Date: Thu, 05 Aug 1999 14:04:19 -0700 From: Kent Stewart <kstewart@3-cities.com> To: Chris Fedde <cfedde@fedde.littleton.co.us> Cc: Evren Yurtesen <yurtesen@ispro.net.tr>, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: X under FreeBSD and Linux Message-ID: <37A9FC53.FB575343@3-cities.com> References: <199908051846.MAA93853@fedde.littleton.co.us>
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Chris Fedde wrote: > > Hi, > > My comments are mixed in below... > > Evren Yurtesen writes: > Hello, > > I have a p200MMX with 24MB RAM and S3 Virge 2MB graphics adapter. > I use both FreeBSD and Windows on the same machine. > > But as far as I have found out Windows is working far faster than > FreeBSD. > > For example I run Netscape on Windows and FreeBSD (even the same > version) > and FreeBSD is getting frozen for a while and using hard drive so much > (possible swapping?) and after it everything is working slowly, and even > > With netscape running start "vmstat 5" in a separate terminal window. > When "FreeBSD is getting frozen" do you see much activity? That can > indicate a memory shortage. > > [...] > One of my friend told me that his Redhat Linux was working far faster > than Windows in his machine. Can this be true? > > Sure. Unix systems work best when there is enough core memory for > all active processes and their data. If you are seeing lots activity > in vmstat as you use your system then I'd say you are short of > memory. Using "ps -auxww | less" and looking at the RSS column I > calculate that my Xserver is using 18Meg and Netscape is using > 13Meg or 31Meg. If this was your case then your system will page > every time netscape wants to draw something on the window. > > Get as much memory as you can afford. If you have to choose get > lots of slow cheep memory rather than a small amount of fast > memory. I remember reading that 48 MB was a suggested minimum for memory on a system running x-windows. I run Netscape on a Celeron 433 running FreeBSD with 64MB and on P200 with 96MB running Win 98. These two systems sit side by side and share a monitor and etc. I get the x-outline on FreeBSD in 2-3 seconds. It has drawn the outline and is downloading my home page in around a second after I finish locating the outline. It is around 10-12 seconds on the P-200 before the outline is finished. When I use one of my other computers, which is a P-II 400 with a 128MB and running NT, Netscape has the outline in 6 secs. It has to load a lot of junk and that takes time. Netscape simply doesn't come up quickly on any of my Windows systems because of the plug-ins I am adding but it also doesn't cause swapping either. > > by the way what can be wrong with my computer? > > The linux vs. windows vs. freebsd argument is a red herring. Both > Linux and FreeBSD will have poor performance when they are starved > for memory. Windows is performing better in your case because > netscape esentially has the whole computer to itself when it is > up. The sweet spot on Win 9x is 64MB and anything less than that can cause severe swapping. You have to add up all of the active tasks and see what your minimum configuration is. Remember that 10ms memory (disk) is pretty slow when compared to PC100 (7/8ns) memory. You can see what your windows usage is with the system monitor in the accessories. I would expect that the memory requirement on x is using everything that the system can provide it with and then demands more, much more. Kent > > Evren Yurtesen > yurtesen@ispro.net.tr > __ > Chris Fedde <cfedde@fedde.littleton.co.us> > 303 773 9134 > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message -- Kent Stewart Richland, WA mailto:kstewart@3-cities.com http://www.3-cities.com/~kstewart/index.html SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) @ Home http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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