Any Recommended Tweeks for OS9.2?, Performance Tips Options

Hello.

I am a relative newbie to Macs and the depths of it's OS's. I had just finally got me a G4 1Ghz Dualie w/1.5GB ram, a few months back, and its performance is not too bad,,, I must confess I was expecting something a bit more spectacular. Perhaps, this is simply due to the simple fact that I have no clue yet how to optimize my machines performance. Can you suggest any real good, tried and tested tweeks to help improve overall system performances and stuff for us neophite or even intermediate Mac musicians?

One example of a concern: When I try to load an Instrument or even a sound in Reason 1.0.1, it seems to hang for a while, takes quite a bit longer for the Reason module to load and finally appear (approx 8-12 sec!!!) on my G4 as it would on my lil P3 500Mhz peecee beastie (within 1-3 sec). Why is this? There has got to be a tweek for this, I even tried boosting reasons memory to almost twice the required amount

Another issue I am having is Macs retartedly SLOW browsers, any good suggestions for a nice quick browser? or any tweeks to speed up a relatively slow browser like,,, oh, lets say: IE ,or what have you?

Oh, and how the heck do we best defrag our drives??? My mantra used to be 'Defrag Daily' until I got a Mac.

Thanks for any help. Cheers!

[Francois Déchery]

others good tips in random order:
(sorry for the english.....in advance...)

- Turn AppleTalk Off IF not connected to a (CLEAN) network. (apple talk is NOT an issue, as sometimes wrotten incorreclty on some web sites, IF you're truly connected to a clean apple network.)

- as written, Turn OFF virtual memory.

- to increase drive responsiveness (VITAL on older protools systems) DECREASE the CACHE settting, in the memory control panel to something between 312 to 512k... This deserves your finder experience, but it increases some app's dik access time....

- CHECK TWICE ANY CARD/SCSI drives termination and FIRWMARE versions (most serious performance problems links to diks/cards related problems)

- as stated B4, turn off any unwanted extensions. The most trouble-free/safe configuration is to have two partitions: ONE music dedicated, with ONLY the extensions REALLY needed by the music stuff (Digi, Motu, OMS..... extentions ON! And all those network, internet, languages, java, colors, assistants, etc.. turned off in the extensions manager.. beware that some innocent extensions still remain needed for some music apps... only experience willl teach you... starting from the 'Mac OS 9.x Base' set is anyway a good start... ) and one second partition with all the others stuff (internet, games, office, phtoshop and such...). You just have to change your startup disk and reboot to choose between your music config and your 'computer-general-use' config. It takes two minutes longer to switch, but your music  startup disk ALWAYS stays clean and READY to go and NEVER gives you any trouble, while you can experiment the most dirty shareware on your general partition system... saves time....

- sleep sometimes, and try again tomorow ;-)

-if your machine accept it, install a clean English 9.04 system on your music partition (use whatever you want on the other general partition, even OS X). IMHO the 9.04 OS is the most stable/compatible/fast sytem for music applications. OS 8.6 is even faster and really more stable, but some apps,  now require os 9 libs.

- In your Energy Saver control panel, set the sleep time to NEVER, for all (if your in advanced mode)

- turn your display setting to 32000 or even 256 colors (most music program don't use more, except for video quicktimes)

- get your disk defragmented as often as needed (Nortom Speed Disk do the job pretty well)

- Be sure to get the PROPER driver for any additionnal gear you may have (interfaces, cards, printers, etc..) alway try to have the MINIMUM extensions setup in your music partition.

- USB is shit... hubs, bad drivers, slow, inefficient, unstable ... Alway test your setup with the MINIMUM USB gear connected, and when tested, add each new USB device, carefully checking if it not adds more trouble than services.... (cheap USB often hubs produces terribles troubles...)

- Remenber to kiss your girlfriend!

- PCI cards combination / old firmware / incompatible cards produce also serious performance problems.

- increase your application memory allocation (some apps like it a lot ;-) )... beware that some others apps/engine like the Digidesign DAE, need it (proportionnally to the plug-ins size) but really behave strangely if this memory allocation if OVER sized.

- be sure that your mac firmware is up to date.

- rebuild your destop (ALT+COMMAND at startup) when you experience finder/disk/icon related problems.

- Zap your PRAM (ALT+COMMAND+P+R at startup)  if your mac behaves unexceptedly or when adding a serious card upgrade (PCI chassis, new processor....)

- alway make your tests using your mac stand-alone (disconnect all periphericals, THEN, add each one, and watch carefully if this peripherical is 'SAFE' )... Most macintosh computers are strongly build from factory and most issues are third-party issues....

- one personnal: always start in the mind that your machine config IS rock solid and it WILL!!! (think during one second that your mac is unstable and bugs every day, and it will...)


HTH