[lug] XFree86 4.1.0 slow compared to 3.3.6?

[D. Stimits]

Tkil wrote:
> 
> my box got hacked this weekend, so i took the opportunity to upgrade
> to the latest and greatest KRUD (2001-11).  most things are working
> happily, but i've noticed that many things in X seem *much* slower
> than before.  i don't have hard numbers handy, but things like
> graphics scrolling (as in mozilla) and even just moving whole windows
> (i use fvwm2, so i just move an outline -- but the repainting of the
> window in the new location is noticably slow) are both much slower.
> 
> any ideas?  the video hardware hasn't changed: it's a matrox G200 AGP
> card (16MB memory, i think).  i'm using the same resolution (a rather
> odd 1360x1024, closer to 4:3 than 1280x1024 is) as before, same
> monitor, and same mode line for that matter.
> 
> i have a few hypotheses, but i don't have a good way of checking them
> out offhand:
> 
> 1. the new X server isn't set up for acceleration properly.

Possibly, but I doubt it would make a huge difference. If you had
backing store enabled before, but not now, it'd hurt (not everyone seems
to even have the ability to enable backing store).

> 
> 2. i'm using the frame buffer x server, not the one specifically for
>    my card.

Frame buffer sucks for speed, it doesn't use hardware abilities at all I
don't think.

> 
> 3. the kernel (2.4.9-7) is slowing things down somehow (AGP not set up
>    correctly, DRI weirdness, who knows).

2.4.x can eat more ram and end up swapping out some things. Check to see
how swap is.

> 
> 4. the new X is much more sensitive to screen size than before, and
>    can only accellerate on the 256 block boundaries.

Possible, doubtful.

> 
> 5. screen depth of 24 is causing issues; maybe i should try 32 again.

Not likely, I think newer servers tend to handle it better, not
worse...but you could try it, framebuffer might take a worse beating
here.

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com

> 
> does anyone have other suggestions?  it's not too bad yet, but it is
> slow enough to be very noticable.
> 
> thanks,
> t.
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