.

    Windows7 starter edition is very light weighted for a powerless netbook computer with 512MB-1GB memory.

So, I tried to install windows7 on VPC, and the installation was easily completed.

Some additional steps were required according to my memory.

    VPC BIOS setting > "ACPI aware OS " to "Yes"

    Create a large RAM disk (8GB in my case) by terminal commands.

    Install media was generated by "ei.cfg removal utility" and burned to DVD-R because VPC couln't recognize ISO images greater than 2.2 GB.

    After install Virtual Machine Additions, Network driver needed to be installed manually. 

    Sound device doesn't work.

    Every possible tweaks for windows7 and OS X speed-up should be accepted.

Finally, Windows7 runs on PowerPC Mac but very slowly....

Part 2
Part 3

Part 4

Lubuntu 14.04 on Powermac G5

New LTS ubuntu (14.04) for PowerPC has been released.  I installed on my powermac G5 (2.0G Dualcore, late2005, GeForce6600LE).  Ubuntu 10.04LTS works fine but the previous version 12.04LTS doesn't work due to videocard problem.  Now, Lubuntu 14.04 PPC is easily installed from the live cd.  Problems about sound and network indicator occurred but could be fixed according to PowerPCKnownIssues.
....However, the video problem appears again after the newer kernel 3.13.0-27.50 was updated.

after story 1
after story 2
lubuntu 15.04
lubuntu 14.04.2
ubuntu MATE