I'd not bother trying to run the big apps on the little machines. Just use a machine elsewhere, with sufficient CPU and memory -- you're running a full X server on the little machines, so why not take advantage of it and allow the apps to run elsewhere? For example, a colleague just put together a box with a 900MHz Athlon and 256Mb of memory for less than 300 pounds inc VAT... If you run lots of versions of KOffice on *that* sort of box, they'll share memory, so not take as much as running them on separate boxes... Remember that your CPU server needn't have much disk of its own, nor a fancy monitor... I assume all the little boxes would be using a remote file server? You would let the 'CPU server' do the same, but could also give it a local software installation, so that it won't have to go to the network to load apps. By the way, there's no reason why you can't run the window manager outside the little boxes too -- just leave them running the X server. Bob G Phil Driscoll wrote:
On the small (32Mb/200Mhz) machines I am setting up, I would like to be in a position to run KOffice programs. Certainly KWord is becoming a well featured application, and it runs fine in the small memory environment.
As you may remember, I am using IceWM in order to reduce the memory overhead of the window manager. Just starting KDE puts me into 12Mb of swap, wheras IceWM leaves me several Mb free/cache.
Now to the problem. Although KWord runs ok it takes ages to get going (40 seconds) under IceWM, although if I run it under KDE on the same machine, in spite of the crazy amount of disk sqapping going on, it actually starts up in under 10 seconds. Non-KDE applications, such as AbiWord and Gimp, start up in a couple of seconds regardless of WM.
Does anyone know what magic tricks I can perform to effect the speedup under IceWM?
Cheers -- Phil Driscoll
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