heiser@tdw201.ed.ray.com (08/29/90)
I think I recall seeing a message someplace saying something to the effect that the 80387 math co-processor is useful when running X-windows. Is this true? Does X do some kind of mathematical computations that would benefit from the 387? How about Unix itself? (Esix)? bill -- Bill Heiser Work: heiser@tdw201.ed.ray.com {decuac,necntc,uunet}!rayssd!tdw201!heiser Home: Bill.Heiser@f240.n322.z1.fidonet.org (Fidonet 1:322/240) The Think_Tank BBS (508)655-3848 1200/2400/9600-HST Other: 75106.2332@compuserve.com Other: heiser@world.std.com (Public Access Unix)
shwake@raysnec.UUCP (Ray Shwake) (09/04/90)
heiser@tdw201.ed.ray.com writes: >I think I recall seeing a message someplace saying something to the >effect that the 80387 math co-processor is useful when running >X-windows. Is this true? Does X do some kind of mathematical >computations that would benefit from the 387? How about Unix itself? >(Esix)? Attached are a response received when I posted a similar inquiry some time back... From ka3ovk.uucp!media!uunet!ism780c!ico!scottw Wed May 16 23:05:15 1990 From: Scott Wiesner <media!uunet!ism780c!ico!uunet!ico.isc.com!scottw@ka3ovk.UUCP> With the current release of X, a math coprocessor will help arc and wide line drawing. However, with the upcoming 1.2 release of X, we have incorporated the arc and wide line code from X11R4 which is almost entirely integer based. This eliminated much of the floating point from the X server. Various X clients may or may not be helped by a floating point processor. Most of the VGA's are the same =/- 20% or so when in 16 color mode. With the 1.2 release, we'll also be supporting 256 color VGA, which has a more noticable difference between different boards. You definately want a 16 bit board, and the newest boards from STB, Orchid, and CompuAdd are the fastest I've seen for 256 color support. Better still is the 8514. I've talked about it before on usenet, so I won't go into much detail, but it's sufficient to say that it's a very significant performance improvement for just those areas that need it most: blitting, rectangle painting, etc. Scott Wiesner Interactive Systems X Development Group