r.surf.contour time to run?

I'm trying to create a DEM from a rasterized topo map using r.surf.contour.
Running on a DECStation 5000, it takes several days (3-4) to work out
a 400 by 400 pixel area, even though it's getting from 50-75% of the
cpu time!

Is this possible? I'm interested in looking at data that's a whole lot
bigger than 400 by 400 pixels! Is there some better way to get a DEM
from a topo map? Am I doing something wrong?

Any advice appreciated!

Neel Smith
nsmith@polar.bowdoin.edu