multiple gettys, why use them?

[Darren Friedlein]

In article <6449 at chinet.UUCP> les at chinet.UUCP (Leslie Mikesell) writes:
>In article <631 at bacchus.UUCP> darren at bacchus.UUCP (Darren Friedlein) writes:
>
>>I don't like Office (UA) becuase the windows are big and clumsy, it takes up
>>lots of memory, slows the system to a screaching halt (I only have 1meg now),
>>and is in general a poor user interface.  [oh no, now I've done it, millions
>>of UA fans after me :-].
>
>Do you have any timing numbers to back this up?  I normally run ua at the
>console, but only to open up a bunch of full-screen windows (a built-in
>option in 3.51, easy enough under 3.5).  For some things I use windy
>to give the borderless windows a name so I can find them easily from the
>window screen.  This doesn't "seem" slow at all with 3.51 and 2 meg memory,
>but I would like to know if there is anything to gain by using multiple
>gettys.    BTW, I have been able to compile GNU emacs with HAVE_SYSVIPC
>defined so that you can run emacs in server mode in one window, then
>start emacsclient in another and edit by jumping to the window with
>the running emacs (which will have your file loaded by the time you
>get there).
>
>Les

2 meg of memory is better than 1.  If you have two meg, less gets
swapped out.  Less disk access equals higer speed.  I also have a data
line w/ users, uucp and bbs access to slow things down a little more.
(throw in a couple terminals...)  This is not necessarily the problem
though.  When I say the windows are slow, I mean they are sluggish in
coming up, erasing and re-sizing.  If I'm using a window interface, I
like to have things happen quickly.  Compare this to a MACII, Sun, etc.
and you'll see what I mean.

Going to multiple gettys doesn't mean you stop using UA.  Using multiple
gettys just gives you several logins.  You can run UA in every one if you
want (as long as you don't use more than 16 windows).

The windows on the UNIXpc aren't that bad - the borders are a little too
big for me, though (I need 80 columns) and they are slow.  UA is what
I really dislike - mainly because I can get things done MUCH faster in the
shell than pointing and clicking around UA.  Without windows, multiple
gettys wouldn't work either!

The main difference between a UAish window interface and a multiple-getty
interface is that when you go from one window to another in UA, the
parent window blocks untill the child window is killed.  With multiple-
gettys (ies?) each window can take user input and run programs
simultaneously.

Oh, one question I meant to include in my first message - What problems
have people been having with multiple-getttys?  I've been running 3-6
gettys since the idea was introduced and haven't run into any problems.
The status bar has trouble figuring out who you are (for the mail icon
and soforth) but I don't use that, so it never really concerned me...

-darren
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