Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!randvax!hearn
From: hearn@randvax.UUCP (Tony Hearn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: X11 R$ performance
Message-ID: <2911@randvax.UUCP>
Date: 1 Mar 91 18:54:17 GMT
Organization: RAND Corp., Santa Monica, Ca.
Lines: 28

We are currently running X11 R4 (from hpcvaaz) on an HP 835 and are having
performance problems.  The longer a single program communicates with a
window, the poorer the performance.  This appears to be true for all
applications.  The same appears to be true on the HP 300's.  For example,
to run xdvi on a 140k byte dvi file takes the following amount of time:


HP 835           184 seconds
HP 370           140 seconds
SPARCStation      15 seconds

What's most irritating is that the first page on the HP's really flies by
and then it runs slower and slower.  To isolate the problem, I ran xdvi on
a SUN 4/260 with output on the HP's:

SUN 4/260 -> HP 835     18 seconds   
SUN 4/260 -> HP 370     26 seconds

So it's evidently not the server's fault, rather its Xlib's problem.
Has anyone else seen this problem? Are there any simple fixes?

Thanks,
Tony Hearn

PS:  We are still running an old libX11.a, since the one from hpcvaaz is
not compatible:

-r--r--r--   1 bin      bin       481540 Oct 12  1989 /fermat/usr/lib/libX11.a