zhengt@MENTOR.CC.PURDUE.EDU (Tong Zheng) (11/09/90)
I have been running OpenWindows2.0 on our Sun3 50/60s for couple of weeks, and am impressed by the method of the interface and its DeskSet applications. But I found that it ran quite slow on the Sun3 50/60s I am using. There are around 8Mbytes memory on our Sun3 50/60, and I belive the OpenWindows runs via NSF. It runs so slow on Sun3/50 that I can hardly work on multiwindows on my display. It's much better on the Sun3/60, but still doesn't work fast enough against the speed of my old&good MIT's simple Wm+Xapplications interface. So, my question here is if the OpenWindows is designed for those high speed boxes, such as SPARCs, or what number of amonut of memory is good enough to run OpenWindows in normal(normal here means that most window operations should be done in couple of seconds which I haven't been able to see it on my Sun3 50/60s running OpenWindows). Does anyone out there also have this problem? If anyone has the similar story or any kind of explaination, ideas or suggestion, I would like to hear about it. You can either post on the net or send me via e-mail. Any information is appreciated. --- * * |* Zheng, Tong | ARPA: tongz@mn.ecn.purdue.edu *| |* 483 Littleton St., | UUCP: pur-ee!tongz *| |* West Lafayette, IN. 47906 | BITNET: *| |* (317)743-2239 | tongz%ecn.purdue.edu@purccvm *| |* ----------- *| |* -- student programmer, Mechanical Eng., Purdue University-- *| *----------------------------------------------------------------*
stig@iesd.auc.dk (Stig Efsen) (11/09/90)
In article <9011090400.AA22028@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> zhengt@MENTOR.CC.PURDUE.EDU (Tong Zheng) writes: Path: iesd!dkuug!sunic!uupsi!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!MENTOR.CC.PURDUE.EDU!zhengt From: zhengt@MENTOR.CC.PURDUE.EDU (Tong Zheng) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Date: 9 Nov 90 04:00:39 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 38 > I have been running OpenWindows2.0 on our Sun3 50/60s > for couple of weeks, and am impressed by the > method of the interface and its DeskSet applications. > But I found that it ran quite slow on the Sun3 50/60s > I am using. There are around 8Mbytes memory on our > Sun3 50/60, and I belive the OpenWindows runs via NSF. > It runs so slow on Sun3/50 that I can hardly work on > multiwindows on my display. It's much better on the > Sun3/60, but still doesn't work fast enough against > the speed of my old&good MIT's simple Wm+Xapplications > interface. ... Stuff deleted ... > Does anyone out there also have this problem? > If anyone has the similar story or any kind of explaination, > ideas or suggestion, I would like to hear about it. > You can either post on the net or send me via e-mail. > > Any information is appreciated. We have been abel to run the OpenWindows 2.0 for about 2 weeks, and I must say that I'm impressed with the graphical layout, especially the pushpin. HOWEVER, the OW 2.0 is the only windows system that I know of, that slows down the computing speed of a 12.5 MIPS SparcStation (which we are currently running on), to the equivalent of a COMMODORE-64. The problem with OW 2.0 is mainly the memory consumption, it wont run, without a lot of disk swapping, on a machine with only 8 Mb of memory. In most cases, 12 Mb isn't really enough, you would have to have 16 Mb. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stig Efsen | stig@iesd.auc.dk Aalborg University Center, Denmark |{uunet}...!mcvax!dkuug!iesd.auc.dk!stig Department Of Computer Science | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I know that you belive you understand what you think I said, but I am sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
brossard@sasun1.epfl.ch (Alain Brossard EPFL-SIC/SII) (11/09/90)
In article <9011090400.AA22028@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>, zhengt@MENTOR.CC.PURDUE.EDU (Tong Zheng) writes: > > I have been running OpenWindows2.0 on our Sun3 50/60s > for couple of weeks, and am impressed by the > method of the interface and its DeskSet applications. > But I found that it ran quite slow on the Sun3 50/60s > I am using. The server that comes with OpenWIndows 2.0 is definitely slower than the one from MIT. There is two solutions to this: 1- Get/use a GX accelerator board for your machine :-( 2- Use the server from MIT, with the caveat that you won't be able to use NeWs applications. BTW I know of only one usefull application that uses NeWs and that is the postcript previewer and I believe that you can have the same functionnality using ghostscript. -- Alain Brossard, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, SIC/SII, EL-Ecublens, CH-1015 Lausanne, Suisse brossard@sasun1.epfl.ch
fgreco@dprg-330.GOVt.shearson.COM (Frank Greco) (11/10/90)
> > I have been running OpenWindows2.0 on our Sun3 50/60s > > for couple of weeks, and am impressed by the > > method of the interface and its DeskSet applications. > > But I found that it ran quite slow on the Sun3 50/60s > > I am using. There are around 8Mbytes memory on our > > Sun3 50/60, and I belive the OpenWindows runs via NSF. > > It runs so slow on Sun3/50 that I can hardly work on > > multiwindows on my display. It's much better on the > > Sun3/60, but still doesn't work fast enough against > > the speed of my old&good MIT's simple Wm+Xapplications > > interface. I wouldn't suggest running OW 2.0 on a Sun3 as there is not enuf horsepower. I'd suggest using the vanilla MIT X server and run the X-flavored OpenWindows clients remotely. For the 68K family of Suns, even increasing RAM doesn't really help; there's just not enuf zip for developer usage. > > We have been abel to run the OpenWindows 2.0 for about 2 weeks, and I > must say that I'm impressed with the graphical layout, especially the pushpin. > > HOWEVER, the OW 2.0 is the only windows system that I know of, that > slows down the computing speed of a 12.5 MIPS SparcStation (which we > are currently running on), to the equivalent of a COMMODORE-64. Yow. I didn't realize that a COMMODORE-64 was so fast! ;-) [...speaking of C-64, I did benchmarks on orig 3B minicomputer many, many moons ago...its floating pt performance was *really* slower than the C-64!...] Well, I wouldn't say "computing speed" in this (SS) context. Certainly there's more swapping with an 8Mb machine. > > The problem with OW 2.0 is mainly the memory consumption, it wont run, > without a lot of disk swapping, on a machine with only 8 Mb of memory. > > In most cases, 12 Mb isn't really enough, you would have to have 16 Mb. Yes, I agree. It "feels" like 16 Mb is the minimum threshold for the usual OW 2.0 developer (running Deskset stuff, devGUIDE, framemaker, emacs, number of xterms...etc). Unless, of course, you have a CPU server that you can run your X/NeWS clients on (gosh! would this machine be called an X client server?...;-). In practice, this scenario appears to work fairly well, especially if the remote machine is a 4/490 with muchos RAM (the IPI controller doesn't hurt either)... Just as an aside, some C++ colleagues of mine recommend a bare minimum of 24 Mb for serious C++ development (they use Solbourne's OI library and OW 2.0). Frank G. If I can only get used to that darn SS keyboard...sigh...
steve@antares.anu.oz.au (Steven Ball) (11/12/90)
brossard@sasun1.epfl.ch (Alain Brossard EPFL-SIC/SII) writes: >In article <9011090400.AA22028@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>, zhengt@MENTOR.CC.PURDUE.EDU (Tong Zheng) writes: >> >> I have been running OpenWindows2.0 on our Sun3 50/60s >> for couple of weeks, and am impressed by the >> method of the interface and its DeskSet applications. >> But I found that it ran quite slow on the Sun3 50/60s >> I am using. > The server that comes with OpenWIndows 2.0 is definitely >slower than the one from MIT. There is two solutions to >this: > 1- Get/use a GX accelerator board for your machine :-( > 2- Use the server from MIT, with the caveat that you > won't be able to use NeWs applications. BTW I know > of only one usefull application that uses NeWs > and that is the postcript previewer and I believe > that you can have the same functionnality using > ghostscript. >-- >Alain Brossard, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, > SIC/SII, EL-Ecublens, CH-1015 Lausanne, Suisse >brossard@sasun1.epfl.ch You also won't be able to run SunView applications alongside your Open/X-Windows clients. This is useful to be able to do until such time as all your applications are released supporting X windows. Here at DCS, ANU, we have Interleaf and in Engineering they're using AutoCAD. These both run under SunView (only). The Interleaf Salesman says (in SalesSpeak :-) that the next version will run under X. I hope he's right! -- Steven Ball, Department of Computer Science, ANU E-mail: steve@anucsd.anu.edu.au Ph. (06) 2495147 Snail-mail: GPO Box 4, CANBERRA CITY ACT 2600, AUSTRALIA He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!