Speeding up Mac OS X

Phil St. Romain · 02-19-2002, 12:42 PM

There are many good hints on this web site. Maybe this thread can be a summary of some of the most effective.

----------

Make sure you're using the most recent OS X upgrade. OS 10.1.2 IS faster than 10.0.4--gross understatement!

---------

System Preference tweaks:

- if you're not sharing files, turn off File Sharing in the Sharing Preference.

- use Thousands instead of Millions of colors in the Diplay preferences.

- if you're the only user, set Log in preferences to log-in automatically at startup.

- in Dock preferences, set minimize to Scale effect, and uncheck magnification.

- in General Preferences, turn off Font smoothing for fonts 12 points and under.

- in Screen Saver Activation, slide to never (won't speed up the OS, but will speed up wake from sleep time and reduce CPU usage).

---------------

That's a start; there are many more. Please add, including enhancements from Terminal.

Komainu · 02-19-2002, 03:30 PM

Another dock thing is turning off bouncing icons. In the dock system preferences, turn of animate opening application.

hschickel · 02-19-2002, 04:47 PM

Add memory. The money point seems to be somewhere between 256MB and 384MB. (Call it 320MB.) Tip the scale low if you don't use Classic and tip it high if you have Classic in the background all of the time. If you have less than this you're not having much fun with OSX.

If you run a decent number of apps (I usually have a dozen or more running at any time) you will want much more. Getting your memory up in the 320 - 512MB range is probably the single biggest thing you can do to speed up OSX.

Hugh

mervTormel · 02-19-2002, 07:32 PM

enable window buffer compression

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...11008024501793

-----

i am compelled to supplement Hugh's memory post. more memory is good, but...

more memory will not make your CPU faster. memory will not make your calculator launch faster or divide by zero faster.

more memory will diminish the activation of virtual memory (pageouts in particular) to compensate for a real memory shortage. it is this virtual memory activity that will slow down the overall thruput of a system.

-Dr. Didactic

Phil St. Romain · 02-19-2002, 09:12 PM

If you turn your computer off or put it to sleep at night, use Macjanitor
Info on this must-have utility follows:

Freeware utility to run the system's daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance scripts. Execellent for laptop users and others who shut their Macs off at night.

These scripts are normally run between 3am and 5am, and will not be run if you shut off your Mac at night. This will allow log files to grow very large, and prevent system databases from getting backed up.

With MacJanitor, you can run these scripts 'by hand' periodically without having to use the Terminal to keep your Mac OS X machine in top racing form.

(description from versiontracker.com)

--------------

After you install a few apps, it's good to run Xoptimize.

Xoptimize uses an Apple provided command line tool (i.e. a command you would use in a Terminal Window-- the "Matrix" interface, as some have labeled it) to optimize the loading time of applications. It will also make applications execute faster immediately after startup as the application will spend less time dynamically looking up and binding with various libraries and frameworks.

(description from versiontracker.com)

Phil St. Romain · 02-20-2002, 04:02 PM

- mentioned on another thread, but repeated here as an option to possibly enhance the speed and performance of OS X. -

Swap Cop is a program for for moving the OS X swap file to a different partition; you might want to do this if you have multiple hard drives for a (small) performance gain, or if you are low on space on your main OS X volume. This program makes it easy to do.

marcv · 02-22-2002, 06:51 PM

Give ShadowKiller a try. It disables the dropshadow of windows and menu's. The app. itself is not very stable, but only has to be started once each login.
Looks more ugly, but found it usable with changing the Theme to Silverfox, because you loose some visibility of the Window-edges.
Anyway, I ran the Let1kWindowsBloom benchmark on my RevA 400Mhz iBook; results:

Millions of colors:
without Shadowkiller: 142 secs
with Shadowkiller: 107 secs

thousands of colors:
without Shadowkiller:116
with Shadowkiller 88

That's 25%! Milions with SK is even faster than thousands without.
It's at http://www.unsanity.com

The Tweaker · 03-18-2002, 05:40 PM

Quote:


	Originally posted by Phil St. Romain - mentioned on another thread, but repeated here as an option to possibly enhance the speed and performance of OS X. - Swap Cop is a program for for moving the OS X swap file to a different partition; you might want to do this if you have multiple hard drives for a (small) performance gain, or if you are low on space on your main OS X volume. This program makes it easy to do.

What actually is a "Swap File"? And do you happen to have a link to the thread mentioned? Thanks.

- T.T.

Marcwic · 03-18-2002, 06:25 PM

A swap file is the virtual memory file, the place on the disk where memory is dumped when not needed (so the real RAM can be used for more urgent stuff)

Putting it on a different partition won't make much difference (could it even slow it down?), putting it on a different drive will however.

The Tweaker · 03-18-2002, 07:09 PM

Quote:


	Originally posted by Marcwic A swap file is the virtual memory file, the place on the disk where memory is dumped when not needed (so the real RAM can be used for more urgent stuff) Putting it on a different partition won't make much difference (could it even slow it down?), putting it on a different drive will however.

Another mystery solved. Thanks.

- T.T.

zs · 03-24-2002, 04:21 AM

This tip at MacOS X Hints is the most comprehensive I have found. It mentions a few things that this thread hasn't.

delerium521 · 05-23-2002, 11:51 AM

Dunno if anyone's still following this thread but i'll reply anyway...

I have an iBook 500, and while i use X exclusively i do wish it to be faster (don't we all, especially us lowly g3 users). the two biggies i did to my system, and subsequently to any other X install i do, are:

Enable window buffer compression

Change the mach_init self priority.

The second one is a bit scary, as if you set it too low your system won't boot, you'll need to use another started up disk and edit the file manually. but it's a great tweak, i haven't had any problems on several machines (ibook, imac, tibook). i don't see anyone bring this one up, but i have never had a single problem with it.

to change the mach_init self priority:

open Terminal

sudo pico bootstrap.conf

you'll see at the bottom:

self priority=16;

change that to

self priority=0;

ctrl-o to save, ctrl-x to exit

Reboot and see what happens. You can do any whole number between 0 and 16. Don't try a negative number (ie, self priority=-10) cuz she won't boot.

hope this works for ya'll

vonleigh · 05-23-2002, 01:05 PM

I'd never seen mention of changing mach-init self priority. I'm interested in opinions on this before I try it out.

P.D: is there a way to suscribe to a thread without posting a "me too" like this?

Vonleigh

xchanyazy · 05-23-2002, 02:10 PM

vonleigh -
Look beneath the last post, in the little blue box. Show Printable Version, Email This Thread, and Subscribe to this thread (I think those are right). I just noticed this a few days ago, so I've never tested it, but I'm sure it works just fine..

durandal64 · 05-24-2002, 08:26 PM

Where is the bootstrap.conf file located?

xchanyazy · 05-24-2002, 08:30 PM

[10:52][brandg ~] %locate bootstrap.conf
/private/etc/bootstrap.conf

On my computer, at least.

AKcrab · 05-26-2002, 01:30 AM

Thumbs up, because it didn't hose my system...
Now, what exactly *might* be faster? Things overall? The finder? What should I look for to see if the speed is better?

iroot · 05-28-2002, 12:30 AM

I found my OSX seems speedier if I opt-cmd click on the app in the dock that I want to use. This hides the rest of the open apps including the finder. This may speed things even more than turning off transparency.

djn1 · 05-29-2002, 02:29 PM

>mach_init self priority tweak

I'm always willing to jump in and try something that will increase the performance of my machine, but i) what is "mach_init", and ii) what does tweaking it do? Is changing it's priority the same as renicing it?

Craig R. Arko · 05-29-2002, 03:17 PM

Well, 'init' is basically the parent process which spawns all the others. I'm assuming that by changing it's priority delerium's trying to make other kernel operations (like memory and process management) go faster.

I've just set this to '0' as he suggests and re-booted. Everything comes up OK. It'll probably take some time in normal usage to see if there's a real benefit. I'd think it's a 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' kind of thing, but we'll see.

Renice is a way to adjust priority of an already running task. I'd be willing to believe you wouldn't want to do that with a kernel process while the system is up so that's why it's done in the bootstrap file.

AKcrab, have you noticed any changes yet?

02-19-2002, 12:42 PM	#1
Phil St. Romain Site Admin Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Wichita, KS Posts: 2,350	Speeding up Mac OS X There are many good hints on this web site. Maybe this thread can be a summary of some of the most effective. ---------- Make sure you're using the most recent OS X upgrade. OS 10.1.2 IS faster than 10.0.4--gross understatement! --------- System Preference tweaks: - if you're not sharing files, turn off File Sharing in the Sharing Preference. - use Thousands instead of Millions of colors in the Diplay preferences. - if you're the only user, set Log in preferences to log-in automatically at startup. - in Dock preferences, set minimize to Scale effect, and uncheck magnification. - in General Preferences, turn off Font smoothing for fonts 12 points and under. - in Screen Saver Activation, slide to never (won't speed up the OS, but will speed up wake from sleep time and reduce CPU usage). --------------- That's a start; there are many more. Please add, including enhancements from Terminal.

02-19-2002, 09:12 PM	#5
Phil St. Romain Site Admin Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Wichita, KS Posts: 2,350	Macjanitor and Xoptimize If you turn your computer off or put it to sleep at night, use Macjanitor Info on this must-have utility follows: Freeware utility to run the system's daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance scripts. Execellent for laptop users and others who shut their Macs off at night. These scripts are normally run between 3am and 5am, and will not be run if you shut off your Mac at night. This will allow log files to grow very large, and prevent system databases from getting backed up. With MacJanitor, you can run these scripts 'by hand' periodically without having to use the Terminal to keep your Mac OS X machine in top racing form. (description from versiontracker.com) -------------- After you install a few apps, it's good to run Xoptimize. Xoptimize uses an Apple provided command line tool (i.e. a command you would use in a Terminal Window-- the "Matrix" interface, as some have labeled it) to optimize the loading time of applications. It will also make applications execute faster immediately after startup as the application will spend less time dynamically looking up and binding with various libraries and frameworks. (description from versiontracker.com)

02-20-2002, 04:02 PM	#6
Phil St. Romain Site Admin Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Wichita, KS Posts: 2,350	Move your swap file - mentioned on another thread, but repeated here as an option to possibly enhance the speed and performance of OS X. - Swap Cop is a program for for moving the OS X swap file to a different partition; you might want to do this if you have multiple hard drives for a (small) performance gain, or if you are low on space on your main OS X volume. This program makes it easy to do.

03-18-2002, 06:25 PM	#9
Marcwic Triple-A Player Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Reading, UK Posts: 89	A swap file is the virtual memory file, the place on the disk where memory is dumped when not needed (so the real RAM can be used for more urgent stuff) Putting it on a different partition won't make much difference (could it even slow it down?), putting it on a different drive will however. __________________ :: Marc Wickens :: :: http://www.imarc.co.uk ::

03-24-2002, 04:21 AM	#11
zs Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Oslo, Norway Posts: 13	This tip at MacOS X Hints is the most comprehensive I have found. It mentions a few things that this thread hasn't. __________________ zs

02-19-2002, 03:30 PM	#2
Komainu Prospect Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Ypsilanti, MI Posts: 27	Another dock thing is turning off bouncing icons. In the dock system preferences, turn of animate opening application.

02-19-2002, 04:47 PM	#3
hschickel All Star Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: NY, NY Posts: 776	Add memory. The money point seems to be somewhere between 256MB and 384MB. (Call it 320MB.) Tip the scale low if you don't use Classic and tip it high if you have Classic in the background all of the time. If you have less than this you're not having much fun with OSX. If you run a decent number of apps (I usually have a dozen or more running at any time) you will want much more. Getting your memory up in the 320 - 512MB range is probably the single biggest thing you can do to speed up OSX. Hugh

02-19-2002, 07:32 PM	#4
mervTormel League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 5,536	enable window buffer compression http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...11008024501793 ----- i am compelled to supplement Hugh's memory post. more memory is good, but... more memory will not make your CPU faster. memory will not make your calculator launch faster or divide by zero faster. more memory will diminish the activation of virtual memory (pageouts in particular) to compensate for a real memory shortage. it is this virtual memory activity that will *slow down* the overall thruput of a system. -Dr. Didactic

02-22-2002, 06:51 PM	#7
marcv Triple-A Player Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Rotterdam/Lisboa Posts: 50	Give ShadowKiller a try. It disables the dropshadow of windows and menu's. The app. itself is not very stable, but only has to be started once each login. Looks more ugly, but found it usable with changing the Theme to Silverfox, because you loose some visibility of the Window-edges. Anyway, I ran the Let1kWindowsBloom benchmark on my RevA 400Mhz iBook; results: Millions of colors: without Shadowkiller: 142 secs with Shadowkiller: 107 secs thousands of colors: without Shadowkiller:116 with Shadowkiller 88 That's 25%! Milions with SK is even faster than thousands without. It's at http://www.unsanity.com

05-23-2002, 11:51 AM	#12
delerium521 Prospect Join Date: May 2002 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 3	Another good tweak: mach_init self priority Dunno if anyone's still following this thread but i'll reply anyway... I have an iBook 500, and while i use X exclusively i do wish it to be faster (don't we all, especially us lowly g3 users). the two biggies i did to my system, and subsequently to any other X install i do, are: Enable window buffer compression Change the mach_init self priority. The second one is a bit scary, as if you set it too low your system won't boot, you'll need to use another started up disk and edit the file manually. but it's a great tweak, i haven't had any problems on several machines (ibook, imac, tibook). i don't see anyone bring this one up, but i have never had a single problem with it. to change the mach_init self priority: open Terminal sudo pico bootstrap.conf you'll see at the bottom: self priority=16; change that to self priority=0; ctrl-o to save, ctrl-x to exit Reboot and see what happens. You can do any whole number between 0 and 16. Don't try a negative number (ie, self priority=-10) cuz she won't boot. hope this works for ya'll

05-23-2002, 01:05 PM	#13
vonleigh All Star Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 579	I'd never seen mention of changing mach-init self priority. I'm interested in opinions on this before I try it out. P.D: is there a way to suscribe to a thread without posting a "me too" like this? Vonleigh

05-23-2002, 02:10 PM	#14
xchanyazy All Star Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Dexter, MI, USA Posts: 704	vonleigh - Look beneath the last post, in the little blue box. Show Printable Version, Email This Thread, and Subscribe to this thread (I think those are right). I just noticed this a few days ago, so I've never tested it, but I'm sure it works just fine.. __________________ - Greg Happy user of OS X since the Public Beta. Help Team Mac OS X cure cancer, Alzheimer's, ALS, Parkinson's, and more!

05-24-2002, 08:26 PM	#15
durandal64 Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Springfield, IL Posts: 42	Where is the bootstrap.conf file located? __________________ Damien Sorresso

05-24-2002, 08:30 PM	#16
xchanyazy All Star Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Dexter, MI, USA Posts: 704	[10:52][brandg ~] %locate bootstrap.conf /private/etc/bootstrap.conf On my computer, at least. __________________ - Greg Happy user of OS X since the Public Beta. Help Team Mac OS X cure cancer, Alzheimer's, ALS, Parkinson's, and more!

05-26-2002, 01:30 AM	#17
AKcrab MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Wasilla, AK Posts: 1,043	mach_init self priority tweak. Thumbs up, because it didn't hose my system... Now, what exactly might be faster? Things overall? The finder? What should I look for to see if the speed is better?

05-28-2002, 12:30 AM	#18
iroot Prospect Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 19	I found my OSX seems speedier if I opt-cmd click on the app in the dock that I want to use. This hides the rest of the open apps including the finder. This may speed things even more than turning off transparency.

05-29-2002, 02:29 PM	#19
djn1 MVP Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: UK Posts: 1,212	But what does this do? >mach_init self priority tweak I'm always willing to jump in and try something that will increase the performance of my machine, but i) what is "mach_init", and ii) what does tweaking it do? Is changing it's priority the same as renicing it? __________________ chromasia G4/800, OS 10.3.x, 1.25GB RAM, 2x80GB HD, 60GB firewire, Geforce4MX, Iiyama VMpro 455+413 Goldtouch keyboard, Cirque EasyCat trackpad, D-Link DSL-604+ Last edited by djn1; 05-29-2002 at 02:32 PM.

05-29-2002, 03:17 PM	#20
Craig R. Arko Site Admin Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 3,988	Well, 'init' is basically the parent process which spawns all the others. I'm assuming that by changing it's priority delerium's trying to make other kernel operations (like memory and process management) go faster. I've just set this to '0' as he suggests and re-booted. Everything comes up OK. It'll probably take some time in normal usage to see if there's a real benefit. I'd think it's a 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' kind of thing, but we'll see. Renice is a way to adjust priority of an already running task. I'd be willing to believe you wouldn't want to do that with a kernel process while the system is up so that's why it's done in the bootstrap file. AKcrab, have you noticed any changes yet?