Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU!keith
From: keith@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Keith Packard)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Tradeoffs between DEC & MIT servers
Message-ID: <9009080033.AA20488@xenon.lcs.mit.edu>
Date: 8 Sep 90 00:33:14 GMT
References: <6524@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM>
Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
Organization: The Internet
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> I've used both, although I haven't used the DEC windows server extensively, 
> and the MIT server/clients are far faster.

The DEC servers for the RISC workstations are faster than MIT R4 for almost all
rendering operations; especially with the more recent releases from DEC. 
Writing assembly code can still bring an additional measure of performance in
algorithms which are poorly optimized by even MIPS C compilers.  Also, the
small bit of display hardware (a planemask register in the PMAX, but not in the
3MAX) which is unused by the MIT server can make a substantial difference for
applications which use it.

The MIT server does have some additional features, and should be more
conservative in memory usage until DEC integrates the R4 changes.

I'd recommend using the server which provides the features which you need.

Keith Packard
MIT X Consortium