Software acceleration of the CPU

Aren't those people just a reincarnation of Unicorn Software or whoever they were -- the code stealing people?

chevy: there's no way to get any more speed out of your computer through software. That software probably just "renices" the frontmost application, which may make it SEEM faster, but your computer is actually slower now, since it's no longer multitasking (background processes run magnitudes of order slower with this program).

There just ain't a cheap way of making your computer faster, without, well, actually, physically making it faster.
 
That software probably just "renices" the frontmost application
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isn't it the main purpose of the priority management in a multitasking system ?
 
I don't remember how I check the priority of processes. I used ps -aux to check all processes, but cannot get the priorities.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
Yep, keyword being "system." That's what's supposed to determine processor allotment -- not some hack 3rd-party software.
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BTW, I don't want the system to decide for me. I want it to keep operating and maintaining the smooth interface, but at the same time, I want "all" the CPU for the frontmost application. As an example, when I compile a movie in the background, the frontmost application should not be slower (of course the compilation will take more time).
 
chevy said:
I don't remember how I check the priority of processes. I used ps -aux to check all processes, but cannot get the priorities.
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Use the -l option. Then look under the column "PRI."

Ex: ps -auxl

chevy said:
BTW, I don't want the system to decide for me. I want it to keep operating and maintaining the smooth interface, but at the same time, I want "all" the CPU for the frontmost application.
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...but then that would be like using OS 9, where applications can hog the processor -- that'd be a step backwards. That's most definitely not multitasking. If that's the step you want to take, by all means, give the software a go!

You really don't want OS X to behave like that. Since at any given time, even when all your applications are closed, there are quite a few applications (or more correctly, processes) running, including the window manager and the dock. If you were working in PhotoShop (or Mail, or Safari, or ANYthing) and tried to access the dock, the dock would be almost completely unresponsive -- why? Because PhotoShop or Mail or Safari or whatever the "frontmost" application is won't let the dock use any CPU power to display or manipulate itself. Ditto for any other two or three or four processes and so on.
 
Noooooooooooo, not back to OS9, please.

But maybe there is something in between: all have minimal time so that no blocking.
 
chevy said:
Noooooooooooo, not back to OS9, please.

But maybe there is something in between: all have minimal time so that no blocking.
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That's how it is right now -- most of the CPU to the frontmost application unless a background process with a higher priority needs some of it.

OS X does just a fine job of distributing CPU time to all processes running. It's designed to and has a pretty efficient multitasking environment set up already.
 
Ok, I tried and check with ps.

Terminal is frontmost (of course, as I just type return for the ps).

Without CPU accelerator: priority of Terminal is 31
With CPU accelerator: priority of Terminal is 50

The main difference is the nice factor:

Without CPU accelerator: nice of Terminal is 0
With CPU accelerator: nice of Terminal is -19
 
Hmmm... how much of the slider bar are you using? Do you have it set to 100% acceleration?

BTW, this is the company I was thinking that made that software:

http://www.macunicorn.com/

You'll see that even they themselves admit that they were bashed by the entire Mac community. My favorite line is the one where they say, "Hey, we didn't steal and our stuff is legit and it works perfectly, and to prove it, we're gonna give it away! We spent days programming this, so please donate!"

What a bunch of crap.

Glad to see that the CPU Accelerator is more than I thought it was -- I still believe it's a simple program that "renices" processes, which you can actually do from the Terminal. Let us know if you really do see any kind of speed improvement and whether it still allows background processes to function normally.
 
I have put 95%. (Usually I think that 100% of anything is not the best choice)
 
Well, if Macunicorn's software just renices processes, it is possible that they could have written it in a matter of days, or even hours. The hardest bit would be getting the interface right (which for a non-Cocoa programmer like me will take a long time).
 
3mors: where does "top" show you the process priority? AFAIK, top shows you which process is consiuming what percentage of the processor, but the process priority is a specific number assigned to processes that determines how much of the processor that process can use related to other processes. ps -auxl shows the priority numbers, but where does top show those numbers?

Viro: I have no doubt in my mind that MacUnicorn wrote parts of that program in a matter of days. They were accused of stealing code! And if they weren't stealing code, why aren't they still around? They claim that even though they started giving the software away in order to prove that it was legit (how those two things go together, I have no idea), they would still update it frequently. As far as I know, development stopped the moment they started giving software away, or VERY shortly afterward.
 
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