NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/comp/text/tex/15427

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-25 | 1.7 KB

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From: [e-mail] (David Klepacki)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: TeX on RS/6000 machines
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 11:15:52 -0500
Organization: Info-Tex<==>Comp.Text.Tex Gateway
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Malki writes:

> We run TeX here on a variety of machines including an assortment of
> different Unix boxes.  TeX running on our RS/6000 machines no matter
> what model they are (we have 320, 550, and 970) runs considerably slower
> than on the other Unix machines.  It takes quite a while until the
> banner line appears and it seems that the whole file is processed slower.
> Has anyone experienced similar behavior and if so, is there a fix?
> Thanks for any help.
> Malki

It is hard to say what your bottleneck is without knowing your system
configuration.  As a first guess, assuming you are using the RS/6000
in stand-alone fashion, the problem might be that the system
buffer cache has not been tuned properly.  The default for this parameter
is only 20 pages (80KB).  In almost all cases, this parameter should
be increased to something more substantial (like 1000 pages).  The easiest
way to do this is to use smit (System Environments; Change/Show
Characteristics of Operating System), as root of course.

If you are remotely accessing the RS/6000 machines, the problem could
be with your network configuration, or your X terminal configurations.
If you are using AFS, try increasing its cache size.


David Klepacki
IBM Corp.
Internet:  [e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]