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SunPCi User's Guide

Appendix C SunPCi Performance Tips

This appendix suggests various ways to improve the performance of the SunPCi program and the performance of your Windows 95 applications. The following list describes the topics in this appendix.

Fine-Tuning Your SunPCi Configuration

The following sections describe some aspects of SunPCi configuration that you can change to improve performance of the SunPCi software.

Memory

The more system memory you have, the better the performance of the SunPCi program. A minimum of 64 Mbytes on the SunPCi card is suggested for running SunPCi software; a 64-Mbyte memory module comes installed on the SunPCi card by default. Windows software runs best with at least 48 Mbytes of RAM.

If you want to increase the amount of RAM allocated to SunPCi, you may want to purchase the optional 128 Mbyte memory module. You can purchase two of them and replace the 64 Mbytes memory module, for a total of 256 Mbytes. Refer to the SunPCi Installation Guide for more information, or contact your Sun reseller.

Emulated versus Extended Drives

You should specify as large a drive size as possible when creating a new C: or D: drive. (Depending on the available space on your hard disk, you can specify up to 2 Gbytes.) Remember that the actual file size of your emulated drives varies, depending on the applications and data you store on them.

For more information about using emulated hard disk drives, see the section Emulated Hard Drives. For information about using extended drives, see Extended Hard Drives.

Improving Video Performance

If your workstation video display is running in 8-bit mode, you can improve video performance by selecting a simple pattern or None for your desktop wallpaper. A complicated wallpaper pattern causes the screen to repaint more often while you work, thus slowing down video performance.

Note –

Changing your desktop wallpaper does not affect performance for 24-bit video.

Improving Emulated Disk Performance

By default, SunPCi creates your C: drive (a large UNIX file) in a ~/pc directory within your home directory. If your home directory is not located on your workstation's hard drive, but on the network, the performance of your C: drive may be affected. To improve performance, you may want to move your C: drive to your local workstation's hard drive.

Windows 95 Specific Tips

This section contains hints and tips that you may find helpful if you are running Windows 95.

Configuring Boot Options

This section contains two tips for configuring your boot options:

The Microsoft Windows 95 Startup menu contains options that you can choose when you start SunPCi. You can choose to boot directly into DOS or start Windows in Safe Mode.

Choices you make in the Startup menu affect only the current session of SunPCi. The next time you reboot, the startup mode returns to the default (start Windows 95 automatically).

Accessing the Startup Menu

  1. Start SunPCi and press F8 as soon as you see the Starting Windows 95 message.The Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu appears. 

    Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu==============================1.Normal2.Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT)3.Safe mode4.Safe mode with network support5.Step-by-step confirmation6.Command prompt only7.Safe mode command prompt only8.Previous version of MS-DOSEnter a choice:

  1. Enter the number that corresponds to the option you want to use. SunPCi will start in the mode you selected.

    Table C–1 explains the options available in the Startup menu.

    Table C–1 Startup Menu Options

    Option 

    Description 

    1 

    Normal Windows 95 startup. 

    2 

    Normal startup. The file BOOTLOG.TXT contains a log of the results of the startup process, including any system messages or errors.

    3 

    Safe Mode starts your computer with default settings (VGA monitor, no network, Microsoft mouse driver, and the minimum device drivers required to start Windows).  

    4 

    Starts the computer in Safe Mode, but allows the computer to connect to the network. 

    5 

    Requests a Yes or No confirmation for each step in the startup process. The system displays each line in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and asks you to confirm each one. Press Enter for Yes or Esc for No.

    6 

    Boots the system to the MS-DOS prompt. 

    7 

    Boots the system to the MS-DOS prompt in Safe Mode. 

    8 

    Boots the system to a previous version of MS-DOS (if you have one installed). 

Automatically Booting to the DOS Prompt

You can create an empty batch file called WIN.BAT that enables you to boot directly into the DOS prompt every time you start SunPCi. This allows you to start Windows 95 whenever you choose, but allows you to work from the DOS prompt rather than from the DOS shell.

  1. To start Windows 95 from the DOS prompt, type the following command and press Return: 

    C:\> windows\win

Running Game Software on SunPCi

Note –

This procedure applies only if you are using an external VGA monitor with your SunPCi card. For more information on how to install and configure an external VGA monitor, refer to Chapter 4, Configuring Peripheral Devices.

This section is designed to help you fine-tune game performance on SunPCi. Although the default VGA memory setting of 1 Mbyte on your SunPCi card should provide enough VGA memory for most games, you may want to increase the amount of VGA memory for more graphics-intensive games.

Note –

Remember that increasing your video memory decreases the amount of available system memory.

To increase the amount of VGA memory available to SunPCi, perform the following procedure:

  1. Start up SunPCi. If SunPCi is already running, exit Windows and then choose Reset PC from the File menu.

    You will see the startup screen and the RAM check routine.

  2. While the RAM check routine is proceeding, press the Del (Delete) key on your keyboard.

    The startup routine is stopped and the Setup screen is displayed.

  3. Select Chipset Features Setup.

  4. Change the VGA Shared Memory Size parameter to a larger value.

    The default is 1 Mbyte. This parameter accepts values between 0.5 Mbytes and 4 Mbytes in increments of .5 Mbytes.

  5. Exit Setup.

    The SunPCi startup routine starts over, using your new VGA memory settings.