Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!oliveb!amdahl!JUTS!duts!kls30 From: kls30@duts.ccc.amdahl.com (Kent L Shephard) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: NeXT Press Release Message-ID: Date: 17 Apr 91 13:56:26 GMT References: <2361@pdxgate.UUCP> <11053@uwm.edu> Sender: netnews@ccc.amdahl.com Reply-To: kls30@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Kent L. Shephard) Distribution: comp Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA Lines: 80 In article <11053@uwm.edu> gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu writes: >From article <2361@pdxgate.UUCP>, by hal@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (Aaron Harsh): >> I don't know how you got this idea into your head that you'll be twiddling your >> thumbs while you waiting for a block of text to pop up, but it's completely >> false. It probably does take longer to draw a page of text, but it's very >> hard for a human being to tell the difference between 10ms and 100ms. > >I didn't say it was THAT slow, please don't put words into my mouth. >I just was saying it adds to the overall sluggishness of the NextStep >system. I think it would be better if it were more responsive, and >there isn't much that DP is good for. Not to make it worth slowing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Next time you need true WYSIWYG tell me that DP has no uses. Try printing on an Amiga or Mac and tell me it is WYSIWYG. >down the whole system. There are things that you NEED to do with a >windowing system that would not need DP, and if you could turn it off, >you'd speed up the windowing system just enough so that it wouldn't >feel like spongy cheese. Try any windowing system on a 17" monitor. Drawing 1 million pixels is takes up CPU time even on a SUN. > >> So what you're saying is that unless you're running video games in the >> background or furiosly waving your windows around the screen, your programs >> won't be slowed down by Display Postscript. > >So you're trying to tell me that video games and waving windows around >are the only thing that takes up display time??? Is that it? What >about things like screen-redraws of graphics. I'm not talking bitmap. >With the amiga, you can optimize your own routines. With DP, you can >only hope that it's optimized, which it isn't. Take a look at the >code sometime. > >> >> Try comparing Quickdraw (not interpreted) on a 25mhz Mac IIfx agains DPS on >> an '030 NeXT. The Amiga is faster than either one of thses because it has >> special graphics hardware. The Mac is not much faster than a NeXT. For a ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Have you ever worked on a Mac with a large screen, definitely slower than a NeXT. Screen updates are slow as molasses in winter. >> ~10% speed decrease, you get a graphics environment that's powerful, easy to >> program, and consistent across devices. >> >> Aaron Harsh >> hal@eecs.cs.pdx.edu > >And look how much smaller QuickDraw is compared to DP. And I never >said I liked the speed of QuickDraw, either. But it's faster than DP. >If it was DP, I doubt it would run much at all on the 68000 plus. >QuickDraw on a 68000 is faster than DP on a 68040. Says something, >don't it? Try Quickdraw on a SE or any Mac for that matter, but with a 17" monitor with resolution > 1120x832 and see what the response is.Slooooooow. What you people fail to realize is that unless you are comparing systems with the same on screen resolution you are comparing apples and oranges. I bet an Amiga slows down when it has to update a screen with 1 million pixels. Face the facts, on large screens, windowing sucks up CPU cycles no matter what platform. Also Unix has overhead that slows the CPU. So compare an Amiga or Mac running Unix and a windowing system and see what happens, slower still. >-- >- gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu - | IBM's brain is on overload, and Apple > Gregory Block | needs to be potty-trained. C= may not >Toaster+Amiga=The One True DTV | be marketing geniuses, but theyre the >________________________________| best engineers I've seen... -Wubba -- /* -The opinions expressed are my own, not my employers. */ /* For I can only express my own opinions. */ /* */ /* Kent L. Shephard : email - kls30@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com */