Bootcamp / OSX : Issues

[bboucher790]

Let me first off by saying, I have only 512 mb of ram. However, I'm not a noob...I'm gettin more ram and i've been on systems with more than 512. Fairly new OSX user. I have a few concerns. Here they go:

#1 - Slow internet performance. Safari is fairly fast, Firefox is super duper slow. Neither are good. Safari's tabbed browsing is pathetic...killing the browser IMO. If Firefox worked as well as it does in windows, i'd be in heaven (yes I have the Universal version). Is there a program that allows you to open tabs in the SAME window, instead of having the advertisement you just clicked open in a new window? Frustrating.

#2 - When I'm in OSX, I cannot boot into XP from the Startup icon. It only shows OSX / Network. Is it supposed to be like that? Beta?

#3 - Wireless keyboard needs to be switched off / on in order to work in XP. Does not work on bootup. Normal?

#4 - How do I shut off the "Mac Startup Sound". Very loud. Very annoying. :).

#5 - Does FAT32 get recognized in OSX? IE: Make a partition so you can swap files from OS to OS.

There you have it. Probably had a few more issues I cannot remember at present time. Overall, I am very happy with my iMac. Great screen, great speed, and very VERY quiet. Gaming performance is very good. Future games will provide major problems for the X1600 though. Don't expect this system to be playin next year's games well.

OSX is great, once a multi-button mouse is used. Stubborn Mac users / Steve Jobs are living in the 90's with their 1 button philosophy. I get the simplified interface, but that's not the future of computing. I can navigate OSX like a dream with my G7 mouse and SteerMouse software. Keyboard shortcuts are so 1995 :). OSX is ridiculously fast, outside web browsing. Bootup time is insane...under 20 seconds. Shuts down in 5-7 seconds. I feel like I have a PC from the future....it's just that fast. I am a former Windows only user. I can safely say, that will change. OSX is just that good. Once Apple gets out of beta and releases the next version of their OS, watchout world....

[XPLORx4]

some answers:

4- adjust main volume control on MacOSX to reduce/mute the startup sound.
5- yes. FAT32 is recognized by OSX.

[bboucher790]

Has to be another way for 4. I don't want to lower my settings everytime I shut down the Mac. That's just stupid. Anyone got a clue?

[XPLORx4]

I may have found a solution to 4:

http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy/mac_support/mac_help/pages/0025-startup_sound.html

[bboucher790]

Sweet man. There we go. Thank the lord lol! They made it a "bit" too loud IMO.

[bdj21ya]

#1 Make sure to check your version of Firefox to be certain it isn't running through Rosetta. You can check this by going to "Finder -> Go menu -> Utilities -> Activity Moniter." You can check whether the firefox process is running natively under the "Kind" column. If "Kind" is not visible, make sure it is check in the "View -> Columns" menu. Native processes should all say "Intel".

If your version is not running natively, you can download the Universal binary for version 1.5.0.2 here (http://www.mozilla.com/products/download.html?product=firefox-1.5.0.2&os=osx&lang=en-US).

#2 is not normal. My Startup Disk menu gives the option to make OS X or the Windows volume the default boot disk.

[moo083]

Try running Camino instead of Firefox. It is based off the same engine as Firefox and also from Mozilla, but this one is made in XCode in Cocoa meaning it is super fast and, as far as I am concerned, is a very good browser. If you need more customization, try CamiTools.
www.caminobrowser.org

Also, how many apps are you running. I am in IT, and just a couple days ago, someone with a brand new mini complained that her computer was painfully slow. I went over and sure enough, she was nearing very low on RAM. Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder and click on the System Memory Tab at the bottom and see how much RAM is "Free". I suspect it might be pretty low. 512 MB is just NOT enough for an Intel Mac running ANY Rosetta apps. So if, say, your running MS Word, and Firefox, your RAM could be eaten up by Rosetta for MS Word, but that can easily affect Firefox performance.

As for #2, it SHOULD be there. Just to be clear, although I'm sure this is a dumb question, is this before or after you installed Windows (not necessarily after Boot Camp was run, but is Windows actually installed)? As bdj21ya said, this is NOT normal. Shows up for me there.

[bboucher790]

#1 - I am talking acceptable, but slower browsing performance in ANY Gecko based engine: Camino / FF etc...I tried them all. I tested right at bootup with sufficient memory. Seems like a rendering issue. Almost as if I didn't have enough video ram, which I know I do... Safari just scrolls like 2-3x cleaner for me. Gecko seems sluggish. As I mentioned previously, it is UB.

#2 - Yea, windows does not show up in startup...not sure why. I saw it there once, but never again. Not a HUGE deal, but a pain none the less. If it bugs me enough, i'l try to reinstall. I am waiting for Leopord anyways...

[bdj21ya]

While I'm sure you've probably already done this, I post for the benefit of anyone else reading this forum with a similar problem.

Make sure you have checked the box next to "Use Smooth Scrolling" in the "Advanced" tab of the Preferences (at least in Firefox). That made a huge difference for me.

[bboucher790]

That made it worse :).

[bdj21ya]

Things like this are really weird. Why would it make it better for me, but worse for you? I want to make clear that I don't doubt it at all. I've seen smooth scrolling really screw things up on 1.5.0.1 and previous versions of Firefox. But for some reason when I installed 1.5.0.2, smooth scrolling works almost as well as in Safari.

[kirreip]

if you conntect to the internet wireless, maybe this could help you: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=427462&tstart=0

try out the command before you change the /etc/rc file to look if it helps.

"the problem with this is that, often, edits made to /etc/rc will be overwritten by future updates to Mac OSX" and that's why I recommend the tool from this page:
http://systemsboy.blogspot.com/2006/02/delayed-ack-startup-item-for-intel.html

use it until apple releases a fix...

hope this helps

[bboucher790]

Nope. I connect through a wired router. 6mbit connect...super fast. I'm also quite educated when it comes to internet issues. I do use a "wireless mouse". A G7 to be exact. I'l try with a wired...see if that helps...highly doubt it though.

[kainewynd2]

bboucher790,

Do you happen to have an anti-virus installed in OS X? I've seen various issues with Sophos and McAfee where upon Firefox or Camino launch (moreso with Firefox) and afterwards that the virus scan will continuously monitor anything being done by the browsers which, as you know, would be a major pain. That and the VS will probably be running in Rosetta which isn't a very good idea.

BTW, can you post your RAM stats when you are experiencing the slowdowns in the browser - maybe a screenshot or just some notes?

You said 6mbit through a wired router... is that your incoming pipe and do you share it? I'm assuming you've tested other machines (Windows, Linux, OS X on PPC) using the gecko engine browsers to see if this isn't someone going nuts with Bittorrent, right?

As for tabs in Safari, you just have to enable the feature:
Open Safari, go to Safari in top left, go to Preferences, Tabs, Enable tabbed browsing. I also check always show Tab bar.

As for #2, did you happen to do a reinstall of your OS X drive or a reimage? It is possible to set up the partitions on a machine with the Boot Camp utility and then reimage a machine to pre 10.4.6 and still have Windows installed and working. This is the only time I did not have the Windows drive available in the Startup Disk pane - after upgrading to 10.4.6 again everything showed up correctly.

Also, you may want to reapply the combo updater for 10.4.6 if you are up to date as that may help.

[displaced]

I'd suggest reserving judgement on any and all speed issues until you've upped the RAM.

OS X *loves* RAM. Really. Going from 512MB to 1GB is like night and day.

[bboucher790]

bboucher790,

Do you happen to have an anti-virus installed in OS X? I've seen various issues with Sophos and McAfee where upon Firefox or Camino launch (moreso with Firefox) and afterwards that the virus scan will continuously monitor anything being done by the browsers which, as you know, would be a major pain. That and the VS will probably be running in Rosetta which isn't a very good idea.

BTW, can you post your RAM stats when you are experiencing the slowdowns in the browser - maybe a screenshot or just some notes?

You said 6mbit through a wired router... is that your incoming pipe and do you share it? I'm assuming you've tested other machines (Windows, Linux, OS X on PPC) using the gecko engine browsers to see if this isn't someone going nuts with Bittorrent, right?

As for tabs in Safari, you just have to enable the feature:
Open Safari, go to Safari in top left, go to Preferences, Tabs, Enable tabbed browsing. I also check always show Tab bar.

As for #2, did you happen to do a reinstall of your OS X drive or a reimage? It is possible to set up the partitions on a machine with the Boot Camp utility and then reimage a machine to pre 10.4.6 and still have Windows installed and working. This is the only time I did not have the Windows drive available in the Startup Disk pane - after upgrading to 10.4.6 again everything showed up correctly.

Also, you may want to reapply the combo updater for 10.4.6 if you are up to date as that may help.

#1 - I now have 2 gigs of ram. I actually didn't notice "night and day" differences in OSX. XP, on the other hand recieved a very nice speed boost. OSX cruises at about the same speed.
#2 - NONE of the programs I use are Rosetta, cept for a very minor few that wouldn't be open. I have well over 1 gig free. These engines do not opperate smoothly on a fresh reboot, with no other programs open. And yes I hit command q to close programs.
#3 - No Anti-Virus
#4 - I have Safari tabbed enabled, it just sucks. HORRIBLE preferences for them...doesn't work the way I want it to. I want one window mode and I don't think it's possible without some sort of extension. I couldn't find one, but it may very well exist somewhere :).
#5 - I installed XP right after I got my iMac and followed exact directions. For some reason, XP shows up more often now....who knows :).
Thanks for everyone's time :)