Just to be clear, the computer I was using is a single core Opteron, not a bad machine--just built 2 years ago. Budget processor but newer. It ran AXIS just fine at first but got slower and slower, eventually just wouldn't even switch to or from MDI mode. (The P3 I was referring to was a co-workers router.)
I have switched to 8.04, on a different computer (dual-core AMD). On 10.04 it did badly on the jitter test--ran around 10000 mostly but would just spike up to 45000 sometimes. So I went with 8.04, and AXIS seems to be responding better. Haven't spent alot of time with it yet, so I will try moving forward from there.
Right now my problem is that the AXIS window is too big for my monitor, so it is extremely tedious to work on the machine. I need to figure out how to change the display with a smaller font and window, or something. When I used 10.04 I didn't have this problem. It's similar to the problem I see in Windows when the resolution setting is incorrect (humongous window but half of it is off the screen). I'm sure somewhere in this internet the answer can be found!
ok after much pain and suffering I did get my screen resolution fixed. Wouldn't let me go above 800x600, this was cutting off the bottom of most of my windows...very important part of a window!