Subject: Re: Accomplishments to shoot for.
To: Drew P. Vogel <dvogel@intercarve.net>
From: Andy Isaacson <adi@hexapodia.org>
List: port-dreamcast
Date: 01/10/2002 12:38:28
On Thu, Jan 10, 2002 at 01:03:32PM -0500, Drew P. Vogel wrote:
> >  Actually, I'm told on multiple fronts that the "X is bloated" thing is
> >largely a myth - listing memory usage counts the memory apertures to the
> >graphics card's frame buffer, artificially inflating space.
> 
> My X server uses a bit over 60mb of ram. My AGP aperature size is 16mb.
> 60-16 is still 44.

I doubt it.  Read
http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/xpert/2000-September/001331.html
and run
http://web.hexapodia.org/~adi/pmap.c

before you impugn XFree86 for taking up too much memory.

Executive summary:  XFree86 uses a lot of address space to access card
registers and framebuffer space.  This shows up in "ps" listings, but
is not actually taking any physical memory.

It is entirely possible to run an X server that takes less than 1MB of
memory (using Keith Packard's Kdrive setup).  It is even possible to
have a full XFree86 server using about 2-4 MB.

-andy