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James Miller wrote:
>
> 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.  

Nevertheless you might find that boosting RAM will
help performance.  With extra RAM to play with, the 
kernel might be able to use a technique that speeds 
things up.

> So really the remaining culprits are: 
> 1) slow processor speed; 

Definitely.  Also the 16-bit architecture.  A 386sx
is closer to a 286 than a 486.  

> 2) absence of copro; 

Yes, X does use the copro for screen rendering.  
Copro emulation will be a significant burden on
your already-overworked CPU.

> 3) paltry video memory; 

I reckon your video card could be the biggest problem.
Some old video cards are very slow.  Very, very slow.

4) low network speed.  

Unlikely.  I've done lots of remote X via coax ethernet,
and network speed was never an issue.

> 3 is the only one I could really do anything about, 

Could be interesting, but we are probably flogging a
dead horse.  If I had your 386sx, I'd rip out the
motherboard and stick in one of my spare 486 boards.
But even then most people would consider it very,
very slow (but it would be a really fine Xterminal).

Cheers,
Steven

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