Any idea where one might find more than cursory information on this subject? My system is horribly slow and I'm thinking there must be a better method of doing it, but I have yet to find any information anywhere about how to do it.

I think there is a bit of info here... http://freespace.virgin.net/hugo.elias
i think thats the right address, there isnt really much code but it does give you some idea of how it works.