Optimizing Leopard for G4 systems

[ptdebate]

Hi all,

I did a search and was unable to find a topic directly addressing this, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

This is more-or-less directed towards a particular user (you know who you are ) but I wanted to find out how to improve Leopard performance on my G4 tower by disabling some graphical features. Performance is great as it is, but when running multiple programs there is a performance hit and window animations chug occasionally.

 

[Xernicus]

Turning off the dashboard helps quite a bit, by typing the following into the console:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

and then

killall Dock

You can also turn off Spotlight. However, I find Spotlight very useful, so I can't personally recommend this unless you're running Leopard on an unsupported G4, or if you have a 4200RPM hard drive. It has been reported that disabling Spotlight will affect Time Machine, so don't turn it off if you use Time Machine.

Some more terminal commands:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

followed by

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Spotlight.plist

If you've got a video card capable of Core Image, you can turn off the Transparent menu bar via the "Desktop and Screen Savers" Control Panel, which should help a little bit as well.

 

[MatthewLTL]

Turning off the dashboard helps quite a bit, by typing the following into the console:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

and then

killall Dock

You can also turn off Spotlight. However, I find Spotlight very useful, so I can't personally recommend this unless you're running Leopard on an unsupported G4, or if you have a 4200RPM hard drive. It has been reported that disabling Spotlight will affect Time Machine, so don't turn it off if you use Time Machine.

Some more terminal commands:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

followed by

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Spotlight.plist

If you've got a video card capable of Core Image, you can turn off the Transparent menu bar via the "Desktop and Screen Savers" Control Panel, which should help a little bit as well.

I have already done all that. However I used Onyx to do that. I see you guys mentioned nothing about turning off the 3D Dock.

 

[eyoungren]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1723868/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1717100/

 

[MysticCow]

Use an app called ShadowKiller. There is a noticeable speed gain if you have it run when you log in.

 

[eyoungren]

Use an app called ShadowKiller. There is a noticeable speed gain if you have it run when you log in.

^^^ I use this, even on my Intel Mac at work. What it does, if you do not know, is kills the drop shadows on all windows systemwide (all apps).

For Finder windows this may be somewhat confusing because two or more windows can run together. It takes some adjustment, but it's worth it. I use it on all of my Macs.

Run the app again if you want drop shadows back.

 

[MatthewLTL]

^^^ I use this, even on my Intel Mac at work. What it does, if you do not know, is kills the drop shadows on all windows systemwide (all apps).

For Finder windows this may be somewhat confusing because two or more windows can run together. It takes some adjustment, but it's worth it. I use it on all of my Macs.

Run the app again if you want drop shadows back.

Believe it or not but I have tried these steps listed for speeding up Leopard. I have noticed SOME difference (such as turning off 3D Dock makes programs open faster) but when the 1GB of RAM Died in my eMac (Still in the machine) and it only is running off 512MB RAM The machine dont run any slower even though its operating on 1GB less RAM. Go Figure

 

[MysticCow]

Even though Unsanity went the way of the dinosaur, you can still download Shadowkiller from the Wayback Machine:

http://web.archive.org/web/20130401060111/http://www.unsanity.com/products

Look at the very bottom of the archived page and click "download" under the Shadowkiller title.

It also works under OS 10.10!

 

[eyoungren]

Even though Unsanity went the way of the dinosaur, you can still download Shadowkiller from the Wayback Machine:

http://web.archive.org/web/20130401060111/http://www.unsanity.com/products

Look at the very bottom of the archived page and click "download" under the Shadowkiller title.

There's really no need to go through the web archive.

A simple Google search for Shadow Killer reveals that it's still out there.

Here's a Softpedia link. There are others.

It also works under OS 10.10!

Yes, yes it does. I'm using it on 10.10.2.

 

[Altemose]

Disabling BeamSync has helped with the animations a lot. It should not be disabled on CRT displays though.

 

[jbarley]

I also use ShadowKiller, one thing I notice is that it will not remove the drop shadow from the main top Apple menubar.
Can anyone else confirm this for me?

 

[MatthewLTL]

ShadowKiller don't even open on my eMac it bounces twice and just closes out

 

[G4fanboy]

ShadowKiller don't even open on my eMac it bounces twice and just closes out

You never see shadowkiller app running. Just the GUI without shadows around the windows. Or with the shadows. Click on ShadowKiller is an on/off switch for the shadows on the GUI.

 

[MysticCow]

ShadowKiller don't even open on my eMac it bounces twice and just closes out

It auto closes. Check and see if the drop shadow is present on your windows. The title bar has its own shadow that cannot be disabled. ShadowKiller is working properly if it auto-closes.