Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!bionet!ames!elan!jlo
From: jlo@elan.elan.com (Jeff Lo)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Re: EROFF and math chips
Summary: FP chip only helps pic and grap, not troff, tbl or eqn.
Message-ID: <592@elan.elan.com>
Date: 26 Jul 89 17:25:35 GMT
References: <5264@garfield.MUN.EDU>
Reply-To: jlo@elan.com (Jeff Lo)
Organization: Elan Computer Group, Inc., Mountain View, CA
Lines: 18

In article <5264@garfield.MUN.EDU> charles1@garfield.MUN.EDU (Charles Loader) writes:
>We have been using EROFF for a while now and are very satisfied with it.
>We would like to get our output faster though!
>
>I an wondering if the installation of a maths coprocessor would significantly
>speed up EROFF? Were use tbl and eqn frequently.

I assume you are talking about a floating point chip.  This will not
affect the performance of eroff unless you are using pic or grap.
Troff, nroff, tbl and eqn basically use integer arithmetic only.
Pic and grap use floating point extensively.  The printer drivers
only use floating point where it is necessary for the floating point
output of pic and grap.  Therefore an FP chip will not help you
if you are only using tbl and eqn.
-- 
Jeff Lo, Elan Computer Group, Inc.
jlo@elan.com, ..!{ames,uunet}!elan!jlo
888 Villa Street, Third Floor, Mountain View, CA 94041, 415-964-2200