Please convince me to be a happy Mac user

[beethovengirl]

No, I'm not a troll. I've been using Macs for over 10 years now, and I've always been a big Mac fan. However, I've recently become a bit disillusioned with my computer. First, I cannot print to the laser printers in my dorm because they require KLPR authentication, and KLPR has not been written for Mac OS X. So if I want to print on my dorm's printers, I have to convert the document to a postscript file, upload it onto my school's UNIX account, then print with lpr or psrev [if I want to print pg 2-3, for example]. This is incredibly awkward and time-consuming. I have complained to my school about this discrimination against Mac users, and they just told me it was not a priority for them to fix.

Second, I have a new Rev B 12" iBook 1 GHz with 768 MB RAM. This should be pretty fast for someone who uses it mostly for web surfing, e-mail, and iTunes, right? Well, whenever I quit Safari, it hangs for 2 minutes. When I restarted my computer today [before quitting Safari], I got a message saying, "The app Safari failed to quit and is not responding. If you wish to continue to logout by Force Quitting..." Force Quitting so I can log out?! I may as well be Ctrl-Alt-Deleting on a crappy Dell laptop. Plus, this past weekend, I used some Pentium 4's at a library, and Internet Explorer was so much faster than Safari. I'm on a 100 Mbps ethernet connection, so I don't think one can blame the speed of my ethernet connection.

Please console me!

 

[crazzyeddie]

The authentication with the laser printer I can't help you with... just sounds like a stupid system.

The Safari issue sounds like its an issue directly related to Safari. What webpages do you browse to? Pages with heavy Java/JavaScript? It could be an issue of that sort, or more likely just a bad install of the Webkit/Safari on your machine. Try reinstalling OS X (since this is the only way to fix that problem). You can do an Archive and Install which will take about 10-15 minutes and preserve all of your user data.

 

[beethovengirl]

The Safari issue sounds like its an issue directly related to Safari. What webpages do you browse to? Pages with heavy Java/JavaScript?

not really...I post on some message boards a lot. I read the news, etc. I notice that the amount of time it takes to quit Safari is proportional to how many windows I have open, but still, I don't think it should take 2 minutes to close a dozen windows.

It could be an issue of that sort, or more likely just a bad install of the Webkit/Safari on your machine. Try reinstalling OS X (since this is the only way to fix that problem).

I guess I'll try that, but my computer is new -- I wouldn't think that I'd need to re-install the OS a couple months after getting the computer!

Do you find that Safari is slow relative to Internet Explorer [on Windows]? Everything was snappier and downloaded faster on IE on XP.

 

[MacAficionado]

This is all odd!

Try things like repairing permissions, deleting preferences, etc. Once I had my Powermac become "slow", so I popped in Drive 10 and the volume structure was damaged. A little repair job took care of things.

The printing problem I have no clue about.

 

[robbieduncan]

Disckaimer: I am at work so typing this on a PC

Have you tried using lpr on OSX. It's a pretty standard Unix utility so is probably installed (or if it's not it's probably just a compile away).

OK that's not going to work. I have found tis though: http://www.macosxlabs.org/documentation/cookbooks/ncsu.html

It looks pretty involved but might solve your printing problem.

 

[jsw]

Just out of curiosity, do you keep up-to-date with Software Update and/or going to the Apple update site? Safari has seen some revs in the relatively recent past.

Also, have you tried clearing out your cache? It's disk intensive, and your PB has a slow disk. The reason, I think, that you're seeing IE as so much faster has to do with, among other things, the fact that the desktop P4 has a faster disk and, quite likely, more memory.

 

[jsw]

not really...I post on some message boards a lot. I read the news, etc. I notice that the amount of time it takes to quit Safari is proportional to how many windows I have open, but still, I don't think it should take 2 minutes to close a dozen windows.

Another thing - I've noticed substantial differences in Safari closing time on my old 1999 G3 PB when I use tabs (as opposed to windows) in Safari. I don't see the difference on my G5 (go figure ) but it's evident on the PB. This might help you as well - and I'm a big fan of tabs now anyway, since it keeps my desktop cleaner. Note that you need to enable tabbing in Safari's preferences, as you likely already know.

 

[jsw]

I found this Perl script that seems to be set up to allow the KLPR printing you need. Anyone on this thread Perl-savvy? Seems like a simple changing of some of the hard-coded things (like school name) might work. Maybe....

Also, check out this link and scroll down to the section on "Wolfcopy Printing for 10.3". Seems like a possible fit.

 

[Fukui]

No, I'm not a troll. I've been using Macs for over 10 years now, and I've always been a big Mac fan. However, I've recently become a bit disillusioned with my computer. First, I cannot print to the laser printers in my dorm because they require KLPR authentication, and KLPR has not been written for Mac OS X. So if I want to print on my dorm's printers, I have to convert the document to a postscript file, upload it onto my school's UNIX account, then print with lpr or psrev [if I want to print pg 2-3, for example]. This is incredibly awkward and time-consuming. I have complained to my school about this discrimination against Mac users, and they just told me it was not a priority for them to fix.

Please console me!

Ummm, you do realize you are running Unix right?
Why don't you just GOOGLE IT KLPR for OSX got quite a few hits....

 

[KCK]

No, I'm not a troll. I've been using Macs for over 10 years now, and I've always been a big Mac fan. However, I've recently become a bit disillusioned with my computer. First, I cannot print to the laser printers in my dorm because they require KLPR authentication, and KLPR has not been written for Mac OS X. So if I want to print on my dorm's printers, I have to convert the document to a postscript file, upload it onto my school's UNIX account, then print with lpr or psrev [if I want to print pg 2-3, for example]. This is incredibly awkward and time-consuming. I have complained to my school about this discrimination against Mac users, and they just told me it was not a priority for them to fix.

Second, I have a new Rev B 12" iBook 1 GHz with 768 MB RAM. This should be pretty fast for someone who uses it mostly for web surfing, e-mail, and iTunes, right? Well, whenever I quit Safari, it hangs for 2 minutes. When I restarted my computer today [before quitting Safari], I got a message saying, "The app Safari failed to quit and is not responding. If you wish to continue to logout by Force Quitting..." Force Quitting so I can log out?! I may as well be Ctrl-Alt-Deleting on a crappy Dell laptop. Plus, this past weekend, I used some Pentium 4's at a library, and Internet Explorer was so much faster than Safari. I'm on a 100 Mbps ethernet connection, so I don't think one can blame the speed of my ethernet connection.

Please console me!

Re Safari being slow to shut down. A while back on another site someone discovered that if they emptied the contents of their Safari Icon folder the program would shutdown much quicker. The Icon folder stores the little icons you see in your bookmark list next to the site's name. Depending on how many sites you visit this could be your problem.

Go to your home file/Library/Safari/Icons folder and see how big this folder is. If it is very large try emptying it out and see if this solves your problem. Of course you will lose all your little cute bookmark icons but I can live without them. I even changed the permission on this folder to no access so it doesn't start building up a bunch of these icons again and I have to keep emptying he folder.

 

[beethovengirl]

Ummm, you do realize you are running Unix right?
Why don't you just GOOGLE IT KLPR for OSX got quite a few hits....

Those are for OS 9. The first links from Google are at my stupid school anyway, which has some ridiculous obsession with KLPR.

In response to other posters:
1. I am running 10.3.4, which is rather current, right?
2. I have already repaired permissions.
3. yes, I use tabs.

Thank you, jsw, for all your suggestions. I will contact my school's IT dept, and ask if those KLPR workarounds will work. Also, thanks for the suggestion to clear my cache. I will try that. I do notice that Safari gets progressively slower as I open and close more and more windows, so that sounds like a good theory.

 

[beethovengirl]

Go to your home file/Library/Safari/Icons folder and see how big this folder is. If it is very large try emptying it out and see if this solves your problem.

It's 3.1 MB. Is that very large?

Thanks for all your help, everyone!

 

[jsw]

Mine's only 2.4MB, and I'm a Safari fiend. 3.1MB isn't that much bigger, but it can't hurt to trash it. If you're worried, archive it first (right or control click on the Icons folder and select 'Create Archive of "Icons"'). That way, you lose nothing.

Do this when Safari isn't running, of course.

10.3.4 is up-to-date. Latest Safari version is, I think, 1.2.2.

I think the disk is probably the main culprit, and you can't do much about that aside from replacing it, which is rather adventurous unless you know what you're doing.

 

[Fukui]

Those are for OS 9. The first links from Google are at my stupid school anyway, which has some ridiculous obsession with KLPR.

In response to other posters:
1. I am running 10.3.4, which is rather current, right?
.

Woah! What happened to my post??
Oh well... check here this may help.

 

[beethovengirl]

Woah! What happened to my post??
Oh well... check here this may help.

Thanks, that looks good. I forwarded it to MIT's tech support. You'd think MIT would be at the forefront of computer technology, wouldn't you?! hrrmpphh. Even Harvard lets its Mac OS X users print! [with some other authentication protocol that MIT is too lazy to implement] <sigh>

 

[jsw]

You'd think MIT would be at the forefront... Even Harvard lets its Mac OS X users print!

Well, go to a second-rate school like MIT and you'll get second-rate support.

 

[beethovengirl]

Well, go to a second-rate school like MIT and you'll get second-rate support.

Ha, tell me about it!

 

[KCK]

It's 3.1 MB. Is that very large?

Thanks for all your help, everyone!

I know of people who had much larger ones. My Icon file was a bit smaller but I noticed a speedup in shutdown speeds when I trashed my Icon folder.

 

[Mickmac]

I'm new here and I just got my G4 1.33 ghz power Mac and I an having a similar problem with Safari. I just got this like 4 days ago and it takes forever to open all the sudden...just to surf ebay it takes forever the "wheel" starts spinning. I have emptied my cashe and man does it take while to close out....DRAGS big time. I also am having problems with my garage band....I sold some A/V equip. to use this for Music & Video and now I don't know if it will hold up. I'm thinking about sending it back....hell my G3 imac holds up better (so it seems to me) Anybody???

 

[mkrishnan]

I know of people who had much larger ones. My Icon file was a bit smaller but I noticed a speedup in shutdown speeds when I trashed my Icon folder.

OMG, I hadn't heard about this. I just checked, and 5.8 megabytes. I'm going to try clearing mine too.

I notice slow times for shutting down Safari. My MO is to have many tabs open most of the time. Anyway, it doesn't bother me too much because I hardly ever shut down my iBook (once a weekish, usually involving a virus def update or s/w update), and I don't usually shutdown/restart Safari except for that.

Anyway, is there a way to disable Safari from keeping favicons? I don't find anything particularly appealing about them to begin with....

 

[KCK]

OMG, I hadn't heard about this. I just checked, and 5.8 megabytes. I'm going to try clearing mine too.

I notice slow times for shutting down Safari. My MO is to have many tabs open most of the time. Anyway, it doesn't bother me too much because I hardly ever shut down my iBook (once a weekish, usually involving a virus def update or s/w update), and I don't usually shutdown/restart Safari except for that.

Anyway, is there a way to disable Safari from keeping favicons? I don't find anything particularly appealing about them to begin with....

The way I did is is after cleaning out the Icon folder I clicked on the folder and went to Get Info and then changed the permissions on the folder to no access. This keeps the folder empty. When using Safari the first time you log onto a web site you will get the icon and you will keep the icon in your bookmark list until you close Safari. when you start up safari again you have a blank slate again as far as the bookmark icons go.

 

[mkrishnan]

The way I did is is after cleaning out the Icon folder I clicked on the folder and went to Get Info and then changed the permissions on the folder to no access. This keeps the folder empty. When using Safari the first time you log onto a web site you will get the icon and you will keep the icon in your bookmark list until you close Safari. when you start up safari again you have a blank slate again as far as the bookmark icons go.

Thanks...and no other negative consequences? This sounds pretty good.

 

[KCK]

Thanks...and no other negative consequences? This sounds pretty good.

No negative consequences and Safari shuts down faster at the end of the day. Due to the memory leak I make sure to shut down Safari every night before bed time.

 

[jsw]

Been using that suggestion for hours now. No downside aside from not seeing favicons in bookmarks prior to going to the site the first time each run of the app. Boo hoo.

Great, great idea!

 

[Crikey]

Those are for OS 9. The first links from Google are at my stupid school anyway, which has some ridiculous obsession with KLPR.

In response to other posters:
1. I am running 10.3.4, which is rather current, right?
2. I have already repaired permissions.
3. yes, I use tabs.

Thank you, jsw, for all your suggestions. I will contact my school's IT dept, and ask if those KLPR workarounds will work. Also, thanks for the suggestion to clear my cache. I will try that. I do notice that Safari gets progressively slower as I open and close more and more windows, so that sounds like a good theory.

This one says it's for MacOS X. It was the second on the list when I Googled. Google rawks.


Crikey