To give a better idea of the problem, I have selected a large file and timed it being concatenated it to standard output
$ wc /boot/config-2.6.27-8-generic 3480 5404 85316 /boot/config-2.6.27-8-generic
$ time cat /boot/config-2.6.27-8-generic
== Results == Framebuffer terminal: 4m21.427s gnome-terminal in X: 0m0.997s
To give a better idea of the problem, I have selected a large file and timed it being concatenated it to standard output
$ wc /boot/config- 2.6.27- 8-generic 2.6.27- 8-generic
3480 5404 85316 /boot/config-
$ time cat /boot/config- 2.6.27- 8-generic
== Results ==
Framebuffer terminal: 4m21.427s
gnome-terminal in X: 0m0.997s