screen sluggish on Debian?

[Brendan McKay]

Hi, I'm a long-time user of "screen".  Recently I changed
over from Redhat 7.1 to Debian 1:3.3.4, and suddenly screen
is much more sluggish than before.

The main problem is when there is more than a tiny bit of
output.  For example, I have enough files in one directory
that "ls" output is about 2 screenfulls.  Previously, ls
output would appear instantaneously and rapidly.  Now, after
I hit "return" there is a delay of 2-3 seconds with nothing
happening at all, then one screenfull of output appears,
then there is a delay of about second, then the rest of
the output appears.

It does not make a difference what version of screen is being
used, as I tried several from 3.09.09 (FAU) 25-May-01 to
4.00.02 (FAU) 5-Dec-03 with the behaviour exactly the same.
I used the same screen executables on both Linux editions.
The delay I am experiencing is only when I use screen;
otherwise Debian is perfectly responsive.  I guess it is some
interaction between Debian and screen so I wonder if there
is a work-around available.  I tried various flow-control
settings without luck but I don't understand them too well
so I'm not sure I tried eveything.

Thanks,
Brendan.