amanda@intercon.com (Amanda Walker) (11/28/89)
I discovered something very interesting this evening. This afternoon I installed System 6.0.4 on my machine in a new System Folder (so that I could revert quickly if necessary), without most of my usual INITs. When I ran SuperCard just now to remind myself of how slow it was, I was shocked to realize that it was running *much* faster than it ever had before for me. It's still no HyperCard, but it's into the usable range, which it hadn't been before. I'm not sure what INIT is the culprit, but I'm rather surprised that something would affect just SuperCard this way. Has anyone else run into this? Amanda Walker InterCon Systems Corporation amanda@intercon.com --
jk3t+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jonathan King) (11/29/89)
Amanda Walker writes: >I discovered something very interesting this evening. This afternoon I >installed System 6.0.4 on my machine in a new System Folder (so that I >could revert quickly if necessary), without most of my usual INITs. > >When I ran SuperCard just now to remind myself of how slow it was, I was >shocked to realize that it was running *much* faster than it ever had before >for me. It's still no HyperCard, but it's into the usable range, which it >hadn't been before. I'm not sure what INIT is the culprit, but I'm rather >surprised that something would affect just SuperCard this way. 1) are you certain that it is an init, and not the new improved system software that is the "culprit"?? 2) have you checked to see whether Hypercard is running faster, too? I could possibly imagine Apple system people tuning the system to help Hypercard and thus inadvertantly help Supercard. (It could be something small, like slightly improved resource handling, [note--I am making this up] or something else that is really very minor.) 3) how much memory do you have, and were you using MultiFinder? I have noticed that performance with some programs increases or decreases dramatically when given even a little more or less memory than usual. And inits do take up memory, don't they? Sorry about the silly questions, but it would good to know whether system 6.04 or something else would make Hypercard faster and Supercard useable. I would gladly rip out all my inits to speed up Hypercard noticeably, but as it is I'll make do until a certain unannounced but widely rumored enhanced version of a current software product put out by some company in California is released. And if we're lucky, said c.u.b.w.r.e.v. might include improvements in its scripting language such as real data types, better scoping of variables, improved access to resources, an (optional) less goofy syntax for some operations, (i.e. 'domenu "New Button"' is really goofy, in my opinion) a real script editor, (oh my soul) and an incremental compiler (hallelujah!). And while we're at it, I know some people would appreciate built-in support for some kind of Mr. Coffee drivers... jking
amanda@intercon.com (Amanda Walker) (11/29/89)
Well, I suppose it could be System 6.0.4, but that didn't seem too likely. Here are the INITs that I am still running: TMON Startup ColorFinder Desktop Manager Programmer's Key Responder Suitcase II Adobe Type Manager Here are the INITs that I was running before, in addition to the above: SuperBar Boot Paths Facade FPInit QuicKeys QK Cache Rear Window MF PLI Turbo Cache In both cases I was running a Mac II rev 1.2, 5M of memory, without MultiFinder (it being, in my opinion, a tool of the devil :-)). I didn't notice any difference in HyperCard's speed, although the improvement to SuperCard was a good 75% faster (8-bit mode on video board). For example, the "sliders" demo was absolutely awful before, and it's almost usable now... Hmm. Now that I think about it, another difference is that I have installed 32-bit Quickdraw in the interim. Maybe that's it... Amanda Walker InterCon Systems Corporation --
CHOOPER@acad.cut.oz (Todd Hooper) (11/29/89)
In article <1575@intercon.com>, amanda@intercon.com (Amanda Walker) writes: > I discovered something very interesting this evening. This afternoon I > installed System 6.0.4 on my machine in a new System Folder (so that I > could revert quickly if necessary), without most of my usual INITs. > > When I ran SuperCard just now to remind myself of how slow it was, I was > shocked to realize that it was running *much* faster than it ever had before > for me. It's still no HyperCard, but it's into the usable range, which it > hadn't been before. I'm not sure what INIT is the culprit, but I'm rather > surprised that something would affect just SuperCard this way. > > Has anyone else run into this? Well, considering that you had no inits running, your Mac is probably running faster overall, and hence the improved speed of SuperCard is a function of this. Mac users often tend to forget that practically every init steals some processor time somewhere. Whilst I'm not an expert on Mac internals, I've heard enough about how init's work to convince me you should keep them to a minimum. Unless, of course, you have a IIci ;-) -- Todd Hooper Computing Centre Curtin University of Technology PSImail: psi%050529452300070::CHOOPER Western Australia ACSnet : CHOOPER@acad.cut.oz Bitnet : CHOOPER%acad.curtin.edu.au%munnari.oz@cunyvm.bitnet UUCP : {enea,mcvax,uunet,ubc-cs,ukc}!munnari!acad.curtin.edu.au!CHOOPER