[CandyMaffia]

hii everybody..

why does the rainbow wheel pop ups in most un-needed situations, for.example when I turn (rotate) a picture in iPhoto, the damn wheel always shows ups in every photo I turn around..and it's not only the iPhoto, it can be easy commands as quitting programs...i have only 128mb ram, but should it be so bad with so little..??can I do something to reduce the pop up times???

[nelliott]

Get more f*cking ram

Another 256mb or even 512mb if you can afford it will really help matters.

[khufuu]

I used to get it all the time and I have the RAM maxed out on my iBook.

What I had done which seems to have greatly reduced this is to:

1. Backup and reformat the drive
2. Create three partitions: 1Gb, 5Gb, 14Gb
3. Install OS9 in the 5Gb part.
4. Install OS10 in the 5Gb part
5. Move my swap into the 1Gb part
6. Move my /users in the 14Gb part

This has worked for me very well.

Just recently I re-installed the developer tools and I find I'm getting the wheel more often again but it's still much better than what it was.

[xtro]

You can't run your setup with 128 MB of RAM and expect adequate performance. Apple might tell you different, but anyone with an iBook will tell you otherwise, myself included.

384 MB of RAM is a minimum for an iBook running Jaguar. Anything less, and you are begging for the beachball.

[damosan]

Originally posted by CandyMaffia:
hii everybody..

why does the rainbow wheel pop ups in most un-needed situations, for.example when I turn (rotate) a picture in iPhoto, the damn wheel always shows ups in every photo I turn around..and it's not only the iPhoto, it can be easy commands as quitting programs...i have only 128mb ram, but should it be so bad with so little..??can I do something to reduce the pop up times???

First thing: get more RAM, as much as you can afford. OSX is hungry.

More RAM will certainly help but even maxed out at 640megs my iBook shows that colored frisbee all too often. Normally when using MS Word while on battery and in IE.

I'm not entirely sure what causes the beachball to appear but it's certainly helped along by the applications you are running.

I think the problem, at least in my case, is from using the MS tools (I don't ever see the disk in AppleWorks. I load a big sheet in Excel and beachball appears. Have autocorrect on in Word (and running on batter) the beachball appears quite a bit.

Damo

[CheesePuff]

Oh yeah it can be that bad with only 128 MB RAM. On my syste running Jaguar, it is using 400 MB of RAM just for the kernal.

Buy a 256 MB or 512 MB chip quick, and everything will get a big boost in speed.

[dvd]

how do you move your swap

[khufuu]

Once you have a 1Gb partition, it will automount under /Volumes/xxxx where xxxx is the name you gave it. At the terminal prompt you should see it when you do a 'df' command. Notice the disk drive number. It should be something like /dev/disk0s9. Depending upon your configuration, I think drives/partitions usually start at 9 and work their way up 9, 10, 11, ....

Now, you have to edit the 'rc' file. I did 'sudo vi /private/etc/rc'. I use the vi editor but you can use pico or emacs or bbedit if you want. If you page down in this file you will see a line something like swapdir=/private/var/vm. Comment it out by putting a # sign in front of it. On the next line put in the following two lines:

mount -t hfs /dev/disk0s9 /Volumes/xxxx
swapdir=/Volumes/xxxx

That's how I do it anyway. I got almost all of this from the macosxhints forums.

[macwalk]

Originally posted by CheesePuff:
Oh yeah it can be that bad with only 128 MB RAM. On my syste running Jaguar, it is using 400 MB of RAM just for the kernal.

Buy a 256 MB or 512 MB chip quick, and everything will get a big boost in speed.

I just received my 512 strip and inserted it into the ibook and its running at a very good rate of speed. I can actually run Photoshop and Cinema 4d at the same time and I dont have annnnnny problems at all!

Memory is Key!

[Chadrino]

I did what Khufuu described and there's a noticeable difference. I ran into several differing opinions about what commands to use in the terminal to change the swap files to a different partition, so I just downloaded Swap Relocator. It appears to have worked, the system created a .vm folder on my Swap partition.

It looks like Swap Cop is supposed to be a better program, but it apparently won't work with 10.2 and the developer is holding out for people to pay him before he updates it.

To move the users folder, I found a page that had all the terminal commands that were needed by searching for "move users directory in os 10.2" on Google.

I also have 640 mbs of RAM, so that helps as well.

[xtro]

I did what Khufuu described and there's a noticeable difference.

The Placebo Effect always amazes me.

Unless you're moving your swap files to another hard drive totally, you won't see much of an improvement. Another partition? Hey, if you're into 0.5% speed bumps, then go for it.

I think you're seeing this speed up because you want to believe.

[khufuu]

Yah. Go take one....

[Chadrino]

Originally posted by xtro:


The Placebo Effect always amazes me.

Unless you're moving your swap files to another hard drive totally, you won't see much of an improvement. Another partition? Hey, if you're into 0.5% speed bumps, then go for it.

I think you're seeing this speed up because you want to believe.

Thanks for your opinion, I take it you're a professional psychologist who has a deep insight into the minds of people you've never met?

Actually, I moved the swap files last. It's the reformatting, partitioning, and moving the user files that made the speed increase apparent.

I used to have a Powerbook 667 DVI, and I can tell you that for the things I do, this computer is equal and sometimes faster.

I think the best thing is keeping the system/applications on a smaller partition and files on the larger one.

As far as the Placebo effect, I also want to see a brand new BMW parked out front with the keys in my hand, but it's still not there. Even though I want to believe.

[xtro]

I've tried it enough times, and installed the OS on numerous machines with numerous configurations... the miniscule improvements you MIGHT (but probably not) see are not worth the effort.

Your "faster" iBook should make up for the time lost doing the messing around by some time in 2006.

[Mojo]

This just goes to show that OS X is Not Yet Ready For Prime Time. Charging loyal Mac users to beta test the new operating system reminds me of General Motors and...GASP!...Microsoft.

At this rate the operating system might be ready by the time it becomes OS XII...

[dvd]

yes os x is sooo not ready with what apple has to offer, hardware wise. so sad.