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

From: Andy <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 21:16:29 -0400

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?

Thanks again, it's a nice WM, aside from the choppy windows :).

[email-masked]
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---

From: Dominik Vogt <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 12:02:06 +0200

> 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 ^_^  ^_^

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