Comments on: Zonbu /proc/cpuinfo and other geeky stuff…

By: Yuhong Bao

Yuhong Bao — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:12:16 +0000

Do a kernel compile with HIGHMEM64G and you will get NX support.

By: 5.803: Recompiled kernel, still no encryption acceleration « Real life with the Zonbu Mini-PC

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 12:42:24 +0000

[...] Says: August 18th, 2007 at 10:31 am ACE2 states for Advanced Cryptographic Engine 2, PHE is Padlock Hash Engine, and PMM means Padlock [...]

By: mykhal

mykhal — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:01:22 +0000

Good luck, but I’m not sure if those minidistros would have such rather rare features included.. probably openssl needs to be patched too. But doing so, it doubled my scp speed on C3 Eden based machine (I do not have Zonbu (yet))

By: mrzonbu

mrzonbu — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 19:12:13 +0000

Ah, now I see what you are talking about:

http://www.logix.cz/michal/devel/padlock/index.xp?show_selected=1&msgid=754

I’m downloading PuppyLinux 2.17.1 at the moment, which has a relatively recent kernel. I’ll boot that and check the cpuinfo.

So this makes encrypted web and ssh sessions faster?

-Mr. Zonbu

By: mykhal

mykhal — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 18:59:12 +0000

thanks for info. At fully supported C7 system, the output would look something like:

(dynamic) Dynamic engine loading support
(padlock) VIA PadLock: RNG ACE2 PHE(8192) PMM

and it would have also impact on secure SSL transfer rates (acceleration, few times faster)

By: mrzonbu

mrzonbu — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:42:20 +0000

Here you go mykhal:

pcor@localhost / $ openssl engine
(dynamic) Dynamic engine loading support

By: mykhal

mykhal — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:32:24 +0000

mr. Zonbu, do you think you could paste output of “openssl engine” command ?

By: mykhal

mykhal — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:31:01 +0000

ACE2 states for Advanced Cryptographic Engine 2, PHE is Padlock Hash Engine, and PMM means Padlock Montgomery Multiplier. These are new CPU-integrated cryptographic engines/accelerators introduced in VIA Esther (C7) core, in addition to ACE and RNG (Random Number Generator) in older Nehemiah (C3). There are two possibilities – these functions are not present in the CPU, which is not likely, second one is they are not enabled in kernel. I am pretty sure there is a patch for 2.6.17 kernel enabling these features.

By: mrzonbu

mrzonbu — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:08:32 +0000

mykal,

Could you elaborate on what the pmm, phe and ace2 options would mean?

Thanks,

-Mr. Zonbu

By: Gregg

Gregg — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 03:28:07 +0000

I certainly hope that you’re right on this issue, and I’m wrong.