1 item has been added to your cart.

Why does Stata 10’s graphical user interface perform so slowly on a Windows X server such as Hummingbird Exceed?

Stata 10 uses TrueType fonts for rendering antialiased (smooth) fonts. Previous versions of Stata used bitmap fonts. When TrueType fonts exist on the X server, the X server is able to render all text locally, and there is a neglible difference in performance between rendering text using TrueType fonts and rendering text using bitmap fonts.

When no TrueType font exists on the X server, all text is rendered as a bitmap on the remote host and then sent to the X server. This can severely affect the performance of Stata's interface and make it seem slow to respond. Older versions of X server software may not support the use of TrueType fonts.

To avoid any performance problems with Stata’s graphical user interface when using a Windows X server, upgrade to the most recent version of the X server software that supports and includes TrueType fonts. For Hummingbird Exceed, we have confirmed that Exceed 2008 (as well as Exceed 2007) supports TrueType fonts.