copy and tar performance?

[Les Mikesell]

On Wed, 2006-12-27 at 11:42 -0800, Dave Stevens wrote:
> > 
> > Whenever I copy large files (>2G) or create large tar archives I basically 
> > loose control of my box (2.1Gz Laptop running FC5) until the copy or tar is 
> > complete. I can still try and work but the mouse movements are delayed 
> > several seconds, other programs take minutes to respond, etc.
> > 
> > Is there a way I can overcome this so I can still work as normal during these
> > 
> > operations, maybe a way to limit the amount of cpu or system resources that a
> > 
> > cp or tar process can have? Other ideas?
> > 
> > Thanks in advance
> 
> man nice

I doubt if that will help much.  Cp/tar, etc. do very little work in
the main process - it's all read()/write() system calls.  I'd guess the
problem is that your disk interface is taking all the CPU and
what you need to do is enable dma if it can handle it.  If it is IDE,
it might be worth adding a new card.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
   lesmikesell at gmail.com