[ltp] two questions -- 600E / X / RAM

[Thomas Hood]

On Thu, 2002-04-18 at 08:33, Tod Harter wrote:
> I've run KDE on machines with as little as 32 MB. That WAS really painfull. 
> 64 is better, 96 seems OK if you don't run certain HOG programs like 
> Netscape/Mozilla. I'd say if you are up at 128 or higher you probably aren't 
> too much bound by memory for performance with KDE, though with 128 you will 
> still want to watch running too much extra stuff. 
> 
> I think even on the fastest machines KDE can sometimes seem a bit slow. Same 
> for Gnome.

True.

> The fact is, despite all RMS and these guys protestations to the 
> contrary, commercial software vendors like MS have a huge advantage in 
> performance tuning their stuff.

True.

> For instance MS VC++ 6.x generates machine code that is between 130% and 200% 
> more efficient than GCC 2.9.x does. That means that even with code that is 
> identical in basic efficiency, Windows will be almost 2x as zippy on any 
> given hardware. Drivers are almost always better for windws as well, since 
> vendors actually care about it. 

Well, hopefully gcc will continue to improve.
As for drivers ... where Linux _has_ a driver, and it's open source,
it is usually no worse than the Windows driver.

> In addition OSS projects just don't focus on speed and efficiency. KDE 3.0 
> has a more optimized startup sequence for instance, and it gains like 200% in 
> speed on startup over 2.2.2, with just minor optimization. MS can spend a 
> billion $ on optimizing how their desktop starts up. Its a sad fact, but KDE 
> is a bit slow, and a bit unstable, and so is Gnome, and its not likely ever 
> to change.

Nonsense.  KDE and GNOME have come a long way in a short time,
and will continue to improve in all respects, even after Microsoft
has ceased to exist ... because we have the source.

--
Thomas Hood




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