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baslinux - Re: [BL] BL3 on 386sx no-copro update

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  • From: James Miller <jamtat AT mailsnare.net>
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [BL] BL3 on 386sx no-copro update
  • Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 22:58:20 -0600 (CST)

On Fri, 5 Nov 2004 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

> After you have exported DISPLAY, execute the window
> manager's executable. That will send the wm to the
> Xterminal and you will then be able to launch the
> apps from the Xterminal (using the wm menu).

Well, that was simple enough. This is interesting. ion3 is a good wm for
doing this, and gives just what I would need: I'd like this to be a sort
of internet station for my wife. But I think performance is just not
going to be suitable. I tried at all the resolutions and color depths
Xvesa provides in BL3, and the "speed" (should probably say "slowness")
was unacceptable in all of them. Maybe there was a slight decrease in
speed at 800x600, but it was not very noticeable. There is no swapping
that I can hear--except maybe when I kill Xvesa. It just takes forever
for apps to open, and drop-down menus paint slowly down the
screen--actually first the frame appears, then the contents of the menu
gradually fill in. Cursor motion lags noticeably behind mouse device
movement. And the color is off: it's certainly not real 12-bit color. It
looks like 4-bit, everything being fuzzy and extremely bleached. I don't
have any high-powered 1MB ISA video cards around here or I might throw one
in just to see what effect upping video RAM might have. And it does seem
that physical memory is not a problem: I hear no swapping, so everything
does seem to run fine within the physical RAM I have. So really the
remaining culprits are: 1) slow processor speed; 2) absence of copro; 3)
paltry video memory; 4) low network speed. I guess the combination of all
those leads to a machine that can barely act as an xterminal. 3 is the
only one I could really do anything about, though adding copro might be
what would make the most difference in reducing the latency problems.
Further suggestions, or shall I call the experiment complete?

James




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