I ran Richard Christen's script from msg55784 on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn
(64-bit) with both Python 2.5.1 and Python 3.0a1 (for the latter, I had
to change xrange to range).

(2, 5, 1, 'final', 0)
2007-09-11 11:39:08
(5000000, 7.3925600051879883)
(10000000, 15.068881034851074)
(15000000, 22.870260953903198)
(20000000, 30.588511943817139)
(25000000, 37.977153062820435)
(30000000, 45.393024921417236)
(35000000, 57.039968013763428)
(40000000, 71.122976064682007)
(45000000, 85.065402984619141)
(50000000, 97.03105092048645)
(55000000, 108.22125887870789)
(60000000, 122.95617389678955)
(65000000, 130.45936799049377)
(70000000, 141.0406129360199)
(75000000, 150.52000093460083)
(80000000, 158.0419979095459)
(85000000, 168.46517896652222)
('total lines written ', 85014960)
(85014960, 168.48725986480713)
**************************************************
(5000000, 11.699964046478271)
(10000000, 18.510161876678467)
(15000000, 27.110308885574341)
(20000000, 35.410284996032715)
(25000000, 41.88045597076416)
(30000000, 48.734965085983276)
(35000000, 56.416620016098022)
(40000000, 65.14509105682373)
(45000000, 73.711935043334961)
(50000000, 82.278150081634521)
(55000000, 90.984658002853394)
(60000000, 99.987648963928223)
(65000000, 104.64127588272095)
(70000000, 109.73277306556702)
(75000000, 114.78491401672363)
(80000000, 120.38562488555908)
(85000000, 126.08317303657532)
('total lines read ', 85014960)
294.583214998




(3, 0, 0, 'alpha', 1)
2007-09-11 12:20:53
5000000 117.375117064
10000000 238.183109045
15000000 357.397506952
20000000 476.816791058
25000000 597.198447943
30000000 717.393661976
35000000 837.278333902
40000000 956.919227839
45000000 1077.25333095
50000000 1196.60731292
55000000 1316.08601999
60000000 1434.81360602
65000000 1554.1584239
70000000 1673.04580498
75000000 1792.35387397
80000000 1912.65659904
85000000 2032.99598598
total lines written  85014960
85014960 2033.35042787
**************************************************
5000000 89.7920100689
10000000 180.910079002
15000000 272.628970146
20000000 364.904497147
25000000 457.229861021
30000000 549.14190793
35000000 641.054435968
40000000 733.30577898
45000000 826.058191061
50000000 917.997677088
55000000 1010.20616603
60000000 1102.142905
65000000 1194.16728902
70000000 1286.54789495
75000000 1378.50006604
80000000 1470.37746692
85000000 1562.25738001
total lines read  85014960
3595.88338494