could any one tell me why is that
I test it on a equally supported cards in both
like ATI RAGE or VGA_16
I notice that X both (3.x and 4.x) is very slow concedering
the fast kernel ,the fast mem alloc, fast swap
(when I untar 2GB from the consol the HDD led hardly turn on
there were no smoke come out of the cpu like what happen when I unzip a 2MB file under windowz, it look like linux is doing the job while it's sleeping )
but when X is running the HDD led back to the usual work
---
back to the subject:
when startx is called in 3.x it just start
but 4.x it takes all the ram start swaping ...
(I notice that there are more that 1888 fonts in 1 folder
in 4.x but about 300 in 3.x this is factor so I copy the 1888 fonts to 3.x and the start of 3.x get some how slower but not that much

)

the arabic support in 3.x is not that much ,I get the arabic.xkb
but i did not know what to do with it
so I copy the xkb files from 4.x so 3.x stop give me warings about xkb but it did not work (when I press alt_shitf_tuggle it did not tuggle)
and many prog's won't work with 3.x
3.x offer faster 2D for some-cards
4.x offer fasrer 3D for some-cards
there are some cards supported in 3.x but not in 4.x
I really don't know why they remove the support for
some cards, this is not linux policy (the back word comptability)
X is a virus
---
I test it with ATI rage,on PII 400Mhz

---
note: I use the Xfree drivers not the ATI drivers

hmm i have 386mb RAM and i use XFree4.3/KDE-3.1.2, startx->desktop = ~7secs, RAM usage with kde running for 21hrs (and i compiled glibc twice) = 138mb...
and my harddisk led NEVER work during normal X operations...
my avarage cpu usuage with gkrellm2 ,xchat, mozilla 1.4 (yep, it totally owns), gaim, artsd, xmms and other small stuff = 2-7%

peace

but you never try 3.x on that machine
you have a very old 486 and try both 4.x and 3.x
to compare you have to run both othem
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my harddisk led NEVER work during normal X operations

this is because you have fast kernel & fast machine

Originally posted by ErrorMsg
this is because you have fast kernel & fast machine [/B]

Correction ErrorMSg:

That's because he has LOTS of RAM so his swap isn't used alot...

Maybe it has something to do with your configuration.
I'm using XFree 4.1.0 "Debian woody"
I tried XFree 4.3 "Xfree86.org binary package" and it was a bit slower to start
"but this may due to the fact that it is not optimised"

Some cards are not supported:
In the x 3.x days we had a separate server for each bunch of cards, Now we have
ONE server and the drivers are something like the kernel modules.
Some drivers weren't ported to x 4.x that's why.
My SiS chip wasn't supported untill the driver was ported to X 4.x
architecture.

KDE ate 138MB of RAM and you're still using it??
my basic desktop is under 32MBs

cheers,
Alaa

i have 386mb of ram and 1.5gb swap (maxtor 7200rpm udma6 hd)

peace

which means your basic desktop is eating more than a third of your rams thats alot man and it bother me sooo much.

Maybe it has something to do with your configuration.
no I configer the both well SaX (a tcl/tk from SuSe) for the 3.x
and RH Xconfigerator in 4.x

"but this may due to the fact that it is not optimised"

both are not optimz if you are talking about optmz to i586
---
I'm comparing 3.x and 4.x(not 4.x's in between)
I'm not talking about KDE/..etc just X
ie I installed the same wm .. on both (icewm...)
I'm not talking about 4.x-3.x compitability dirvers
I'm talking about a 3.x (not a 4.x with 3.x drivers like what in mandy 8.2 do)
---------------
Some cards are not supported:
I'm talking about supported things like VGA_16 or ATI
are well supported in both
---
and the drivers are something like the kernel modules

I did not use the frame buffer device I used the card driver
(This should make them both faster since I'm not using any generic things)
-----

Some drivers weren't ported to x 4.x that's why ?
My SiS chip wasn't supported untill the driver was ported to X 4.x
architecture.

i said before:
3.x offer faster 2D for some-cards
4.x offer fasrer 3D for some-cards
there are some cards supported in 3.x but not in 4.x
-
now I add
there are some cards supported in 3.x but not in 4.x and some 4.x not in 3.x
---
my point is Is X know how to make fast 2D (as they did in 3.x)
and know how to make fast 3D (as they do in 4.x)
so why don't put them to gether
-----
I think they where using a good algorithm then change to another
befor being sure that it will be better