>>1) When entering a newsgroup or pseudo-newsgroup (like a list), it can ta
>>quite a while (sometimes close to 10 seconds) before the list of msgs com
>When I enter a newsgroup with 700+ messages, it takes no more than 5
>seconds. (More like 3 to 4 seconds, actually.) This is on a 486 DX2
>The major bottleneck is file access, not CPU. When I used a 286 a long
OK, with you so far.
>time ago, entering a 500+ group took 30+ seconds with lots of disk
>thrashing. I then set up a mere 64KB or 128KB disk cache, and it went
>down to like 5 seconds or so on the same 286. Pretty amazing. Do not
I use Smartdrv.exe to provide a cache (here's the command from AUTOEXEC.BAT):
LH C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X
Hmm, perhaps the /X is slowing things down (disables write-behind caching).
I'll try it the other way. (Here I am afterwards: edited AUTOEXEC by
appending D+ to enable write-behind caching on drive D: and rebooted; report:
not much difference in time, although there's lots less "disk thrashing"; it
still takes 10+ seconds to enter a newsgroup with 1000 or more msgs).
>A minor bottleneck is the use of YARNX. I believe DOS extenders give
Yeah, but when I tried YARN.EXE, it crapped out and exited to DOS if I tried
to open a group with more than about 1000 msgs (most do).
Well, thanks for the tips.
Gerry Pareja