Why is FreeBSD so SLOW?

[rob evers]

Jalle wrote:
> Hello FreeBSD friends!
> 
> First of all, I just want to say that this mail is not meant to offend 
> anyone, and that it is a technical oriented mail, only with a tint of 
> "computer theology". I don't wish to start another one of those "holy 
> wars"-threads (FreeBSD vs Linux vs Windows kinda), I just wan't to sort 
> some stuff out.
> 
> I've been using FreeBSD for a few years now and I like the freedom and 
> control it gives me. After running it alongside Win2k (which, frankly, 
> is a great OS) for several years I finally switched to FreeBSD only, no 
> more dual-boot! =o)
> 
> Now, everyone says that FreeBSD is supposed to be so fast and reliable. 
> Reliable, I fully agree! But fast? No, it's actually much slower on my 
> machine than any Windows distro ever was! Sure, only running in text 
> mode is fast as hell, but no good for everyday use. I've tried several 
> WMs and Desktop Suites, like Enlightenment (e16 and e17), Blackbox, 
> Gnome2, KDE3 etc. They're great n' all, but as soon as I switch to 
> graphical UI everything slows down to a snail's pace! Even a simple 
> terminal is slow.
> 
> I've played around with Linux a couple of times, and with several 
> flavors (Mandrake, Debian, RedHat, Gentoo), and they where all MUCH 
> faster using a graphical interface than FreeBSD!
> 
> I have a Pentium III 450 MHz with 320 MB RAM, a SoundBlaster AWE 64 Gold 
> and a Matrox G400 MAX video card. I know, this is not top-of-the-line 
> hardware, but that doesn't mean that it should run three or four (or 
> more) times faster under Linux, right?
> 
> So, to the point! I like FreeBSD (I prefer using FBSD before Windows or 
> Linux), and I would like to keep using it. But if I can't watch a movie 
> or use a decent file manager I will have to switch to Linux. Oh yeah, 
> BTW, is there really NO WAY of getting simultaneous sounds in FreeBSD?!? 
> I think that's kinda crappy. I mean MS did it, why can't we?
> 
> Finally the QUESTION: Why is my FreeBSD box so slow? I figure, if 
> FreeBSD in general was so slow, then noone would really use it. Are 
> there any "standard tricks" in the book that speeds up a slow X server 
> or WM, or just FreeBSD in general?
> 
> Humbly and with Best Regards!
> /Jalle
> 
> PS. If you feel an urge to hit down some nasty words in a mail and send 
> it to this babbling MS-loving idiot, please read the very top section in 
> my mail again. Technical answers and explanations only, pleeaase! DS.
> 
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Hi Jalle,

I think you need to set up DRI (direct rendering infrastructure)
http://people.freebsd.org/~anholt/dri/
Here is usefull information for DRI on FreeBSD

good luck

Rob

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