From:	Weiqi Gao <weiqigao AT a DOT crl DOT com>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: slow startup on less (lss332b.zip)
Date:	Sat, 01 Nov 1997 08:45:12 -0600
Organization:	Spectrum Healthcare Services
Lines:	39
Message-ID:	<345B4078.684016B4@a.crl.com>
References:	<199710312143 DOT PAA28683 AT manatee DOT dms DOT auburn DOT edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host:	a116014.stl1.as.crl.com
Mime-Version:	1.0
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

Darrel Hankerson wrote:
> 
> Startup time = time from pressing Enter to a change on screen.  It
> takes several seconds, and is same on repeated runs.  There are no
> network disks (although machine is tcp/ip connected).
> 
> The machine is a 486-66 16meg which has been used for Linux for some
> time, but only recently for testing Win-95.  No special hardware other
> than a Kingston ethernet board.  IDE CDROM, no SCSI, S3-801 video at
> 640x480x256.
> 
> less works fine on Win-3.1 (on a different machine), and from the
> Linux dosemu environment (with DOS 5) on the Win-95 machine.
> 
> I thought perhaps this was a known bug.  I'll look for another
> Win-95 machine for testing.  Thanks for your note.

I use less all day long on Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 machines and the
response has always been instantaneous.

To try to solve your problem, I would list out ALL the tasks your
computer has to perform between the time you pressed ENTER and the time
the screen change occurs:

1. Parse the command line - Did you issue "less *" in a directory with
20 million files?
2. Find the executable - Do you have CD-ROM directories in front of your
DJGPP directory in your PATH?  Especially CD-ROM directories on the
outer rim of the CD.
3. Get EXE information - Did you compress your drive in any way?
4. Load the program - How much free memory do you have before you
started less?  Does Windows 95 need to swap some huge executables out
(like a Microsoft Exchange)?
5. DJGPP startup - Shouldn't be any problems here.
6. Getting at the file to view - How fragmented is your hard disk?

--
Weiqi Gao
weiqigao AT a DOT crl DOT com

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