pipe speeds

log.txt

143yoga:~% timeout 1  cat /dev/zero | mbuffer -q  -l cat.txt  -o /dev/null 
zsh: exit 124   timeout 1 cat /dev/zero | 
zsh:            mbuffer -q -l cat.txt -o /dev/null
143yoga:~% timeout 1  mbuffer -q  -l native.txt -i /dev/zero -o /dev/null 
124yoga:~% tail -n 1 cat.txt native.txt 
==> cat.txt <==
mbuffer: in @ 1140 MiB/s, out @ 1140 MiB/s,  799 MiB total, buffer   0% full

==> native.txt <==
mbuffer: in @ 1995 MiB/s, out @ 1995 MiB/s, 1398 MiB total, buffer   0% full


Granted that we are dealing with the optimal, super fast speed of `/dev/zero`, I
didn't realize that passing data from cat could be around half as fast as just 
letting a command ingest it's own file. It would be less significant on smaller
datasets, read from disk, but it would all add up over time.