Re: [pc110] Re: Linux, X, and glibc2

Alan Cox (alan nospam at diamondage.cymru.net)
Mon, 13 Apr 1998 16:04:31 +0000 (GMT)

> 1) Most X wordprocessors do their kerning using floating-point operations. Linux emulates the FPU in the kernel if you lack one, but it's a BIG speed hit. WinWord uses integer math. So the net result is that WinWord/Win95 display characters and menues, etc., nearly instantly, while Maxwell/Linux take around 3-5 seconds PER CHARACTER.

Ugh. Tell your Xserver not to do font scaling then

> 2) More Win95/DOS games, drivers, and apps are optimized for the X86 processor. Linux apps are usually written in portable C/C++, which is not as fast.

Myth number 1. Almost nobody writes asm code any more. I've worked and still
have good contacts in the game industy. There's just a lack of good Linux
games. Its getting better however. Note btw - quake is too fp intensive
to play on the PC110 but Doom is fine.

> 3) DOS apps run faster under Win95 (which is really DOS based) than under DOSEMU under Linux.

I would expect then to be pretty close full screen.

Alan