Apple releases broadband tuner 1.0

MacBytes · Nov 28, 2005, 06:41 PM

Category: Apple Software
Link: Apple releases broadband tuner 1.0

Posted on MacBytes.com
Approved by Mudbug

liketom · Nov 28, 2005, 06:46 PM

thats cool , but when i downloaded it it went straight into the installer? i thought 10.4 always had that download pop up?

but cool anyway

crazzyeddie · Nov 28, 2005, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by liketom

thats cool , but when i downloaded it it went straight into the installer? i thought 10.4 always had that download pop up?

but cool anyway

Same here. It must be one of those net-enabled DiskImages with some sort of Apple-trusted key.... sounds sorta like M$.

GKThursday · Nov 28, 2005, 06:54 PM

Ditto,
I did get a warning as it started installing, but it's a bit late at that point.
Yi+
Thursday

thejadedmonkey · Nov 28, 2005, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazzyeddie

Same here. It must be one of those net-enabled DiskImages with some sort of Apple-trusted key.... sounds sorta like M$.

This is where I spaz. Please, never ever ever ever compare Apple to M$ (No matter how similar they are :P )

mduser63 · Nov 28, 2005, 06:58 PM

I think this is Tiger only. Tried to install it on my Power Mac (running Panther) and it said that it couldn't be installed.

ITASOR · Nov 28, 2005, 07:04 PM

I'm hesitant to install this because my internet it working surprisingly well lately and I have a feeling this will end my happiness. Besides, how much faster can it make it?

mainstreetmark · Nov 28, 2005, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by liketom

thats cool , but when i downloaded it it went straight into the installer? i thought 10.4 always had that download pop up?

but cool anyway

I hate that stupid thing.

bluebomberman · Nov 28, 2005, 07:15 PM

Where does it install to exactly? I don't see how you uninstall it...

treblah · Nov 28, 2005, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by liketom

thats cool , but when i downloaded it it went straight into the installer? i thought 10.4 always had that download pop up?

but cool anyway

I'm guessing you have 'Open safe files automatically' checked?

samh004 · Nov 28, 2005, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluebomberman

Where does it install to exactly? I don't see how you uninstall it...

It mentions:

There is an optional uninstaller that can be used to restore the settings that were in effect at the time just before the system parameters were changed.

So I would assume you just launch it again and select uninstall if need be.

bluebomberman · Nov 28, 2005, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samh004

It mentions:

There is an optional uninstaller that can be used to restore the settings that were in effect at the time just before the system parameters were changed.

So I would assume you just launch it again and select uninstall if need be.

Okay, not entirely intuitive to launch the installer to uninstall it...but your answer sounds plausible enough.

Internet's working, at least, so I'll stick with it.

runninmac · Nov 28, 2005, 07:26 PM

So im takin it wont help for standard homenetworks? (if i even understand what it does?)

dejo · Nov 28, 2005, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mainstreetmark

I hate that stupid thing.

Would you prefer malware instead?

iGary · Nov 28, 2005, 07:56 PM

Not touching this one.

dejo · Nov 28, 2005, 07:59 PM

Does anyone know if this will have much effect on the following setup: Mac to Airport Base Station via Airport Extreme, Base Station to cable modem via cat-5, cable modem to... well, you know the rest?

rdowns · Nov 28, 2005, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iGary

Not touching this one.

What he said.

DavidLeblond · Nov 28, 2005, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dejo

Does anyone know if this will have much effect on the following setup: Mac to Airport Base Station via Airport Extreme, Base Station to cable modem via cat-5, cable modem to... well, you know the rest?

Unless you have one bitchin' cable connection, I'm guessing no. I'm not touching this one... says for very fast connections (5Mbps or greater) and thats not me.

bentoon · Nov 28, 2005, 08:14 PM

I'll let this one pass as well,

xStep · Nov 28, 2005, 08:15 PM

Here is a short (Linux) tutorial about this very subject...
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2...cp_tuning.html

How I understood it was; when you have a very high speed network connection and the time for the packets to get from your box to the destination is long, your better off sending bigger chunks of data. It sounded to me part of the issue was that the client was waiting for acknowledgments that the packets were received correctly, before sending more data. If your sending more data per packet, your waiting on fewer receipt notices.

So, it doesn't sound like this will help your internal network which has high bandwidth and very low latency.

I wonder what happens when this goes through a router. Does the router have to be tuned too?

shamino · Nov 28, 2005, 08:19 PM

According to the Apple page, it is meant for people with high-speed (5M or faster) links with high-latency. In other words, satellite users.

People using satellite broadband often have problems with internet access, because of the high latency, relative to the bandwidth. You've always been able to hack around this by tweaking some system parameters (increasing the size of the TCP buffers). This application simple performs the tweak for you (increasing the send-buffer to 128K and the receive buffer to 350K) using an Apple-supported installer.

It doesn't do anything you couldn't do yourself, but the self-contained installer should (hopefully) prevent people from making mistakes that might cripple their networking capabilities.

iMeowbot · Nov 28, 2005, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mduser63

I think this is Tiger only. Tried to install it on my Power Mac (running Panther) and it said that it couldn't be installed.

Yep. Nothing wrong with your system, 10.4 is in the system requirements. You can, however, still get the same effect by using the sysctl command from the terminal.

Eidorian · Nov 28, 2005, 08:21 PM

My connection does seem a little more perky now. Then again It's 6 Mb at least.

mkrishnan · Nov 28, 2005, 08:23 PM

It's weird for Apple to release a one-off "tuner" instead of making this a configurable option in an upgrade to the networks preference pane....

shamino · Nov 28, 2005, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidLeblond

Unless you have one bitchin' cable connection, I'm guessing no. I'm not touching this one... says for very fast connections (5Mbps or greater) and thats not me.

Unless you've got a seriously crippled ISP, only satellite users will need this.

All other kinds of high-speed connections (like cable modems and leased lines) usually have very low latency.

The problem with satellite is that the speed of light can't be increased. A geostationary satellite (which is what you must use if your antenna doesn't have elaborate controls to follow it across the sky) must be at an altitude of about 36,000km. Light moves at about 300,000km/s, so it takes light about 0.12s to get to the satellite. Multiply that by 4 (you to the satellite, satellite to the destination, reply from the destination to the satellite, reply from the satellite to you) and you get about a one-half second (0.48s) round-trip delay.

So, when TCP sends a packet, it will be at least half a second before the ACK comes back from the computer on the other end. When you've got a high speed link, a LOT of traffic can arrive (or be sent) during that half-second. (at 5Mbps, a half-second is 2.5Mb or 320KB.) This is enough to easily overflow your buffers, causing TCP's congestion control to kick in, drastically slowing down the entire connection.

The workaround is to increase the buffers enough so that they don't fill up before the ACK packets arrive. This way, everything keeps on streaming nicely, without annoying slowdowns. Apple's choice of 350K for the receive buffer covers the estimated 320K burst, plus a little slack space.

Nov 28, 2005, 06:41 PM	#1
MacBytes macrumors bot Join Date: Jul 2003	Apple releases broadband tuner 1.0 Category: Apple Software Link: Apple releases broadband tuner 1.0 Posted on MacBytes.com Approved by Mudbug

Nov 28, 2005, 06:46 PM	#2
liketom macrumors 68040 Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Lincoln,UK	thats cool , but when i downloaded it it went straight into the installer? i thought 10.4 always had that download pop up? but cool anyway __________________ 18,000 miles is a long way

Nov 28, 2005, 06:54 PM	#4
GKThursday macrumors member Join Date: May 2005	Ditto, I did get a warning as it started installing, but it's a bit late at that point. Yi+ Thursday __________________ "War is not 'the best way of settling differences; it is the only way of preventing their being settled for you." - G. K. Chesterton: ILN, 7/24/15

Nov 28, 2005, 06:58 PM	#6
mduser63 macrumors 68030 Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Salt Lake City, UT	I think this is Tiger only. Tried to install it on my Power Mac (running Panther) and it said that it couldn't be installed. __________________ 20" 2.0 GHz iMac Core Duo, 1.5 GB RAM 12" 1.33 GHz Superdrive PowerBook G4, 768 MB RAM 2.0 GHz Black Core 2 Duo MacBook, 1 GB RAM

Nov 28, 2005, 07:04 PM	#7
ITASOR macrumors 68040 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Oneida, NY	I'm hesitant to install this because my internet it working surprisingly well lately and I have a feeling this will end my happiness. Besides, how much faster can it make it? __________________ Alumium MacBook 2.0Ghz C2D \| 2GB RAM \| 320GB HD \| Snow Leopard

Nov 28, 2005, 07:15 PM	#9
bluebomberman macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Queens, NYC	Where does it install to exactly? I don't see how you uninstall it... __________________ Treo 700p.

Nov 28, 2005, 07:26 PM	#13
runninmac macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Rockford MI	So im takin it wont help for standard homenetworks? (if i even understand what it does?) __________________ 2.0 Ghz CoreDuo. 2 GB Ram. 80 Gig HDD. Black MacBook

Nov 28, 2005, 07:56 PM	#15
iGary macrumors Demi-God Join Date: May 2004 Location: La Villa Strangiato	Not touching this one. __________________ Mac Pro Octophallus 2.8 \| 13" UMBP 2.26

Nov 28, 2005, 07:59 PM	#16
dejo macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: On the roadside	Does anyone know if this will have much effect on the following setup: Mac to Airport Base Station via Airport Extreme, Base Station to cable modem via cat-5, cable modem to... well, you know the rest?

Nov 28, 2005, 08:14 PM	#19
bentoon macrumors member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NYC	I'll let this one pass as well,

Nov 28, 2005, 08:15 PM	#20
xStep macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Blaine, Washington	Will it Help Home Networks Here is a short (Linux) tutorial about this very subject... http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2...cp_tuning.html How I understood it was; when you have a very high speed network connection and the time for the packets to get from your box to the destination is long, your better off sending bigger chunks of data. It sounded to me part of the issue was that the client was waiting for acknowledgments that the packets were received correctly, before sending more data. If your sending more data per packet, your waiting on fewer receipt notices. So, it doesn't sound like this will help your internal network which has high bandwidth and very low latency. I wonder what happens when this goes through a router. Does the router have to be tuned too?

Nov 28, 2005, 08:19 PM	#21
shamino macrumors 68040 Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Vienna, VA	According to the Apple page, it is meant for people with high-speed (5M or faster) links with high-latency. In other words, satellite users. People using satellite broadband often have problems with internet access, because of the high latency, relative to the bandwidth. You've always been able to hack around this by tweaking some system parameters (increasing the size of the TCP buffers). This application simple performs the tweak for you (increasing the send-buffer to 128K and the receive buffer to 350K) using an Apple-supported installer. It doesn't do anything you couldn't do yourself, but the self-contained installer should (hopefully) prevent people from making mistakes that might cripple their networking capabilities. __________________ In theory, theory is the same as practice. In practice, it isn't.

Nov 28, 2005, 08:21 PM	#23
Eidorian macrumors G3 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Indiana	My connection does seem a little more perky now. Then again It's 6 Mb at least. __________________ MRoogle it! hikari T7500 2.2 GHz / 4 GB / 320 GB / GMA X3100 / 10.5.8 chobimaru Core i5 750 2.66 GHz / 4 GB / 640 GB / 4830 / Windows 7

Nov 28, 2005, 08:23 PM	#24
mkrishnan Demi-God (Moderator) Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Grand Rapids, MI, USA	It's weird for Apple to release a one-off "tuner" instead of making this a configurable option in an upgrade to the networks preference pane.... __________________ Mohan

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode