Re: Speed improvement of gnome-terminal

[Alan Cox <alan lxorguk ukuu org uk>]

On Gwe, 2004-10-15 at 17:02, Mark Gordon wrote:
> > vte at least already does a lot of clever render tricks. The X server
> > just doesn't know the right acceleration magic for them.
> 
> Should the focus be shifted to improving the X server?

Thats happening but will take time both to do and for the results to
filter through to the masses.

> > On a decent box quite a few things are significantyl constrained by
> > current vte performance - including kernel compiles.
> 
> Agreed, but do you really need 60 screens per second?  I was mostly
> questioning the necessity of the selected target level of performance.

If my compile is generating 60 screens a second yes. Or at least I need
it not to slow the compile.

> A solution based on video hardware would have the significant advantage
> of reducing the CPU load that scrolling incurs, which is probably the
> real problem when compiling the kernel, with the target "frame rate"
> being far less of an issue, if it's an issue at all.

A lot of older PC video hardware cannot do alpha blend. This has a very
brutal performance impact - and is one reason that turning alpha off
works so well. A lot of Xorg drivers don't support blending, and many
cannot handle blending for large offscreen objects.