>Confusing observation: >I am using a Pentium II 350 MHz with 128MB RAM, with windows98 for >intensive algorithms (coherent integration)--aprox. 175 billion calculations >per work unit. (The [EMAIL PROTECTED] project, a fascinating project itself.) > On my system average CPU work time is over 40 hrs per unit. >I have noticed that platforms using : i386-pc-linux-gnu-gnulibc2.1 are >averaging 18 hrs per unit!
Well, that's Linux! Win98 isn't much on efficient use of system resources. >Question 1: How can linux help a CPU perform these calculations at twice the >speed, or am I missing something here? See above. >Question 2: Considering my above statement concerning my ignorance of OS's, >should I even be considering abandoning windows in favor of linux ? Depends. Can you afford to buy a second computer- a used 486 for a couple hundred dollars? Then, yes. If ou only have one computer, and one hard drive- it's going to be a great deal harder to learn. I started by putting a second hard drive in my main machine- great for installing and learning the basics (though I'm beginning to get really pissed off about ppp.....) and I don't have to worry about file system integrity between the two systems. I'm in the proccess of putting together a couple of 486 boxes and a used sparc-1, so it'kk get a great deal easier. (Namely I can reach all the online resources through the win bax without booting from os to os.) But- that is the best answer, IMO. Snag a second hand obsolete computer and start setting up Linux. You'll get all the help you need through people's web pages and this list. Koyote. >Any help greatly appreciated-- >Art Brown > > > >-- >Unsubscribe? mail -s unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] < /dev/null > >