[313] in netbsd-help mailing list archive
Re: Xload , delay, & enscript..
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Greg Hudson)
Mon Sep 4 16:37:05 1995
To: ilin@MIT.EDU
Cc: netbsd-help@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 04 Sep 1995 16:20:20 EDT."
<9509042020.AA03781@m1-142-21.MIT.EDU>
Date: Mon, 04 Sep 1995 16:36:45 EDT
From: Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU>
> There is one thing I feel strange--> after I execute a program, of
> course the system load will increase, and I can see it climbs up,
> maybe to several horizontal levels. After the program is done, it
> falls down, however, it remains in some higher horizontal level
> instead of the original level before I execute it.
This isn't normal; it might indicate that the program you're running
is leaving some process running in the background. I don't know of
any particular programs that do this, though.
> Also, when I execute 2 programs in the background, I found I have
> trouble in moving the mouse, everything delays,(delays so much that
> I feel incomfortable)
This usually means you're using enough memory that your system is
spending a lot of its time swapping to disk instead of running code.
The only ways to avoid this are to buy more memory, or try not to use
as much memory. (For instance, if you have an X background, or if you
always keep a copy of Netscape running, you could try not doing those
things.)
> When I do the same thing on a DEC 5000, it does not delay so much as
> in my P75.
The DEC 5000s on Athena have 24MB of memory, so they tend to be able
to run more programs before they start swapping. The Sparc 5s and
SGIs have 32MB of memory, so they can do even more.
> Compiled by gcc, the program running in my P75 is about twice faster
> than running in DEC 5000, does this mean the gcc in my P75 is better
> than the gcc in DEC 5000?
No, your program is just running faster on the P75. A Pentium can
generally outrun the MIPS R2000 CPU used in the Decstation Maxines,
although it's probably not twice as fast.
> Finally, I found I can't use enscript to print. The lpr works
> fine. Could someone tell me how to use enscript in NetBSD so that I
> may print out some 2sides with 2 pages per side? Thanks.
You can use nenscript from the SIPB locker; it's mostly compatible
with enscript.
