Speed Up Mac OS X.2...

hulkaros

hulkaros

The Incredible...
I installed Jaguar...
I installed its Security Update...
I installed its update: 10.2.1...
I installed iTunes 3.0.1...
And then I saw some speed improvements here and there compared to my 10.1.5 setup but when I tried the following:
-Booted with Install CD
-Loaded Disk Utility
-Repaired Privileges
-Restarted
...the speed of using my Mac really went UP!!! :eek:

Then, I went on and did the above same thing on my other Macs and the same thing happened... All of them seemed to be faster! In some cases A LOT FASTER...

I don't know if anyone posted the above thing before (If I'm double posting I am sorry) but for those who missed it: Try it and you will gain some more performance from you Jaguar experience... Hopefully ;)

Note: Some of the Macs where upgraded from Mac OS X.1.5 some of them where fresh installs of X.2

Go ahead and give it a shot :D
 
I am doing a clean install of Jag in a few days ... maybe I can run some benchmarks and see if you are right.
 
...let me explain:
Before 10.2.1 & 3.0.1 updates Jaguar was faster than 10.1.5 in most areas...

After updating some apps seemed to be more responsive and faster... Heck, even System Preferences felt snappier!

However, after doing the previously mentioned fix of priveleges even logging-in/out + shutting down was faster!!!

Also, the majority of apps seemed to be loading faster...

As I mentioned earlier the Jaguar experience got better overall... What I know for sure is that I used the trick before updating Jaguar and I didn't see that much of a difference :(

But, boy-oh-boy, did I see difference after applying updates+the trick... Oh boy! :D
 
It depends on what permissions are false, of course. Also it seems that updated or archive installs tend to be slower than clean installs.

I've tested this on my TiBook, which I have clean installed with Jaguar a week ago, and I haven't noticed any improvements - meaning: It was fast even before.

The tip should be the following:

1. From time to time, you should update prebinding. Use a utility you can find on VersionTracker.

2. From time to time, you should boot from the Jaguar installation CD and a) repair your system volume and b) repair the disk privileges. Btw. don't bother verifying disks and privileges, it only takes time, always finds something and it'll check it again for the repair, anyway.
 
Hey Fryke, I just saw another post that said prebinding was not required on 10.2 - http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22981

10.2 is said to manage this itself now. Is this true? Is there an advantage to this utiltity vs just doing it in via a terminal command: sudo update_prebinding -root /

Thanks in advance.

Hulk... I'm going to try your suggestion right now on my G4 450. Just for fun! Thanks.
 
ive heard its true, but whats the harm in making sure? :)

i like to run those things, and occasionally diskkeeper, keeps me system happy!
 
I just updated prebindings from terminal command line, and it worked! I haven't seen IE start so fast since 9.2.2. Terminal, Mail, other apps--all are much quicker on opening now.

Impressive.
 
Well, I did it too and it seemed to prebind 1361 out of 1372 files. Here are the last few lines from my terminal:

2002-09-20 22:58:30.359 update_prebinding[438] Prebinding files (1360/1372 complete)
2002-09-20 22:58:39.970 update_prebinding[438] Update_prebinding done.
2002-09-20 22:58:39.972 update_prebinding[438] 0 files successfully prebound, 11 files unsuccessfully prebound.

So if 10.2 takes care of prebinding on its own, why did I have 1372 files that needed to be prebound ?(not a smart a$$ question - I just don't get it). I'll run it again for fun.

hulkaros - I did your disk utility / repair privelages thing and I can't tell - I THINK things might be a little snappier, but I'm not sure. What I am interested to see if any of this helps me with 10.2 finder freezes I have been having.
 
It is because you updated prebinding. It is not just adding new stuff. It is starting from 0 and redoing all your prebinding.
 
Originally posted by karavite

2002-09-20 22:58:30.359 update_prebinding[438] Prebinding files (1360/1372 complete)
2002-09-20 22:58:39.970 update_prebinding[438] Update_prebinding done.
2002-09-20 22:58:39.972 update_prebinding[438] 0 files successfully prebound, 11 files unsuccessfully prebound.
Click to expand...
I also get something like this.
0 files successfully prebound. This says it didn't do anything, does it?
During prebinding I get some messages like "Couldn't be prebound cause it has a resource fork"
 
Since updating the prebindings I've been trying all my apps and services. System Preferences now opens faster than ever before and is much more responsive. Appleworks is QUICK! It was quick before, but now it is very, very quick. MacJournal, Mail, Terminal, all my Office V.X apps--all now open very quickly.

Even iCal opens more quickly.

All in all, I'd have to say that it worked.
 
Updating prebindings may make your applications launch faster, but I doubt they run faster. What's changed in Jaguar is that the system now checks and (if necessary) updates prebindings for each individual app when it is launched. This of course takes a little time. Apparently, doing a system-wide update allows Jag to skip its own one-at-a-time checking, at least for a while.
 
genghiscohen, thanks for that info. My impression was that Jaguar seemed to be self-repairing. I didn't know that it updated the prebindings, but what I did notice was a gradual improvement in performance after the initial install.

And, while all this is terribly subjective, and it is probably safe to say that the apps don't "run faster," the improvement in response and launch time does make a difference for this user. :)

Having said that, and as I remarked above, Appleworks in particular does appear to "run faster." By that, I mean that when I open an RTF file, for instance, the conversion process is very quick now. Text processing--typing, editing, etc.--is much crisper. It no longer feels "gluey," as it did for a while. The same is true of MSWord.
 
Even if prebiding from the terminal doesn't do anything, it does make me feel like a psuedo unix geek and that is kind of fun! :D

Seriously, isn't it funny how the thing that made the original Mac was not having to mess with command lines and now that we have them in OS X, we can do all kinds of cool things with it? Perhaps the reason for this is that unix is and always has been more flexible, adaptable and superior to DOS?
 
I actually wiped my hard drive (manually), installed 9.2.2, and then tried the 10.2 install. I found that 10.2 was pretty good but that a few things were running a bit slowly, such as the Users System Preference and shutting down was a bit slow. I remembered this tip (Repair Privileges) and decided to try it...

It certainly worked!

:D


I believe it repaired a few NetInfo related file permissions, if my memory is correct.
 
Hey, I did do a "before" and "after" comparison when I installed Jaguar, and it seems that it really does work. Some apps do launch faster, including System Preferences. There were a dozen or so files that were repaired.

In fact, my system is actually running as fast as I have ever seen it.

HOWTO: Repair Priveleges:

Put the Mac OS X Jaguar CD 1 in the drive and start-up your mac from the CD by holding C while you power on.
Once the installer loads, go to the "Installer" menu at the top of the screen, and select "Disk Utility".
Select your hard drive which already has an install of Jaguar, and click the "repair privileges" button.
When it has finished, you will have to do a manual restart by using the power switch. Then, you should be back into your system and running that tiny bit snappier. The whole process takes around 20 mins.

If it works, why it works, how it works, we don't know... but it seems to work.
 
I ran the Repair Privileges option again and found the same files needed correcting again. I wonder what is changing the permissions back again... I'm running 10.2.1. Anyone else see this behavior?
 
Since ram is so cheap right now, I decided to spring for the whole hog. I'm now up to 1gb on my iMac.

Just installed it, and though I was at 768mb and doubted whether the extra would make a difference, I was wrong. It has confirmed what everybody has said: Jaguar loves ram!!

The performance boost is significant and noticeable, and at today's prices, it is worth it if you've got the extra cash.
 
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