> A good solution to this is to run xfs (X Font Server), and point the
> X server at xfs for teh fonts.  This allows xfs to handle the rendering
> of fonts, etc, and all the server does is request a specific font, and
> then wait for it to be delivered.  If you can run xfs on a different
> machine, this helps a LOT..but even on the same system, it can
> aid in the responsiveness quite a bit.

can you give us another hint here? :) 

how do we "point," and how do we automatically launch xfs?

rick