Comment 102 for bug 101943

I can reproduce this easily on a i965 laptop with Compiz turned on so am marking it Triaged.

I tried running 'strace braid' but it didn't lock up at all - presumably strace slows it down enough to not get into the locked up state.

In reading the man page for xscreensaver, I noted this passage which might be of relevance:

       Machine Load
               Although this program ``nices'' the subprocesses that it
               starts, graphics-intensive subprograms can still overload the
               machine by causing the X server process itself (which is not
               ``niced'') to consume many cycles. Care has been taken in all
               the modules shipped with xscreensaver to sleep periodically,
               and not run full tilt, so as not to cause appreciable load.

               However, if you are running the OpenGL-based screen savers on a
               machine that does not have a video card with 3D acceleration,
               they will make your machine slow, despite nice(1).

               Your options are: don't use the OpenGL display modes; or, col-
               lect the spare change hidden under the cushions of your couch,
               and use it to buy a video card manufactured after 1998. (It
               doesn't even need to be fast 3D hardware: the problem will be
               fixed if there is any 3D hardware at all.)