[Virtualacorn-list] Slow computer response

[ATimbrell at aol.com]

In a message dated 02/10/2009 20:10:34 GMT Daylight Time,  
briancarroll at f2s.com writes:

>> When VRPC is running, at the lower righthand corner of  the
>> enclosing frame(*) there's a display of how fast the  emulation
>> is running (Mips etc). It's worth getting used to keeping  an
>> eye on that.  If it's a good high number you know that  the
>> VRPC application is getting sufficient cpu time etc  from
>> Windows; if it's a low figure then nothing will work  properly.

>Useful tip, thanks.  What do you regard as a 'good  high number'?
>I generally get 1.00 to 3.00Mips on a similar machine  (desktop)
>to Keith's, with RISC OS 6.10. VirtualRPC is not  particularly
>slow but I dislike using it because the pointer is quite  'sticky'
>compared with the Windows pointer.
 
Sorry I must have missed an earlier post.
 
I think it's worth me correcting this. Whilst the Mips figure shown  in
the bottom right of the VirtualRPC window does indeed show the
current (rough) speed of the ARM software processor - it does not
show the CPU time that VRPC is getting from Windows.
 
The figure shows what VirtualRPC is currently using, so in fact
the figure is the exact opposite. It's not what Windows is giving,
it's what VirtualRPC is asking for.
 
It is quite normal for this figure to drop to almost nothing (for  example
when typing in a word processor). This is because of the VirtualAcorn
power management kicking in. This throtles back the usage of the real 
CPU. So VirtualRPC just claims what it needs for whatever RISC OS 
is currently doing.
 
So RISC OS will quite happily "work properly" with a low Mips figure.
 
If you really want to see what CPU resources any VirtualAcorn is
getting - then you need to look at the Windows Task Manager
Processes Tab. If VirtualRPC is not getting enough CPU time
then that will be because something else is using it. This can
be identified from the Processes tab.

Aaron