>>Please note that this might not be all TDE's fault.  I have
>>noticed that
>>the X server (and possibly the kernel itself) tends to get slower
>>and
>>slower from release to release on old hardware.  In general,
>>locking
>>myself to an old version of the kernel and Xorg on old hardware,
>>then
>>compiling new software on top of those old versions, seems to give
>>halfway
>>decent results.
>
> I agree the problem is not TDE per se. I too seem to believe that
> Linux based systems get slower with each new release.
>
>>However, if you are noticing that TDE is running slower than KDE
>>3.5.10 on
>>the same X/kernel versions, then we have a problem. ;-)
>
> I haven't tried such a test on my older systems. On newer Linux
> systems, compiling 3.5.10 now is all but impossible with all of the
> various upstream software changes that require patching. I
> experienced that compiling R14 on older Linux systems is impossible
> without modifying or updating several distro packages. That limits
> any 3.5.10->R14 comparison to a specific period of Linux OSs.
> Fortunately, I have a candidate here (I can compile 3.5.10 and R14
> on Slackware 13.1) and will give this a test a go.
>
> That said what kinds of system or usability tests would be
> representative?
>
> Darrell

You bring up a long-standing problem here. :-)  Without an automated
performance test suite, all we can go in is the system "feel" and
"snappiness" when trying to use it.

I would still like to put together a test suite (ideally generic enough
that we can also benchmark Qt4/Qt5 for comparison purposes), but don't
have time at the moment with trying to get R14 out the door and all.

Tim