system CPU load from smart

[Mikus Grinbergs]

Running SuSE 10.1 64-bit, on which I have installed a background
computational application.  There have lately been several
large-scale upgrades available from 3rd-party repositories,
which on my slow dial-up line take multiple hours to download.

Like to use 'smart --gui'.  Looked at 'top' during a download --
'smart' was using 10% of the CPU; 'X' was using 8%  (I think 2%
for 'X' is more typical when I'm not running 'smart').  All those
two are doing is showing the progress of the files being downloaded.
[Did not use 'top' to look at a CLI 'smart' download, but I believe
that too will continuously show the progress of the downloads.]

I'd prefer that those CPU cycles were available to my background
application, rather than being used continuously for something
that during a hours-long download I look at only occasionally.


What should I do to minimize the sustained CPU load that my system
experiences from 'smart' doing downloading ?


mikus