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TheSpaz · Aug 28, 2005, 10:02 AM

Copy and paste this text into the terminal:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver Compositor -dict deferredUpdates 0

There you have it. Restart and see the difference for yourselves. Unfortunately, it doesn't fix the slow menu scrolling. I have noticed that running this command also speeds up other graphical things in Tiger such as Dock magnification and Minimizing... you'll see a lots better framerates when doing things.

Enjoy!

Chuckit · Aug 28, 2005, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by TheSpaz

Copy and paste this text into the terminal:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver Compositor -dict deferredUpdates 0

There you have it. Restart and see the difference for yourselves. Unfortunately, it doesn't fix the slow menu scrolling. I have noticed that running this command also speeds up other graphical things in Tiger such as Dock magnification and Minimizing... you'll see a lots better framerates when doing things.

Er...didn't we tell you about this months ago when you were complaining about how "slow" Tiger is? I'm pretty sure we did, since this fact was actually documented by Apple as soon as they brought Tiger out. Still good, I guess, just not new.

By the way, I haven't noticed that menu scrolling is noticeably slower than Panther.

rstevens · Aug 28, 2005, 03:21 PM

argh, this kills photoshop for me. what is the proper way to go back to normal, pretty please?

Goldfinger · Aug 28, 2005, 06:04 PM

What does this command do ?

TheSpaz · Aug 28, 2005, 07:08 PM

To go back just do:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver Compositor -dict deferredUpdates 1

TheSpaz · Aug 28, 2005, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by Goldfinger

What does this command do ?

This command simply turns off Beam Sync in Tiger. Beam Sync is when the graphics will only draw at the same speed as your monitors refresh rate so you don't see tearing in the graphics when things move. I'm sure you've seen tearing in video games and stuff when you spin around fast and horizontal lines break apart. Panther didn't have beam syncing and if you want Exposé to be as fast and smooth as it was in Panther, you must use this command to disable beam sync.

Although it doesn't help the menu slowness.

Chuckit · Aug 28, 2005, 08:21 PM

Do you have any benchmarks on this menu slowness?

TheSpaz · Aug 28, 2005, 10:36 PM

How would I benchmark my menus... it's visible... it's there on every Tiger computer I've tried (and I tried every kind of modern Mac with Tiger) so I believe it's a Tiger bug (or feature, but I don't know how anyone would benifit from this.)

I wish I could show you exactly what it's doing but, it's more of a "you gotta see it for yourself" kinda thing.

I'm sorry... I wish I could prove it to people... but, I don't know how.

TheSpaz · Aug 28, 2005, 10:44 PM

I tried Quartz Debug and I ran the Frame Meter... here's the results on scrubbing menus.

I opened the Apple menu (cause it's the same in every App), and I scrubbed up and down with the mouse.

iTunes (Pre Tiger App): 25-30 frames per second (the highlight stays right with the cursor)
Safari: 15-20 frames per second (the highlight skips around all over the place)

Detrius · Aug 29, 2005, 01:47 AM

I replaced my video card, and now Exposé isn't choppy for me anymore. I was using an nVidia GeForce 2MX and a Radeon 7000 to run two monitors. Now I have an ATI Radeon 9600 running two monitors, so I have Quartz Extreme as well as Core Image support on both of my monitors. This sped things up *tremendously* for me.

Now I just need to figure out what stuff I need to turn off so I'm not using so much virtual memory anymore... I turned of the web proxy and windows services, and I stopped running bit torrent for my pr0n, and now I'm down to 1GB from 3GB... that's useable.

wataru · Aug 29, 2005, 02:03 AM

I've always found BitTorrent to be a resource hog, even with more than 1GB of RAM and regardless of which client I've used.

I don't know what TheSpaz is smoking regarding "menu slowness" though.

CharlesS · Aug 29, 2005, 02:33 AM

Originally Posted by TheSpaz

Unfortunately, it doesn't fix the slow menu scrolling.

Oh no, not this crap again...

Chuckit · Aug 29, 2005, 04:38 AM

I thought maybe he'd found an actual instance of slower menu scrolling. As it turns out, he just found an even more inaccurate way to describe a minor cosmetic change while the menus still scroll at the same rate.

crooner · Aug 29, 2005, 04:44 AM

Okay... my curiosity is officially peaked.

What and how does this screw with Photoshop? (What version(s) of PhotoShop?)

Gimme the skinny.

rstevens · Aug 30, 2005, 10:52 AM

I'm not sure what it did to my Photoshop, but the result was simply not being able to launch the program- it bounces in the dock a bunch of times and dies. It works in another user account but not my main one. (this is after an OS reinstall and a Photoshop reinstall, plus moving back to previous versions of prefs files and .plists. It is Voo-Doo.