To:	pgf AT Cayman DOT COM
Cc:	DJGPP List <djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu>
Subject:	Re: wow. is it _always_ this slow?
Date:	Thu, 03 Feb 1994 12:09:58 -0800
From:	Darryl Okahata <darrylo AT hpnmhjw DOT sr DOT hp DOT com>

> is there likely something wrong with my config?  i have an HP OmniBook 300
> (4Meg of RAM (20Mhz AMD386SLX); not everyone's idea of a big powerful

     No.  The problems are:

1. You only have 4MB RAM.  Because of this, DJGPP is probably swapping a
   LOT (lots and lots of disk accesses).

2. DJGPP is really significantly slower than the WATCOM compilers.  The
   basic reason for this is that DJGPP is a multi-pass compiler, which
   requires that multiple programs be started (one after the other) to
   do a compile.  The WATCOM compiler has fewer passes (fewer programs
   to run).

3. You're probably using the GO32 version of the gcc driver program,
   which is the program that starts all of the other programs (C
   preprocessor, code generator, etc.) that is needed to compile a file.
   Unfortunately, the GO32 version swaps itself out to disk EACH TIME
   one of the other programs (C preprocessor, code generator, etc.) is
   run.  This swapping of itself out to disk REALLY slows things down.
   There is a "real mode" version of the gcc driver program, one that
   doesn't swap itself out to disk, which helps to solve this problem.
   I've forgotten what .ZIP file it's in, though.

     -- Darryl Okahata
	Internet: darrylo AT sr DOT hp DOT com

DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion or policy of Hewlett-Packard or of the
little green men that have been following him all day.

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