> > cp <500MB file> otherfile
> >
> > no delayed reactions in everything?
>
> I didn't experience it. I tried with your settings, I also have 128M RAM.
> However I did notice a strange thing:
> for various reasons on both systems I tested,, the copy goes from/to
> a different disk than the system disk. While I do the copy,
> 'systat vm' also shows some activity on the system disk, although
> disk. Are you doing the cp from/to the same disk as the system
> disk ?

i have only one disk (wd0, 20GB)


try using navigator while copying.

in 1.5.2 i was doing it often - no problems.


>
> What could cause this activity on wd0 ?

no idea. are you sure it's not something else?
your load is over 4...