[newbie] Mandrake 7.0 KDE Slow on Cyrix MII-300

[Richard Smart (Real Time Technology Group) 0171 542 5212 2 Fl / Maple House]

Mandrake 7.0 KDE runs slow on the following PC config: 

 Processor:     Cyrix MII - 300 - 128Mb
 Video:         SIS 5597/5598 (Uses 4Mb of main memory) using SVGA server
 Swap file:     250Mb

Have run many (text/GUI) installs, each of which produced same performance
problem after starting KDE. Installs options ranged from default settings to
disabling all selectable start-up services.

Running the GUI process monitor showed a high CPU usage. However, running 'top'
in a KDE terminal window showed no high CPU (top was highest) but memory used
was at 64Mb with a 40Mb cache. Therefore the problem appears to be related to
apps running from the KDE desktop.

When KDE was started from the command line, the monitor quickly went from
standard X Windows grey colour to blue and remained in that state for a few
seconds. The monitor then quickly went blank (black) and back to blue again for
a further 30ish seconds before displaying the KDE desktop. When loaded, the
desktop menu was very responsive but it took ages to run anything from it. Here
are some examples:

   20 seconds for KprocessMonitor;
   10 seconds for a terminal window

Have also done KDE installs using default settings on slower Pentium Pro 200
and IBM 300 - both were OK. Apart from the processor, my PC differs from these
by having a TV tuner card (not used), a motherboard soundcard (which only works
after running sndconfig) and a Rockwell compatible modem card (not setup) on
COM3.

Has anyone experience similar issues running Mandrake 7 KDE on a Cyrix PC?

Cheers

Richard

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