wa2mze(spamless)" <"wa2mze(spamless) <"wa2mze(spamless)"@bellsouth.net>
wrote:
> On my amd64 system, switching from vterm 7 (X-11 org running KDE) to
> a vterm (<crtL><alt><Fn>) takes as much as 10 seconds. On my slower
> x86 system it switches almost instantly. What could be going on here?
>
> The switch back to vterm 7 (X11) does happen instantly (less than a
> second).

Lots of things can affect this.

My guess is that one of them is running the terminals in a framebuffer
device, and the other not. A pixmap takes a lot more memory than a text
field, and if swapped out to disk due to not being used, it can take a
while to get it back.

Different display drivers and settings may also affect display switching
speeds. Does it use double buffering, backing stores and save-unders?
How much does the X driver have to save before relinquishing control to
the terminal?

Regards,
--
*Art