As my G1 is running very smooth after a trying very different system configs, it is time to share all this.

1) Hardware

I switch to a 16Gb, Class 6 SD Card and folks, it makes such a difference. You can tweak you conf as much as you want… Horsepower beats nothing.

2) Upgrade to the new Cyanogen releases

Only one comment – Do a fresh clean install! Wipe userdata, clean your ext partitions.. all this good stuff will make it easy and prevent most of the issues posted in different forums aka FC’s and unresponsiveness.

3) SD Card Partition

As written in a previous artikel, I went for FAT32, 500MB EXT 4 (!!!) and initially 64MB Linux Swap. Couple of comments:

Use EXT4 for ext partition!
I increased the size of my linux swap to 128MB (why – later)

4) System Configuration

I did play around with SWAPPER and other tools, but then went to use the variant with USER.CONF and USERINIT.SH from XDA forum. The main settings to tweak are:

• COMPCACHE (compache)
• SWAP_FILE (swap file on sd card fat32 partition)
• LINUX_SWAP (linux swap partition)
• SYS_WM (virtual memory setting)
• PROC_CPU (cpu clock settings)

I tried all kinds of combination, but finally I’m using only LINUX_SWAP and PROC_CPU. COMPCACHE and all other stuff did slow the G1 down compared to this.

4.1) LINUX_SWAP

#Linux swap parameters
linux_swap{
linux_swap_en=1 # enable(1) or disable(0) linux swap
linux_swap_partition=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 # swap partition device
swappiness=60 # default 60

As I use a large linux swap partition, I can increase the swappiness to 60. This gives me the following output on the FREE command:

total used free shared
Mem: 98140 96392 1748
Swap: 124992 38168 86824
Total: 223132 134560 88572

Not bad at all! Other report could performance on smaller LINUX_SWAP partitions or even degraded performance on part size bigger then 64MB… Try for yourself. This conf is probably a bit slower when initially loading apps, but when switching between different apps already loaded … quick.

4.2) PROC_CPU

#cpu clock
proc_cpu{
proc_cpu_en=1 # enable(1) or disable(0) user cpu configurations
# freqency options
scaling_min_freq=128000 # default 245760
scaling_max_freq=528000 # default 528000
sampling_rate=2000000 # default 2000000 depending on kernel version
powersave_bias=200 # default 0, (200 since CM3.9.6+ )
up_threshold=40 # default 45, percent cpu usage before going up a speed step
}

So on higher use (treshold=40) the G1 runs full speed 528Mhz. Otherwise it scales down to 245Mhz. My G1 gives me the following information on frequency use:

128000 – 17767
245760 – 244540
384000 – 110545
528000 – 57316

So full throttle when needed and slowing down when not – Means if you use your G1 you get good speed and if not you conserve battery.

5) Activate your Configuration

First, push or copy your file onto your G1. Now go via terminal or adb to the directory /system/sd where you stored the 2 files user.conf and userinit.sh and execute in terminal sh userinit.sh -s and check your config results via sh userinit.sh -i.

6) Summary

With the mentioned tweaks, I have the best G1 software configuration I ever had before. No FC’s at all ! Let’s wait on the next Cyanogen release

Matthias

user.conf
userinit.sh

After all that playing around and knowing that I have a slow SD card in my G1, I decided for a “dramatically” rebuild of my device. Goal:

1. New SD card, 16GB Class 6
2. Configure with EXT4 and Linux Swap
3. Fresh and clean install of ROM

1)  New SD card, 16GB Class 6 Partitioning

I did backup all partitions from my current card, including EXT3. Now insert new Card into G1 and boot into Recovery Mode. Now you can partition your SD, im my case a Class 6 16GB Card:

parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print >> you should see only 1 partition, a FAT32 partition.  Now

rm 1 >> delete partition

mkpartfs primary fat32 0 15000 >> create 15 GB FAT32
mkpartfs primary ext2 15000 15500 >> create 500MB ext 2
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 15500 15564 >> create 64MB linux swap

quit

upgrade_fs >> ext2 -> ext 3

tune2fs -O extents,uninit_bg,dir_index /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
e2fsck -fpDC0 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
>> upgrate ext3 -> ext 4

reboot

2) Fresh and clean install of ROM

Take the new SD out of the G1 and copy backup-ed stuff from old SD onto FAT32 partition, also put into SR root the Cyanogen 4.1.999. Reboot with the new SD card your G1 into recovery, WIPE (for clean install) and install ROM zip. Reboot and you have a smooth running clean G1.

3) Restore application

I used the ADB INSTALL to install all apps from backup-ed EXT onto the radio. Done, cool, smooth.

BTW: The process took about 1 hour from start to finish.

Matthias

When I switched to Cyanogen, I did the mistake not to create a swap partition on my 8GB sd card in addition to the ext partition for apps2sd…  The current partition settings are:

parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print

mkpartfs primary fat32 0 7499 -> (7499MB FAT32)
mkpartfs primary ext2 7499 7948 -> (449MB EXT)

Now goal is to reduce the size of the EXT partition and create a SWAP partition.

1) Backup Settings, Apps, etc.

I did a Nandroid backup using the Recovery and in addition a backup with Backup for Root Users as well as My Backup

2) Backup EXT Partition

Open a terminal and go to /system/sd This is the mounting point for your EXT partition. Copy all do a folder on the SD card, FAT32 partition.

3) Backup FAT32 Partition

Easy, just mount G1 to PC and copy the drive to the PC.

4) Now start  G1 into Recovery and go to the console

parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print

rm2 -> (delete org EXT)

mkpartfs primary ext2 7499 7899 -> ( 400MB EXT3)
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 7899 7948 -> ( 49MB SWAP)

print
upgrade_fs
reboot

After reboot,  copy the previously backuped files (2) back to /system/sd via console or adb.  After execution of this steps, (keep in mind, that steps 1 and 3 are just for pre-caution reasons), system is running superb with a additional swap partition. And the FAT32 stayed untouched.

Matthias

The easiest way to wipe an ext3 partition is in the recovery console with:

mke2fs -j /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
mount -o rw /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
cd /system/sd
rm -rf /system/sd/*

Matthias

If you want to get rid of some application from the G1 you do not need anyway, just ADB into your device, su and:

1) mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
2) cd system/app

I deleted (rm):

a) Voice Dialer – Never used: VoiceDialer.apk
b) Voice Search – Never used: VoiceSearch.apk
c) Amazon MP3 – Works in US only: com.amazon.mp3.apk

Matthias

With the new Hero in the house, I felt the need for some UI upgrade on my good old G1 and went over to XDA Developers to find some answers. I decided for the Community Hero Mix. And I tell you – cool. Installation is quit easy:

1) Download the file to the root of your SD
2) Press Home and Power on to go into Recovery
3) Select> Any zip from SD
4) Select your zip and apply

Done. Many thanks to nabzilla1990 for this great stuff.

Matthias