Re: FVWM: FVWM2 (2.4.0) Slow vs. WMaker

From: Dominik Vogt <fvwm_at_fvwm.org>
Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 12:02:06 +0200

On Wed, Oct 24, 2001 at 09:16:29PM -0400, Andy wrote:
> First, let me say that I really like FVWM2 and the fairly simple rc-file
> syntax. It's really nice to be able to set things quickly and easily to
> work the way I like. It's also nice to be able to fit my WM on a floppy.
>
> That's it for my compliments, now on to my complaints ;)
>
> This may be a small thing to some, but it is important when I've set up
> my machine and want to use it as a desktop Linux box(and get jealous
> when using MSWindows). One thing I've noticed is that my windows are
> pretty slow to draw when I move them around (I use opaque windows, and
> no icons, just a large (1-2MB) .xpm for a background and a desktop at
> 1600x1200). However, the one that is very quick is XMMS. Since I've got
> DRI working, as well, OGL stuff is fast, as well, but, AFAIK, there
> aren't any OGL window managers. I thought this was curious. One friend
> of mine suggested that it was because XMMS uses a small window. However,
> when I move, say, an xload window (a small one) it moves choppily, too.
> At first, I just chalked this all up to X being slow. However, today, I
> tried something different. I installed an older version of WindowMaker
> (whatever came with Slackware 7.1... 0.62.1) on my box and got it
> working. To my surprise, the windows (using opaque moving) moved around
> significantly smoother than FVWM2. So, my question is: why is
> WindowMaker faster than FVWM2 at redrawing windows? Can I make FVWM2
> faster at redrawing windows? Do other people notice this, as well?

One reason is that fvwm does a lot of things during window motion.
You can speed this up by not using some of the functionality:

 - Turn off SnapGrid and SnapAttraction
 - Use simple window decorations without gradients or pixmaps
 - Use only one page per desk (DesktopSize 1x1)

Another reason can be backing storage and saving window contents
obscured by other windows. If both are turned off, X has to do a
lot of extra drawing, but it actually depends on the video card
(and the applications) if the additional drawing is faster or
slower than caching the contents (because reading from the video
card is usually much slower than writing to it). Try if either

  Style * BackingStore, SaveUnder

or

  Style * BackingStoreOff, SaveUnderOff

helps.

Bye

Dominik ^_^ ^_^

-- 
Dominik Vogt, email: d.vogt_at_lifebits.de
LifeBits Aktiengesellschaft, Albrechtstr. 9, D-72072 Tuebingen
fon: ++49 (0) 7071/7965-0, fax: ++49 (0) 7071/7965-20
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Received on Thu Oct 25 2001 - 05:02:16 BST

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