OS X--incredibly slow

[twister]

Originally posted by thedbp
In OS X, the Finder is just another app which gets no more or less favor than any other app when trying to find processor time.

I love this because that means you can force quit it without effecting any other apps.

[Stridder44]

Yes, OS X can be slow at times...hell, maybe a deal of the time. But remember what kind of hardware Mac OSX is running on....a processor built on 10 year old technology, SDRAM, a 100mhz system bus (on avarage, can vary)...people this isnt normal. The PC world, as you know, is going on much newer processors, DDR or even RDRAM, and 533mhz bus speeds. Just imagine what OSX might be like if it had those same values to work with...yes, a much faster, more responsive OS. But OSX isnt all speed, its about stability too. OSX is the best and most well built OS around.

[fishbonex]

I have a long post in the graphics forum about this.

I work on my mac for a living, and I regret upgrading to OS X. Speed is the issue, I need it and currently it just simply takes too long to do simple taks in X. I love the OS, so long as I'm not working in Photoshop/ImageReady or Dreamweaver.

All my files are low res, so it's not a file size problem. All my programs are updated (DW MX, PS 7, IR3) so that's not the prob. I have 10.2.4 installed, so that isn't it either. I have 832 Mb installed, so I would like to believe that is not the issue. The only thing I can think of is that it just doesn't work well in older G4s (I have an original 400), and if that is the case I wish I heard more honest feedback about it before I switched.

Please, I want to LOVE this OS, I really do. I love it's stability, it's cleanliness and it's networking abilities. But as for the meat, well, gimmee OS 9.2.

[bobw]

I have a G4/450/AGP and OS X was too slow to use, compared to OS 9, until I put a 1GHZ Powerlogix upgrade in it, then it ran great and haven't gone back to OS 9 since. Then I put a Radeon 8500 graphics card in and got another boost, Machine runs great now, 1.25GB Ram.

[fishbonex]

Thanks Bobw!

An upgrade like that costs about $500 clams, though, right? Although it's cheaper than having to fork out the dough for a new machine, it's not all THAT much cheaper, ya know? For $1100 more I get a kick-ass new machine.

But thank you, most mac users (I consider myself a Mac Evangelist, by the way. I swear and live by them) seem to be unwilling to admit that OS X might not be good for everybody. I knew I couldn't be the only person who was having problems like this.

[tonbo]

Any way to somehow modify the new machines to boot into OS 9? There has got to be a hack.

[bobw]

This is from MacFixIt;

ALERT: Booting Mac OS 9 on 2003 (Mac OS X only) Macs

After months of searching, it seems that we have finally found a solution for booting Mac OS 9 on Macs released after January 1, 2003 - which are designated as exclusively capable of booting Mac OS X by Apple.

Apple recently posted a new file to its private Apple Service Provider web page (accessible only by account-holding Apple technicians and resellers) titled "MacTest Pro for Power Mac G4 (March 2003) Version 7.8.1 supports all iMac (Flat Panel) 15 inch systems only."

The file is a CD image which can be downloaded and burned, then used as a startup disk. Testing in "Mac OS X-only" flat panel iMac system revealed that the image properly booted Mac OS 9.

Users can then copy a stripped-down Mac OS 9 system folder to their hard drive, and select it with the "Startup Disk" System Preferences pane, delivering a Mac OS 9 bootable internal disk.

It appears that a new MacOS ROM file (ver. 9.8.1) allows booting from the image.

Of course, this solution is only readily accessible by Mac service providers, but it shows that Mac OS 9 boots are not impossible on Apple's new machines. Also, please note that Mac OS 9 startup was not tested on any machines other than the 2003 flat-panel iMac.

UPDATE: The iMac tested in this report had a serial number later than xx303xxxxxx. Knowledge Base article #86209 states that these models boot Mac OS X only.

[tonbo]

Hmm . . . doesn't help my 17-inch flat panel iMac . . .