Author: Christophe Theron
Date: 10:49:44 03/05/98
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On March 05, 1998 at 12:29:24, Albert Silver wrote:
>Well, I can't comment on Genius 5 as I don't have it, but I have noticed
>a similiar (80% difference on the average) performance hit when running
>Mchess 7.01 in DOS as opposed to Win95. I can assure that it is not due
>to any TSRs or other software running in the background as if I call up
>the special Rebel9 windows shortcut it runs almost identically in speed
>as when run in DOS. I have no explanation for it but I can give you test
>suite results with the resource monitor's results as well for your
>examination.
Sorry if you already know the following:
When you run a DOS program (MChess for example) under W95, you can
control the way the system allocates time to it. Create a shortcut for
your program, then edit this shortcut's properties. Select the "misc."
panel. Locate the horinzontal slider and drag it full way to the left.
Check the "always suspend" checkbox.
W95 decides if a DOS program is idle by counting the number of times
each second the program scans for a user's input on the keyboard.
Some chess programs scan the keyboard very often (say every 10 chess
position, and that means several thousands times a second for some
programs). In this case, Windows thinks that the program is idle, just
waiting for a user input. And so it just suspends the program, or
allocate less time to it!
With the changes in the properties, you just disable this "idle
detection".
Rebel9 has not the problem, because (I suppose) Ed Shröder has created a
shortcut specially for W95 users. And this shortcuts has the right
properties to prevent W95 from suspending Rebel while it is thinking.
Maybe that's why MChess is slower when you run it inside a DOS box.
About Genius5 Windows version, all I can say is that I don't notice any
slowdown on my computer. The engine seems to be the same as Genius5 DOS
version, and the times are similar.
One important thing I can add is that Genius5 Windows STEALS a lot of
CPU time. If I run both Genius5 Windows and Chess Tiger (in a DOS box),
Chess Tiger runs 30% slower. That's why I have to use Genius5 DOS
version, even under W95, when I want to play Genius/Tiger games on one
computer.
Christophe
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