🚀 go-pugleaf

Andrew Berry <andyb@spruce.dstc.edu.au> writes:

> 
> I've just installed RedHat Linux (Picasso 1.2.13) on my PC and am having
> performance problems with some X applications.  I'd appreciate any
> advice from readers of this group.
> 
> My PC is a 486sx25 (OK, OK, I know, its out of the Ark :-) with 16Mb
> RAM.  I find that text oriented programs like emacs, the window manager
> and xterm run beautifully, but anything with a heavy graphics component
> effectively locks up my machine.  For example, it takes about 5 minutes
> just to start arena (the WWW browser), and my machine does not respond
> to keyboard or mouse input while it is starting.  There is little or no
> disk activity (so it isn't swapping or loading huge globs of data from
> the disk).  GhostView behaves similarly.
> 
> Some possibilities:
> 
>   * I need faster graphics hardware (I have a cirrus logic 5428 chipset)
>   * I need a DX processor with maths on-chip
>   * Linux has weird scheduling that gives up everything to loading
>     processes
> 
> Any suggestions?
> 

What probably happens is that when you start e.g. a Web browser, a
whole bunch of scaled fonts are generated. Without a math coprocessor,
this takes quite a while.  The solution, from what I remember, is to
change the order of the fonts in your /etc/XF86Config, to make X find
the fixed-size fonts first.



thorsten


> (PS. I asked this group a month or so ago about clone sound cards that
> work with Linux, and a few people suggested the ESS chipset cards.  Well
> I bought one for $50 and it works just fine. Thanks!)
> 
> Ciao.
> -- 
> AndyB   (Andrew Berry)
> =======================================================================
> email: andyb@dstc.edu.au       \||/      Department of Computer Science
> voice: +61 7 3365 3241          @@       The University of Queensland
> fax:   +61 7 3365 1999          \/       Australia  4072
> ======== URL: http://www.dstc.edu.au/AU/staff/andrew-berry.html =======
> 

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
       \    C                                       
        \   O                                          Thorsten Schnier
         \  M                       
     /\   \ P                            Key Centre of Design Computing
    /     / U                                      University of Sydney
    \    /  T                                                  NSW 2006
     \  /   I                      
      \/    N                                 thorsten@arch.usyd.edu.au 
    DESIGN  G                    http://www.arch.usyd.edu.au/~thorsten/
  key centre