Cool Mac Gear

Memory Usage Getter is a cool little utility that graphically displays the memory usage of open processes and applications in a user-friendly interface through the use of visual representations as well as a table showing you all the information you want to know.

MUG Version 2.2.1 adds several new features, including Dock icon CPU/memory usage reporting, the ability to set the priority of processes (renice), a stacked overall progress bar, and complete control over the colors of the visual representations, dock Icon, and overall progress bar.

Memory Usage Getter's color-coded memory usage graph is now quite similar to the one in Memory Stick.

With Memory Usage Getter you can graphically monitor the memory/CPU usage of your applications and processes in a comprehensive list of open applications and their memory/CPU usage, which are sorted and displayed in either three different tabbed windows, or in one long list if you wish.

You can also customize the MUG user interface using a handy window.

Another MUG feature is the ability to kill processes from within Memory Usage Getter. Just select a process in any list, and press the "Kill" button. Memory Usage Getter will ask you to enter your administrator password, and if correct, will kill the selected process and then automatically refresh the list of processes.

New in this version:
• Added the ability to report memory and CPU usage via the Dock icon.
• Added the ability to set the priority of processes from within Memory Usage Getter (for those UNIX people out there, this is the equivalent of renice).
• All colors of the visual representations, overall progress bar, and Dock icon can now be configured.

Note that the shareware price of MUG will increase to $10 on Monday, May 26, until then, Memory Usage Getter is $5.00 shareware  

For more information, visit:
http://homepage.mac.com/simx/

Services in Mac OSX 10.2.6 Finder

From Henry Harrison

Hi Charles

Enjoy your columns, both here and at LEM. Just recently moved from my very valued Wallstreet to a new 12" Powerbook G4, which looks like it might be the cheapest, best Apple computer purchase I've ever made (first in 1982!). First experience of OSX, and while I'm taking time adjusting my workflow to the new environment, on the whole I think it is insanely better. Echo your positive comments about DevonThink, very cool program.

Anyway, I've got an issue with the Finder in OSX, which I suspect is so well known that no one is writing about it. I can't find it, though that may be just my poor search technique. When I'm in the Finder, and have a file selected, the services menu item shows no choices. Yet in other programs, such as Safari, the item shows up services such as PGP, which make sense in a Finder context. I'm suspecting that services are not fully available in the Finder as yet, but wondering if this is a problem with my install.

Is this something you have come across, is it such a well known issue that everyone but me knows it?

Look forward to hearing from you, thanks again for your columns, which I track daily.

Cheers
Henry
--
Henry Harrison

Hi Henry;

The behaviour you describe matches the way the Services menu works on my Pismo in 10.2 -- nothing appears in the Services submenu when I'm in the Finder.

Services only work in OS X programs at the discretion of the program's author. The are mostly found in Cocoa programs, but can be activated in Carbon programs as well.

Thanks for reading.

Charles

OS 10.2.6 and Other Stuff

From David Young

Charles,

Hi, I've been reading your column for about two years now- I've really enjoyed your OS X series. I've been an Apple user since 1985- I had an old II+ and IIe, and have been a Mac user since 1992 with my Classic II. I have also owned a Performa 630cd and a Powerbook 150. Apple sure makes some great machines!

I have a few observations and comments about my experience with os X. I have a slot loading iMac 500mhz machine with the CDRW drive. I upgraded the memory to: one gig of RAM and an 80 gig hard drive. I love this machine, it works so well and has not given me any problems. I purchased my Mac about two years ago, and it came preloaded with os 9.2 and 10.04. I used OS 9.2 pretty much exclusively until the 10.1 release came out, and then I switched over to os X full time. Currently I am running 10.2.3. I have found that several updates had some issues, and I always try to lock into an update that is stable and that does not negatively affect productivity. However, being a computer enthusiast, I usually tinker with my computer and the OS, so I will usually try out the new updates. 10.2.1 seemed to be pretty solid and reliable. 10.2.2 had some quirks, and I wound up downgrading to 10.2.1 until 10.2.3 came out. 10.2.3 seemed to have a good increase in speed and stability- all my apps worked flawlessly. I tried the 10.2.4 update, but had some problems and wound up back with 10.2.3. I stayed away from 10.2.5, because of all the negative posts that I read about it online. When 10.2.6 came out, I gave it a whirl, but found some strange issues cropping up- I had several freezes, and slowdowns. I had several apps go down for no reason, and I think Classic Mode was affected as well. I had problems running programs that I used to run in Classic. So, I am back with 10.2.3, which I think is a really solid version for my computer configuration.

Regarding speed: I find Jaguar to be perfectly responsive. In fact, my machine is more responsive than the laptop that my work gave me- a one ghz Pentium 3 with Win XP. I have a feeling that it may be due to all the RAM and my large/fast hard drive (Seagate 7200rpm) that I have. I think that I will be perfectly content with this Mac for many years.

There is one other thing that I wanted to mention. I recently picked up a 10gig iPod (the second generation iPod) at my local Target for $180.00 on clearance. It is otherworldly. It is by far the coolest gadget that I have ever owned. It works so well, and just exudes quality. You really need to just hold one in your hands to know what I am talking about. Anyway, with the new iPods out, I bet interested readers can find the discontinued models at good prices- while they last.

Best Wishes,
David Young

Hi David;

Glad to hear that you're getting good service and performance from your iMac, and for the observations about OS X versions.

10.2.3 worked well on the Pismo, aside from the memory leak problem. It was a bit flaky on the iBook and I didn;t upgrade from 10.2.1 after I erased and partitioned the hard drive. Don't think I'll be upgrading to 10.2.6 either. 10.2.4 was the all-round best build of OS X I've had on the Pismo. Goes to show that you can;t generalize.

Good point about the fast hard drive. I think the HD in the Pismo is one of the main performance bottlenecks.

The iPod is indeed cool. My son has one.

Charles

re: 10.2.6 slowdown

From Mark Rushton

Hi Charles,

Not sure if this will be helpful, but it's another piece of the puzzle. I've been running 10.2.6 since the day it came out (I'm the quintessential "early adopter") and have found it to be no better nor worse than earlier incarnations (if anything, I seem to be discovering new options in print dialogues, etc. that I don't recall seeing previously).

However... one interesting note. I've been forced to use Office v.X for the past week or two while editing a friend's manuscript. Word was left running for a day or so, even when not in use, and the darn thing slowly but surely ate up all available disk space on my disk. Quitting Word and running Cocktail, Jag Cache Cleaner, etc., gave me back my hard drive, but the system got reaaalllly slow before I figured out what was up. Note that I'm a special case anyway, as I'm running 10.2.6 on an original-series iBook with only a 3.2 gig HD (no more than 500megs free at any one time anyway). So - for me, at least, it seems that Word (even sitting idle in the background with a document open) is one potential culprit. YMMV.

cheers,
M.

Hi Mark;

10.2.6 on a 3.2 GB HD? You are adventurous!

It would be interesting to hear if others have noticed the Word issue you noted. It's not the culprit in my case 'cause I don;t use Word, except for occasionally my prehistoric copy of Word 5.1 in Classic Mode.

As I noted in yesterday's column, running Cocktail seems to help considerably, but you shouldn't have to be constantly running maintenance software just to keep your system usable.

Charles

10.2.6 slowdown

From Ronald Leroux

Hello,

I have been following this issue since I saw it posted on MacFixit.
I have not experienced this eventhough my hard drive is fragmented.
I have iPulse activated: it does not show any slowdown.
However, I noticed that when idle my computer uses less computing power. (down to high teens from low twenties as reported by iPulse.)

Salutation,

Ronald Leroux

Hardware : PowerMac G3 B&W 350 MHz, 1 Go RAM, 12 Go HD.
Software : Mac OS X 10.2.6, OS 9 9.2.2.

Hi Ronald;

Glad you're having better luck than I am with 10.2.6, although it seems to have settled down somewhat since I ran Cocktail yesterday.

I was definitely getting a slowdown yesterday morning (lots of pageouts; spinning beachballs, etc.)

I must check out iPulse.

Charles

Downgrading to 10.2.4 not that difficult

From anonymous

Charles,
What you need is the Jaguar Installer CDs, and the 10.2.4 combo update. Apple has instructions for doing an Archive and Install which is all you need to do prior to installing the 10.2.4 combo update to get back to 10.2.4. Instructions are here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120

If you need to redownload 10.2.4, it can be found here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=70168

The beauty of the Archive and Install is that you can set it to leave your user and network settings untouched. The only weakness is that if you moved any of your iApps out of the Applications folder, they should be moved back there BEFORE you archive and install. Otherwise you won't get the appropriate downgrade. Third party applications you don't have to worry about.

Sincerely,
anonymous

Thanks for the tips, A.

I have a complete collection of OS 10.2 udaters (including ones I never installed) as well as a 10.2 install CD set, so the process you describe should be doable.

Not sure whether I'll do it or try to stick it out with 10.2.6 for the duration. I'll see how things go. Running Cocktail routines seems to restore performance. There is a journalistic case to be made for trying to stay somewhere near the bleeding edge and finding workarounds.

Charles

I am sorry

From John Dennis

I am sorry that you are having the memory leak. I am glad that you got the macfixit article I sent you. I wanted to make sure you knew about this, but of course I did not see this until after you upgraded. You waited like you say you do, but these did not come out until after you upgraded which is a shame. I rarely use my computer for long periods of time and never leave it on unless I am downloading a big file so I have not really noticed any slow downs.

Hi John;

Well, it's more an annoyance than a tragedy. As anonymous suggested above, I could downgrade back to 10.2.4 more easily than I had thought.

Interesting point about how you don't often employ extended periods of uptime. I wonder how user habits in that regard would break down statistically. I often go for months without ever shutting my computer down, just restarting when I absolutely have to. Otherwise, it's just sleepytime when I'm not working with it.

Charles
3

The OS X Odyssey archives may be accessed here:
http://www.applelinks.com/news/odyssey/

CM

Charles W. Moore