[tex-live] Re: [tug-board] Any news of DVDs ?
Hans Hagen
pragma at wxs.nl
Fri Jan 27 09:43:34 CET 2006
Peter Flynn wrote:
> Volker RW Schaa wrote:
>
>> Phil,
>>
>>> Philip TAYLOR wrote:
>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Ah, I sometimes forget that not yet everyone in the world has
>>>> forsaken VMS for Windows :-))) Windows XP/PRO, 3.2MHz, 2Gb,
>>>> unfragmented discs with 2 spindles and 8 x 32Gb partitions, all
>>>> virtually empty.
>>>
>> I think the reason for that endless installation is the speed of
>> your computer. Nowadays 3.2MHz isn't enough to run Windows :-)
>
>
> It could also be the way Windows seems to copy files. I know it was
> apparent in the days of MS-DOS and Win95, and I was told it had all
> changed in 2k/NT/XP, but every time I see a big install on Windows,
> it seems to spend an inordinate amount of time just copying. Is it
> still using some stupid DOS copy code underneath?
there can be several reasone:
(1) xp uses a journaling file system (and unless you use xfs or reiser 4
on unix, journaling slows down there as well)
(2) all filenames have to be uncoded
The unicode aspect is also the reason why kpsewhich on windows is slow:
after loading the database all names need to be converted to unicode and
comparison be done at that level; this is why on windows kpse is a
deamon which then makes it fly (esp when system calls are made from tex
to other tex related programs)
Hans
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