Subject: X scrolling speedup
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux

Someone commented in a recent article (which I can't find at the
moment) that scrolling was so slow in X that you might be better using
the monochrome X server.  You might also consider using my version of
xterm and emacs.  on cs.rutgers.edu:/pub/linux you'll find xterm,
xterm.man, and xtermsrc.tar.Z.  (This posting is saved as
color-xterm-emacs.note.)  This xterm scrolls at least twice as fast as
the standard one, by using a fairly simple hack invented by someone at
SGI for their displays.  It also has color support.  While all of this
is in the man page, here are the critical things for .Xdefaults for
optimal performance:

XTerm*vt100*jumpScroll: true
XTerm*vt100*multiScroll:        true
XTerm*noScroll: on

Note that 'noScroll' is a misleading name.  It still scrolls.  It just
doesn't attempt to use hardware bitblt to do the scroll.

Here's what I use for color:

XTerm*Foreground: black
XTerm*Background: antiquewhite
XTerm*color2Back: azure2
XTerm*color3Back: pink
XTerm*standBack: darkseagreen2
XTerm*boldColor: magenta
XTerm*ulColor: blue

This uses colors in the following way:
  normal text is black on antiquewhite
  black on green is used for what would normally be inverse video
	(most commonly, the "more" prompt and emacs mode line)
  magenta is used for boldface (not very commonly used)
  blue is used for underlined text (most commonly this shows up in
	man pages)
  light blue and pink are available for special uses.  I use
	them for the prompt, as you'll see:

In .cshrc I set my prompt to blue for normal use and red if I'm root.
(This is part of a more complex .cshrc.  It is assumed that prompt is
already set to an appropriate string.)

set red="" blue="" nored="" noblue="" A="" B=""
if ($?tcsh) set A='%{' B='%}'

if ($termxx == "vt100") \
  set red="$A$B" blue="$A$B" nored="$A$B" noblue="$A$B" 

if (`whoami` == root) then 
  set prompt = "$red$prompt#$nored "
else
  set prompt = "$blue$prompt>$noblue "
endif

I have similar modifications to emacs.  I have just put an emacs
executable in the same place.  I don't currently have time to upload
the source.  Like xterm, it has a noScroll option that speeds up
scrolling.  It also allows color for the mode line.  Here's that
section in my .Xdefaults:

Emacs*Foreground: black
Emacs*Background: antiquewhite
Emacs*modeForeground: black
Emacs*modeBackground: darkseagreen2
Emacs*noScroll: on

This uses black on antiquewhite for normal text, and black on green
for the mode line.  In general these colors are chosen to be somewhat
"transparent".  Color choice is obviously a matter of taste, but I
prefer colors used in windows to be somewhat light.  I use darker
colors for the rest of the screen.  The "tabs" added by twm to
windows, the twm icon manager, and xterm are all maroon.  The general
background is goldenrod:

In .twmrc:

Color
{
    BorderColor "slategrey"
    DefaultBackground "maroon"
    DefaultForeground "seashell"
    TitleBackground "maroon"
    TitleForeground "seashell"
    MenuBackground "maroon"
    MenuForeground "seashell"
    MenuTitleBackground "seashell"
    MenuTitleForeground "maroon"
    IconBackground "maroon"
    IconForeground "seashell"
    IconBorderColor "seashell"
    IconManagerBackground "maroon"
    IconManagerForeground "seashell"
}

and in .xinitrc:

xsetroot -solid goldenrod