izumi@mindseye.berkeley.edu (Izumi Ohzawa) (03/22/91)
Since we upgraded to OS Release 2.0 and 68040, we have experienced strange behavior during printing, specifically during spooling PS files from some applications. Symptom is that spooling of PS output has slowed down by a factor of nearly 10 (ten), and during PS output generation other processes on the machine go down to snail's pace. Note that this slowness is NOT the normal phenomenon associated with the rasterization of bitmaps for the printer, but rather with the process of generating PostScript output from applications. There is no error as logged to /usr/adm/messages or anywhere else. And once spooling is done, the PS prints fine with no errors, and seemingly very FAST by comparison. While this is happing, "ps aux" shows that the offending app is hogging 95% of CPU time. And "Monitor" program also shows that all this time is consumed by "system". Funny thing is that this does not happen with all the programs. To date, we have noticed this with WordPerfect, and a data analysis program I have written. WriteNow, for example, can spool output at the expected speediness. All this seems to be fixed in Release 2.1. We received a NeXTstation 105MB today with 2.1 preinstalled. We configured it just like another cube which still has 2.0. The print spooling slowness is automagically fixed under 2.1 for the both programs (WordPerfect and my program). I don't know if we are the only ones who have experienced this problem with WordPerfect, and possibly with other programs. But, if you are, get the 2.1 Update Set from NeXT. The NeXT blurb gives an impression that Monochrome machine users really do not need 2.1, but don't believe that. I don't know if this problem happens with 2.0+68030 combination. It may not. However, 2.0+68040 definitely have problems, and 2.1+68040 fixes them. Izumi Ohzawa [ 大澤五住 ] USMail: University of California, 360 Minor Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 Telephone: (415) 642-6440 Fax: (415) 642-3323 Internet: izumi@violet.berkeley.edu NeXTmail: izumi@pinoko.berkeley.edu