Cool Mac Gear

At this writing (Monday morning), my iBook has gone 10 days without a reboot. Performance is still not too bad, although there is some raggedness and it's not as lively as it was after a fresh bootup. A look at the pageout log in the PTHCPUMonitor Details window indicates why. Nearly 222,000 pageouts in 10 days. Actually probably more like eight or nine days, since none usually register during the first day after bootup. As usual after the first day, RAM usage is maxed out with 630 MB of the total 640 in use.

Checking the vm folder in the Go menu finds no less than 10 swap files have been created, although I still have 3.35 GB free space on my OS X partition, so there's lots of room for more. I suspect that having ample breathing room on the hard drive is one reason why performance doesn't go downhill as badly on the iBook after a few days of uptime as it does with my Pismo PowerBook, whihc has only about 1.1 GB free on the OS X partition after a fresh bootup.

Anyway, Things are still working smoothly and quickly enough that I wouldn't be inclined to reboot for a while yet, except that there is a PDF file whose contents I want to copy to the Clipboard, and I keep getting out of memory messages, so I will probably restart sometime soon.

Also, a reader who prefers to remain anonymous writes:

Hi Charles,

I recall from numerous past articles wherein you complain of seriously degraded OS and application performance over a period of 1-3 days. Are you still having this problem?

While I maintain strongly that drive configuration, maintenance and swapfile location is still a basic requirement to avoiding this, I have recently come across a small number of Real World examples where this is not the cure-all I would like.

So as not to poison the waters, I won't tell you what I suspect is the root cause, and I'm not yet promising a fix, but if you will indulge me, I've taken the liberty of attaching a small AppleScript application which is intended to help investigate and, hopefully, resolve this issue for you.

After you unstuff the app, run it once, and at the dialog, use the 'Log' feature to create and write to a file on your Desktop. Now just run the app and log every time you think about it, *especially* when you notice your performance is further degraded. Most importantly, run it immediately before you feel compelled to Restart (*before* quitting any open apps), and then again immediately after logging in (*before* you launch your application array), and one last time after your normal app array and workload is open again.

At that point, open the log file (Vnode_Log.txt), and copy and paste the contents into a reply email to me (please don't attach the log file itself; just include its contents).

With enough information, and some luck, we might yet get to the root of your problems, and, maybe, just maybe, apply some fix, or at least a better workaround than a Restart.

Cheers
Anon.

Sounds like a plan. I will be checking the little script out over the next few days, and will let you know how things go.

OS X Odessey

From Jenny Morgan

I am a late adopter of OS X.

I saw it when it was new, played with it in the stores and finally tried it on my Pismo. IT WAS AWFUL! Slow, slow slow. I almost immediately reformatted back to 9.2.2.

I've been a user since 1984. Remember System 2.0 and Finder 3.2? I still have those too, on my old Mac 128s and Mac 512s and Mac+, which by the way still run fine, like I have that much time to wait for something to boot.

At home I have a small network of 2 G3 all-in ones, 1 G3 desktop, (all of these have been upgraded to 400 or 500 Mhz and added PCI Firewire/USB cards and ethernet 100 cards), and also 2 Pismo 400 Mhzs. The whole darn thing runs on 9.2.2. Yes, with a 32Mb video card and an even faster upgrade to say a Sonnett G4 1Ghz, I could run OS X on these machines. But why?

For applications I run Adobe PageMaker, Illustrator, Photoshop, Go Live, Final Cut Pro 3, imovie, itunes, Nisuswriter, Appleworks, SETI @ Home, in other words, some fairly common stuff.

Then I bought a new (very rare for me as I prefer used machines to fix) 1Ghz dual MDD G4 Mac last February. One of the last to dual boot. This I thought was the answer as I could continue using all my old stuff.

Then I got a real taste of OS X...

Goodbye OS9.

Don't get me wrong, I plan on keeping my little network, but all of it will stay OS9, AS IS THE BEST THING TO DO WITH LEGACY MACHINES. All this upgrading is nothing more than earrings on a pig. If someone wants to use OS X, get a new machine. The old stuff just doesn't cut it. The MDD boots X faster than the G3s boot 9. Everything on the X MDD Mac is faster than anything on the G3s with 9.

Yes, I too miss certain features of 9 and wish for them back, but as a higher primate, I can adapt. Do I miss them enough to go back to 9?? Hahahahahahaha! Not a chance!

Apple is changing, the OS is changing, the world is changing. All you non-adopters out there... come on along! This is a WILD ride.

Do you still have a rotary telephone?

-Jenny Morgan

Hi Jenny;

Thanks for the thoughts and observations.

BTW, I don't have any rotary telephones, but we do use one that just pulse dials.;-)

Charles

Kernel Panic/Double Pump

From Jon Smith

Charles,

Greetings.

Thought I would chime in on these two subjects. I also have experienced the KP. It has occurred when I have my ZIO USB Compact Flash reader plugged in and my computer has gone to sleep. Upon waking, dimmed screen with multi-language dialog box, "You must restart your computer." blah-blah, hold power button... This is the only item (USB) that gives me this reaction. I just unplug it when not in use. I have an Asante Friendlynet self powered USB hub that is always in use without problems. It connects an HP psc 950 and an Epson ColorStylus 740. The ZIO problem did go away during one version of OSX but returned later. (can't remember which versions) This is no big problem since I use the reader as needed with pictures from my camera.

As for the double pumping, I found it a real pain with my Apple Pro Mouse (the clear one) I finally got fed up, went to my local Costco and purchased a.... Microsoft Wireless Optical mouse for $29.95! I know, I can hear the groans already... but big surprise, no more double pump! It has a scroll wheel, dual buttons and software drivers in the box for OSX that works! Who'd a thunk? I am impressed with this product. Yet, I am not running to my broker to buy MS stock... Quite frankly, I am also a little disappointed in the Apple Pro keyboard. It seems you have to "pound the keys" to get a response. The right shift key is my nemesis. It fails to capitalize most of the time unless I really exaggerate the action. I was excited to read about the Matias Tactile Pro Keyboard that uses the same mechanical switches as the old Apple Pro Keyboard (ADB) I am ordering one today. I will give you a review later.

By the by, I am using a G4/500DP with OSX 10.2.6 and a "gig-o-ram". Thanks for great reads! I have really enjoyed reading your Odyessy into X It has been fun to share your journey with you.

Yours,
Jon R Smith

Thanks Jon;

Glad you;re enjoying the ride.I'm 98% sure my kernel panics have been USB-related.

Glad you found a mouse that doesn;t require double-pumping, but the underlying issue is still OS X's input device support. I have never had that problem in OS 9 using the same devices on the same computers.

The Matias 'board sounds good. If you like mechanical keyswitches and positive key action, another one to checkmout is the MacAlly iceKey keyboard. You can read my review here:
http://www.applelinks.com/mooresviews/ice.shtml

Charles

OS X Favs

From Kim Peacock

Charles,

As you asked, here are my favourites:

Tinkertool-though its usefulness is waning as Apple improves X Eudora- I like the way it handles mailboxes. Apple's Mail is too slow and I hate drawers, Safari- Because Camino does not have Autofill yet. Other browsers (Firebird, Omniweb, Mozilla) are good too. MacReporter and NetNewsWire
Appleworks-Yes cause it's simple. I have also just today ordered ThinkFree Office on special at US$29.00 after trying it out. Tex-Edit MacJanitor
iCal
UrlManager Pro (though Apple's Bookmarks will encroach on its territory) The much-maligned .Mac- I will be renewing I used to like LiteSwitch but it conflicts with Macreporter ViaVoice (and I"m looking at iListen) Pastor for simple password control;-I am not paranoid so I do not need military-like encryption

But at the top of the list are:

Launchbar-definitely the most useful utility-I"m surprised it was not on your list. iTunes- which is always on.

(Notice: no Microsoft products)

One application that I have not seen filled in OS X yet is a radio tuner similar to MacAmp or Aladdin Tuner in OS 9 where I can tune in to Internet radio stations. I find iTunes default stations to be too limited and I have problems adding new stations through its "Advanced" feature. RealOne Player is also limited especially when compared to Real Player in 9. And why should I have to go to hunt for stations on various websites? I think there is an opportunity here for someone.

But I never go back to 9 anyway.

Kim Peacock

Hi Kim;

There's a lot of crossover between your and my lists.TigerLaunch is doing a good job for me, but I must try to get around to trying out LaunchBar.

Charles

Fave OSX Apps

From Chris Long

C:

Is it FAVE OSX (ONLY) APPS or is it FAVE APPS I HAPPEN TO BE RUNNING IN OSX? Seems like your list had a bunch of both.

Here are mine, in no particular order:

ASM -- i've forgotten what the 3 letters stand for, but for me this is indespensible. allows me to ignore that steenking DOCK and access my apps the good old os9 way, in a nice little sorted text list in upper RH corner.

FIRE -- for IMing. does it all, does it well.

WATSON -- better than Apple's Sherlock, and oh so elegant.

EUDORA -- I like Apple's MAIL okay but i'm still a Eudora guy at heart.

ITUNES -- I've got a 10G iPod. need i say more? HEAVEN!

NETNEWSWIRE (light) -- free and very cool. good for quick eyescans of all the headlines du jour.

QUICKEYS X -- How anyone can use a computer day after day without macros is beyond me. most of mine are very simple but save me countless hours of repetetive clicking/typing. quickeys for OSX is not the same as Quickeys for OS9 was, but it works reasonably well and it suits my mostly modest needs.

TEX-EDIT PLUS -- as you said, the Swiss Army Knife of text editors, ALTHOUGH (!) i hear that apple's new TextEdit will read/write M$WORD files, which will pretty much have me dancing in the aisles. "goodbye, M$ Word, once and for all -- and good riddance!"

ADOBE INDESIGN V2 -- my typesetting/design workhorse. quark xpress is dead. another case of "good riddance" ... ID2 is so far ahead of QXP that it's no longer a contest. long live indesign!

OMNIDISKSWEEPER -- a great little tool to show you why your hard drive is just a byte away from total overload, as mine often is -- lets you quickly hunt down the guilty parti(es).

These are my faves, as of today. tomorrow; who knows?

Chris

Hi Chris.

ASM = Application Switcher Menu, if I'm not mistaken. I agree with you about macros, although a combination of TypeIt4Me and AppleScripts in Tex Edit + do it for me. Word file compatibility in TextEdit will be convenient (these days I use DEVONThink and ThinkFree Word to open Word files), but TextEdit still won;t hold a candle to TE+.

Charles

Favorite OS X apps

From Matt Schultz

Hi Charles,

In my dock are three apps you haven't mentioned:

1. Zippist - indispensable freeware that works perfectly. Create and extract cross-platform zip archives by simple drag and drop. Thanks to Zippist, I never use the old <sit> format anymore. I use this thing all the time and it will always be in my dock.

2. Mail Siphon - I have yet to find a spam eliminator that works anywhere near as well as Mail Siphon. What makes it even better is that I am deleting all this stuff directly off the server and it never gets downloaded. I have both Classic and OS X versions of this awesome program that lets you peer into and manage upstream from your client systems, every email account and address you may have or control.

3. Wire Tap - more fabulous freeware, and it works really well. This app lets you record anything that's playing on your Mac, system sounds, anything. The other day I recorded a streaming net interview I wanted to review later but I knew the content wouldn't remain on the Wall Street Reporter site. Real Player wouldn't let me save it and QuickTime couldn't even access the file. Wire Tap gave me an aiff file of the whole audio interview on my desktop.

I use these three apps constantly, and the first two on a daily/hourly basis. I also use Fetch on a daily basis but I've used Fetch for so many years, I think it's just part of the OS (and FTP should be an integrated part of the OS, btw; I always thought that one should be able to FTP to a web site directly from the Finder).

Other daily use applications: Safari, Acrobat 5, GoLive 6, Executive Sync for back ups and Microsoft Office, especially Entourage (I'm not much of a supporter of MSFT's business practices but when they do something right, I'll give them kudos for it - and Entourage is the best email app in the market, hands down, no contest - it's what Mail.app wants to be when it grows up). I also use a very old version of Eudora via Classic, simply because it's filled with email going back years.

A few others that get used once and awhile: iMovie, iTunes, FCP 3, Sound Converter, @-Time (great little program), iWatch (a must have if you make public presentations; the stopwatch function is awesome) and PMX. TextEdit is a nice little program but I find it annoying that for robot UNIX text uploaded to a web site, I must default to SimpleText in Classic.

I do not like iPhoto at all. Heck, I can't even delete the photos on my camera's memory card. It's just not a very good program.

I would use Keynote all the time if it had timing features like PowerPoint. The fact is, PowerPoint is easier to use, is more robust and has absolutely key and required features and functionalities that Keynote sorely lacks. Keynote could be great but right now, it's just stagnant.

But anyway, if they took all of these apps away from me, I would miss Zippist, Mail Siphon, Wire Tap and Entourage the most. The rest I could replace or live without!

Have a great weekend; thanks, Charles!

Matt

Hi Matt;

I use DropZip for creating Zip compressed files, and Mail Siphon is a fine little app, but POPMonitor performs basically the same function. Wire Tap sounds good. I don't really have a need for it though. I don;t use Microsoft software except in emergencies.However, a big beef I have with Outlook/Entourage on a functional basis is that non-standard single archive file. I prefer email apps that archive messages as either standard mbox mailboxes ot as plain text files (Nisus Email)

However, different strokes...

For another freeware file zipper, see Shareware Beat today.

Thanks for sharing your application favorites.

Charles

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

CM

Charles W. Moore