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Tweaking XSummary:
X Speed IssuesX wasn't designed to be a speedy single user graphical environment. Development focused on portability and networking capabilities . All this explains why the graphical subsystem on Linux doesn't share the 'snappiness' of its Windows counterpart. On the same hardware, MS Windows usually is faster than X on Linux, although given the proper drivers, the race can get pretty close . What About System Speed?Slow response times in X can be the symptom of an issue with the system's configuration, be it hardware or software. If you are running your Linux system off an IDE hard drive, read the section on Performance Tuning in the article on IDE hard drives. As for hard drives themselves, I'd suggest using 7600 RPM / UDMA 66 drives for the best price / performance ratio. As for graphics cards, there isn't much of a difference in 2D speed between most models up to two years old. In 3D speed, the nVidias are currently unrivaled on Linux. Another thing to check is the list a currently running system services . Replace Drivers or XSome graphic cards vendors offer proprietary Linux drivers for their hardware. These drivers usually offer enhanced functionality and better acceleration. Likewise there are vendors who offer alternative X server implementations for Linux which might provide a speed boost, too. On the other hand, you have to address the vendor or other users when you've got problems with them, since Mandrakesoft does not support proprietary third party software. Furthermore do some third party graphics drivers do not support X servers other than XFree86, so caveat emptor. Free alternative windowing systems like berlin and ~DirectFB are in the works, but since they would require massive changes to vast amounts of current software, developers have so far been very hesitant in adopting them. The Right Window Manager / DesktopYou can regain some speed by partially reversing the deal: trade functionality for speed and use a 'thin' window manager instead of sophisticated environments like KDE or GNOME . Window managers like Blackbox, ~IceWM or Window Maker are provided on your Mandrake Linux CD, and they use only a fraction of the resources environments need. You'll find more information on them on the Desktop Resources page. But maybe you don't even have to go that far if you:
and service xfs restart when needed. Likewise use chkfontpath ––remove directory and the 'service' command to unload the directory again.
The Right ProgramsIf you use desktops like KDE or GNOME , you should prefer using the programs supplied with them, because these programs won't have to load their own libraries into system memory. Notice that KDE programs need to load a good deal of KDE 's code when you run them in an environment other than KDE . Try to avoid statically linked programs. These programs usually use graphics sets not common in the Linux world (like Motif). They can take very long to load, eat up much memory and are usually less stable than programs which rely on system libraries. Consider that console programs often can't be beaten in terms of low memory usage, stability and flexibility. They often lack intuitiveness, though. Often enough there are also lighter graphical alternatives available. Some examples:
Do not use 'top' and its graphical frontends, because their numbers are often misleading or even inaccurate. Related Resources:The comp.windows.x: Getting more performance out of X. FAQ Revision / Modified: June 20, 2002 Legal: This page is covered by the GNU Free Documentation License . Standard disclaimers of warranty apply. Copyright LSTB and Mandrakesoft. |