From: jps@netcom.com (John Serafin)
Subject: Text scroll benchmark
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 92 21:54:36 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Summary: proposal for text scroll benchmark
Keywords: text scroll benchmark window


I am proposing a text scrolling benchmark.   Although most computers can
scroll text much faster than it is possible to read, scrolling delay can
be quite objectionable during interactive modem sessions.   Scrolling text
in a window in a GUI environment can take up so much CPU time that full
modem throughput is not realized.   I have made some measurements and my
results are at the end of this article.   My motherboard is an ISA 486
from Intel with an Intel chipset.   For some reason, vector oriented
graphics run faster on Taiwanese motherboards with the same SVGA card.
Therefor other people with ProDesigner IIs may get better results.

I would be particularly interested in seeing how various 8514, XGA, and TIGA
cards compare to SVGA cards and whether different types of cards are faster
for different CPUs or CPU speeds.   It should also be interesting to see how
DesqView and various UNIX workstations stack up.   Please note that font
width and height can have a dramatic effect on scrolling speed.

I have made some measurements using the first FAQ file for OS/2 2.0, it is
available on ftp-os2.nmsu.edu as faq20.txt and is 52117 bytes and 1025 lines
long.   I would find interesting data for any plain text file on the order
of 50,000 bytes and 1,000 lines, but tabulated data should all be based on
the same file.   At the start of each test, the window should be empty except
for the first line.   If the speed is improved by using a RAM disk or disk
cache, go ahead and do so.   Please mail your results to me and I will
summarize to the net.

I use 4DOS and 4OS2, so timing is easy, e.g.,

i:\>cls
i:\>timer ^ type faq20.txt ^ timer

or

[i:\]cls
[i:\]timer & type faq20.txt & timer

The characters per second are simply the number of bytes in the file
divided by the time required to type it.   To save space, I have omitted
the verticle resolution and list the number of bits per pixel rather than
the number of colors.    The Char column lists the font height and width
in pixels.

 OS    Session  Size     CPU      Video Card       Driver         CPS   Char

OS/2    OS2FS   25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  Orc VGA 1024 4   11752
OS/2    DOSFS   25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  Orc VGA 1024 4    9978
DOS     FS      25x80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs                    7777
OS/2    OS2FS   50X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  Orc VGA 1024 4    6296
OS/2    DOSFS   50X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  Orc VGA 1024 4    5748
DOS     FS      50X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs                    4942
OS/2    OS2WIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  IBM VGA  640 4    2213   8x8
OS/2    OS2WIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  Orc VGA 1024 4    2213   8x8
OS/2    DOSWIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  IBM VGA  640 4    1775   8x8
OS/2    DOSWIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  IBM VGA  640 4    1524  10x8
OS/2    OS2WIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  IBM VGA  640 4    1359  14x8
OS/2    OS2WIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  Orc VGA 1024 4    1346  14x8
OS/2    DOSWIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  Orc VGA 1024 4    1173  14x8
OS/2    DOSWIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  IBM VGA  640 4    1106  10x6
OS/2    DOSWIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  IBM VGA  640 4    1062  12x5
OS/2    OS2WIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  Orc VGA  640 8     921   8x8
OS/2    DOSWIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  IBM VGA  640 4     907  14x6
OS/2    DOSWIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  IBM VGA  640 4     890  16x5
OS/2    OS2WIN  50X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  Orc VGA 1024 4     714  14x8
OS/2    DOSWIN  50X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  Orc VGA 1024 4     660  14x8
OS/2    OS2WIN  25X80   486/33  Orchid Pro IIs  Orc VGA  640 8     541  14x8
-- 
John P. Serafin  |  Operating a bicycle is more like driving than riding.
jps@netcom.com   |  Operating an automobile is more like riding than driving.
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc