Faster WinGUI version 1.1.3b released (and available on the site)

From: jfougero@dtn.com
Date: Wed Jan 19 2000 - 01:05:54 MET

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    [ Please direct any replies to jfoug@kdsi.net ]

    The Win32 GUI version of Rob's ECDL search engine has been released
    to Robert, and should appear on the INRIA site soon. This version
    (1.1.3b) shows a 3 to 4% increase in speed over the 1.1.3 version
    on PentiumII chips. 1.1.3b fixes several usability / GUI problems
    with the 1.1.3 version, thanks to input from numerous people using
    that version.

    Major changes / fixes in the 1.1.3b version:
     - Auto loading with the INI file now works.
     - "AutoStart" adds a registry entry to start the app when the PC starts
     - Make sure of the correct working subdir when starting from registry.
     - additional 3 to 4% speed increase on PentiumII (minimal on PentiumMMX)
     - Priority increase during "Screen-Saver" is NOT default behavior any
       more. Increasing the priority during screen savers can have a VERY
       negative impact on servers (it is Great for stand alone PC's)
     - less flicker when "AutoStart" in "Stealth" mode.
     - many numerous little things fixed.

    Speed results on my personal machines:
    +-----------------------+--------------------------+
    | PII 400mhz Win98 | Cygwin 116.0K |
    | | WinGUI 1.1.3 132.2K |
    | | WinGUI 1.1.3b 136.5K |
    +-----------------------+--------------------------+
    | PII 300mhz Win98 | Cygwin 87.2K |
    | Laptop | WinGUI 1.1.3 100.2K |
    | | WinGUI 1.1.3b 103.7K |
    +-----------------------+--------------------------+
    | PII 300mhz WinNT | Cygwin 89.1K |
    | | WinGUI 1.1.3 100.8K |
    | | WinGUI 1.1.3b 104.3K |
    +-----------------------+--------------------------+
    | Celeron 433mhz Win98 | WinGUI 1.1.3 143.5K |
    +-----------------------+--------------------------+

    Note the speed increase from 1.1.3 to 1.1.3b is not there for Pentium MMX
    chips. The speed increase was from some loop unrolling, and it appears that
    chips earlier than the PII do not have a large enough instruction cache to
    benefit from the addition inlining. The older MMX chips are not slowed
    down, they just don't see the performance gain. I also have not been able
    to test on Celeron, PIII or non Intel chips. I expect both the Celeron and
    PIII to see nice gains over the 1.1.3 version. I have no idea about the
    other CPU's since I can not profile using them. Some may benefit, some
    may not.

    Jim Fougeron.



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