diff --git a/ssheven-constants.r b/ssheven-constants.r
index 243c80f..7f0262f 100644
--- a/ssheven-constants.r
+++ b/ssheven-constants.r
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@
 #define SSHEVEN_REQUIRED_PARTITION  SSHEVEN_MINIMUM_PARTITION
 
 /* size in bytes for recv and send thread buffers */
-#define SSHEVEN_BUFFER_SIZE 16*1024
+/* making this too large is bad for responsiveness on 68k machines */
+#define SSHEVEN_BUFFER_SIZE 4*1024
 
 /* default terminal string */
 #define SSHEVEN_DEFAULT_TERM_STRING "xterm-16color"