Re: Applix for Alpha musings ... (A mini-mini review of sorts, and a request for tips)

[Charles Taylor <charlet hubcap clemson edu>]

[Description of spreadsheet test file]

> I'd love to get a copy of this file (send via private e-mail) that we can
> take a look at, pass on to our filters developers, etc.  We continue to be
> working to improve our filters, so any more data points (pun intended :)
> can only help.

I'll work up a similar set (Excel 97 workbook and a corresponding Applix
workbook) sometime this week for you that should demonstrate the
importation (and sluggishness) issues.

FWIW, I tried Star Office 5.0 on Intel on a similar Excel workbook and
it simply locked up.  Applix's filters at least gave me data.  Don't
know how SO 5.1/Intel stacks up yet.

Since last night / this morning, I've made some changes to my
machine.  I upgraded the memory to 96 megs (from 80).  Swapping didn't
seem to be an issue before, but I'll check again.

One thing that helped a good bit was (as was previously mentioned by
another poster) switching out the video card to a card that worked
with a decent X server.  The problem that grid lines in
spreadsheets sometimes are drawn outside the spreadsheet window
appears to be a problem with the XF86_S3V server, as it's also
reproducible with Applixware 4.37 (I think ... whatever the last
version of Redhat-sold Applixware was :) ) on an Intel box using the
same server.

> I noticed the Alpha's sluggishness in general during development, and I
> somewhat suspect the compiler as being less than optimal at this point in
> time

I think the majority of the list would agree with the compiler not yet
being up to speed.  Would forcing use of the Compaq math libraries or
libffm (using LD_PRELOAD) help any?  I notice that applix parts are
linked with libm.

> -- I am comparing performance with Applixware running on a Linux/Intel
> box.  But nothing like you've mentioned.

I don't have an Intel box of comparable speed to my Alpha (my
Intel/Linux box is a Celeron 300A OC'd to 450 - much faster than this
AS200 4/233), but I'm going to try to work up a similar dataset in my
old version of Applix at home (couldn't afford at this point to
buy the new Intel version *and* the Alpha version) and see how the
much faster machine chews on the data.  

>  Still, I'll pass on the word to
> our spreadsheet developers so they can try to attack the issues you've
> mentioned.

Thanks.  At any rate, at least I can process data now at my desk
rather than at the (overcrowded) data collection station.

-- 
Charles E. "Rick" Taylor, IV <charlet@clemson.edu>
http://orangesherbert.ces.clemson.edu
"We got the MRxL, and you got none!"