> By any chance, do you have "ls" aliased to something like "ls -F", or

Actually, I have ``lk'' aliased to ``ls -aF''.


> are you using something like the "color ls"?  Either of those will
> cause ls to "stat" every file in the directory, which might cause some
> seeking all over the disk.
>
> That alias would likely not be in effect in single-user mode and might

It's only in effect on my ``rkr'' normal account, and maybe my ``rauch''
sandbox account.

I don't think that this explains everything, though (maybe I haven't
mentioned these):

(a) I'm pretty sure that I've tried plain ``ls'' (e.g., from root
logins, when I plan on doing something like building a new kernel).  root
doesn't have that alias, so I have to use ls.

(b) It doesn't begin to explain why things like starting X or Navigator
take ~10 times as long to do on my Athlon (where I'm having these
problems) as on my (much slower) laptop.


There is definitely something odd about the disk performance.  I
appreciate the tip re. the ls -F option, but...there's something deeper
afoot here.


  ``I probably don't know what I'm talking about.'' --rauch@math.rice.edu