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| 2005/11/21-23 [Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:40679 Activity:moderate |
11/21 I've noticed that the OS X Terminal.app and xterm etc are all
slower than xterm / rxvt on Linux/x86. Even a 500 MHz P2 has
quicker response than a 1.33 Ghz G4 when you are logged
into a server via SSH. I'm wondering what could be the cause
of this lag. Is it something that can be adjusted? I find the
sluggishness the only think holding me back from using a Mac
for Everything. Any ideas, suggestions?
\_ X is in emulation on OS X, and Terminal sucks. You could
try one of the Terminal replacements like iTerm, if text speed
is really that important to you. -tom
\_ I just tried iTerm, it seems slower than Terminal.
Why can't a Mac running OS X be as snappy as on old
linux box running at 500 Mhz? If I ran linux on my G4,
would it be more responsive in X?
\_ gee, maybe because the system isn't optimized for
displaying text in terminal windows quickly. Running
linux on a G4 is a dumb idea. -tom
\_ How fast of a Mac would I have to get to match the
text displaying quickness of a P2 500 MHz linux box.
\_ look, the mac is just too good for you, so get with
it and stop being a twink. obviously "text display
in a terminal window" is a difficult and unsolved
problem. when apple solves this feat, the world will
be ready for it. until then, youll use your one button
and like it! go away, kid, shoo!
\_ Do you like Mac OS X?
\_ Of course! Nothing is better than Mac OS X.
It is flawless! The Mac is flawless! Anything
it can't do you shouldn't want to do anyway,
because we have a better way.
\_ Re Linux on the G4 - It has been a few years and yellow
dog may have improved, but Linux on PowerMac was always
a big hassle. It was not worth the trouble. Besides,
why would you switch to Linux from OS X? I mean OS X
has iTunes, Word, Excel, OmniGraffle, Photoshop, VPC,
Toast, Acrobat, &c. and it is basically *nix underneath.
If you don't use any of that stuff, why would you get
an iBook, when you can get a pc laptop much cheaper
and just install linux on it?
\_ What else the Mac running? Are you comparing to a P2 running
linux w/ no X11 and no other users?
I haven't really seen this problem w/ my OSX systems, but some
terminal tips you might be interested in trying are turn off the
unlimited scrollback buffer, rewrap lines on resize, disable
blinking text and disable anti-aliasing.
\_ The P2 is running Linux 2.4, XFree86, fvwm2, and rxvt. The
Mac is Tiger, Aqua, X11, fvwm2, rxvt. Thanks for the tips
for Terminal.app. I've tried those but they didn't change the
behavior. I was wrong about the P2. It is 232 MHz, not 500.
\_ I don't think I understand your problem. Is it:
1. When you ssh into your mac the response is slow? OR
2. When you ssh from your mac into a different system
the terminal is slow?
I'm wondering if this is a ssh config issue rather than
a terminal issue. A couple of other questions:
\_ (2). 768MB 1.33GHz G4 iBook.
1. How much memory does your mac have? Running X11 and
fvwm on top of aqua can use up a lot of ram and OS X
quite the ram hog.
2. Are you using color ls? I've noticed that color
anything in the terminal slows it down considerably.
\_ Turned off color, behavior still exists. Booted
into text mode http://hacks.oreilly.com/pub/h/348
(no-aqua, no X1) behavior still exists.
\_ Turned off color, behavior still exists. Is there
a way to boot into text mode and run ssh from the
command line, ruling out aqua display issues.
(no-aqua, no X1) behavior still exists. Wow!
\_ You might want to try GLterm:
http://www.pollet.net/GLterm
It is ugly as all get out but it does seem
much faster than terminal/xterm/rxvt on my
g5.
\_ Not any faster on my G4.
\_ I have no idea, maybe this is a problem
w/ the cipher or key negotiation in ssh?
I wish I could have helped you. sorry. |
| hacks.oreilly.com/pub/h/348 Link to this hack The Mac OS X GUI, Aqua, can be kept from loading by making two simple cha nges on your Macintosh. The first involves manipulating the Open Firmwar e, the second a BSD configuration file. Verbose Booting Verbose booting shows you the actual process of Mac OS X's startup. This command should work o n any recent (New World) Macintosh: sudo /usr/sbin/nvram boot-args="-v". You can get the same re sult by holding Command + V at boot time, but that will only work the on e time. Modifying the boot-args will cause Mac OS X to always boot verbo sely from now on. Bypassing LoginWindow The second step in bypassing Aqua involves manipulating the file /etc/tty s We'll open the file up in the pico editor. To do so, enter the comman d: sudo /usr/bin/pico /etc/ttys. The file will open in pico and you shou ld see something like the following: # # @ttys 52 (Berkeley) 6/10/93 # # name getty type status comments # # If the console is marked insecure, single-user requires # the root password. app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow" Notice the two lines that start with the word "console"? The first one is commented out, which means that the second is used. To bypass LoginWindow, comment out its line by preceding it with a # mark. The pico editor does not wrap the line, so be careful that during your changes parts of the LoginWindow line don't get pushed down to the next line. If they do, use backspace to move them back, bein g careful to maintain white space. You've now switched which of the tw o lines is commented out. Save your changes by pressing Ctrl+O, then Ent er, then Ctrl+X. Reboot your system and you should now see your system's complete boot process and then be presented with a standard BSD-style l ogin. Reversing the Changes To resume normal booting, use the command sudo /usr/sbin/nvram boot-args= "". To resume using the normal login interface, swap the two console lin es in /etc/ttys again. View "Verbose booting shows you the actual process of Mac OS X's startup. This command should work on any recent (New World) Macintosh: sudo /usr/sbin/nvram boot-args="-v" " For some reason I still had to use Command-V to get my login prompt. fair warning to those who try this hack - I didn't know what to do other than shutdown via power switch.. just bought a G4 from a whole seller but i do not have original username or password. how can I by pass login promt so I don't have to re install os 10 * Works for me... Perhaps you need to try and use the 'nickname' that you setup for your account? MacOS X uses that short name as your actual username, and the full name for display purposes only. For example, if your name was John Smith, and you used jsmith as your short name, that would be the username. Logging in as root with the password you set for su or root should work, too. HTH * So what happens if you get stuck with verbose startup? View hey - I got this too - I tried my own user, i enabled root and tried this a million times. then i wondered how do you do a soft-reboot from console? is there a key sequence so I can avoid shutting my machine down via power switch? View When I change the /etc/ttys I end up at a login prompt for Darwin/BSD as planned. The usual graphical mode and the >console way work perfectly. I have no chance but using command+S to get back into the system. Using the approach documented here, there is only the message "Login failed". tty Sorry but i could not copy the code since i could not log in. View Yes, I'm having exactly the same result as snies -- no login allowed. I saw a list of option above the first login prompt, but I couldn't go back to read them. View I did make the change: # # @ttys 52 (Berkeley) 6/10/93 # # name getty type status comments # # If the console is marked insecure, single-user requires # the root password. app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow " and tried login >console each case i see a BSD login screen for 5 seconds then a plain blue auqua sceen pops up with a mouse and nothing else. View some how my Mac start up with Console instead of Aqua, so I tried to edit the /etc/ttys however, probably something wrong with the spacing, after restarted, I can't use pico neither vi anymore. View If you let pico word wrap and the line you commented out gets broken into two lines your ttys file won't boot you anymore (system hangs when it boots). You need to boot into single use mode by holding command + s during startup. View It's nice to see the console, but it wasn't on my Radeon, it was on the motherboard ati chip with the RGB out (Beige Desktop G3). Is there anyway I can it to output to the PCI video instead? I'd also very much like to know how to start Aqua from the command line. I have a G3B&W that i use as a server and most of the time have the monitor i share use on it hooked up to another machine. if i force reboot and forget to hook up the monitor it won't launch aqua which can be a pain. View I, with the help of Sorel, wrote a script to invoke the gui from the command line. app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow& /System/Library/CoreServices/WindowServer You have to log in as root when the machine boots for it to work. View I logged in using the ">console" login mentioned in another thread (which works great, btw) - I thought this might be a perfect place to test out this script - no can do - it went to a blue screen and spun the busy icon for quite awhile w/o coming back. View the hack described here shouldn't be necessary for most users. From the login window, if you type ">console" (without the quotes, just the greater-than symbol followed immediately by the word console) with no password, the aqua gui dissappears and you'll be given a console screen with a new login prompt. Once you exit that login session, you'll get the aqua gui back. View I tried logging in as >console in hopes of starting x11 instead of aqua, but couldn't get (apple's) X11 to start from the commandline - presumably because it wants aqua to show the menubar? Anyway of getting X11 to start from the commandline, or do I need xdarwin to do this? View How to set up logging into X11 as default -Note: Use this information at your own risk as I take no responsibility with reguards to any damage you cause any computer system by following these instructions. If you don't understand what you are doing by playing with your boot files, do not try this. dmg file which conatins the installer for a XDarwin based X11. do the following 3 run the installer and install everything ----if your default shell is already 'tcsh' skip steps 4-7 4 open NetInfo in /Applications/Utilities/ 5 authenticate 6 then change your default shell from bas to tcsh 7 save and exit 8 open a term window and type the following: -8a. now we need to edit the appropriate set up scripts to open X11 binarys instead of the finder and other core Aqua WM components. down at the bottom replace SystemStarter with /bin/XDarwin (btw, you might want to check on the file paths) 11a3. View This hack -- "logging into X11 as default" -- isn't working for me. I got the same result as snies, but I think that result is related to changing the /etc/rc for X11 default. Do I only need to change the LAST entry in /rc, or are there other lines I have to replace? I noticed that there is also a "SystemStarter -r" entry for "LanguageChooser." |
| www.pollet.net/GLterm -> www.pollet.net/GLterm/ Michel Pollet GLterm is a replacement for the Terminal application which ships with Mac OS X It's made to be faster, and to support more common terminal featur es. It supports full ANSI colors, all vt102 protocol, all DEC function k eys, and a selection of useful xterm sequences. as long as you have a working 3D accelerato r It should work as intended on B&W G3 and up for desktops and on White iBook and up for laptops: ie a machine whose 3D accelerator is handled properly in OSX. To this date (April 2002) Rage II, II+, Pro are not acc elerated. My extensive tests on: * iMac DV/400 (ATI Rage 128/8Mb) * 2*G4@450 (nVidia GeForce 2 MX/64Mb) * 2*G4@1Ghz (nVidia GeForce 4 MX/64Mb) Show that it's incredibly fast and very stable on all of these machines. Requests for support from non-registered users will have a n ear-zero priority. Registered users get the pre-release s, and do help setting the lists of new features, and their priorities. Please register to help me continue making quality programming for you! A: Well, OpenGL uses the graphic hardware in your mac, graphic hardware that is both vastly oversized for and vastly underused by most users, most o f the time. So instead of letting it become obsolete peacefully, why not use it for something useful? Beside, it keeps your computer room warm w hen in use, isn't that an argument? Apparently it was not such a silly idea after all, since Apple has h ad that wonderful innovation to speedup Laggua, into Jaguar, the next ma jor version of MacOS X Q: Why not use normal Mac fonts? A: Mac fonts don't have all the nifty graphic characters that a terminal emu lator needs. And the last thing I want in a terminal is antialiasing or kerning. I want a fast te rminal, not one that looks like a word processor. Lastly, the "Fixed" fo nts GLterm uses comes with a very small size that can't be matched by Ma c fonts. A: No, GLterm view is made by OpenGL, outside of Quartz drawing context. This is also why your window appears b lank when collapsed in the dock. A: They work, they are normal keys used by many terminal programs. If you wa nt to scroll in the saved lines, use shift page up/down. Q: Why doesn't 'ls' shows files with colors like in linux? A: You need GNU fileutils compiled for it to work, AFAIK, BSD(OSX) 'ls' does n't support colors. Refers yourself to GNU repositories to get color-ls Q: Why a "Refresh Rate" Preference? A: The Refresh rate is the frequency at which GLterm checks to see if there' s anything new to draw in the terminal. Smaller values will mean less fr equent updates but potentially faster overall performance; bigger values will mean more updates, hence more drawing, so potentially slower perfo rmance, overall. The "Refresh Rate" Preference defaults to 15 frames per seconds. Note that it doesn't mean 15 frames will be drawn per second i t just means the display is checked for dirty bits at that rate. A: "Pixels" in the OpenGL coordinate system have a very remote correspondenc e to screen pixels. In fact, attempting to have a 1:1 ratio between Open GL coordinates and screen pixels for texture boundaries (believe it or n ot, GLterm is drawing textured rectangles for each letter it draws) prov es to be very hard. For example, ATI and nVidia have shown completely di fferent results. As an attempt to help control the problem, you can try using a few key co mbinations to nudge the 'convergence' of the texture on the screen. Note you might not get a perfect result, it depends on the card you have. A good idea is to use Pixie (in /Developer/Applications) to have a closer look. The goal when fixing the convergence is to have black pixels witho ut 'shadows'. Update: The fuzzyness problem has vanished for nVidia cards with MacOSX 1 012 It still exists on ATI cards. Q: I'm using two screens, and GLterm appears all garbled on the second screen,why? A: It' s a known 'feature' of MacOS X, I have no idea when they'll fix that. Q: Why is it slow on my super <insert a mac model here> ? A: Sorry, GLterm is proven to be fast on a number of graphic cards, provided that the card has a driver supporting hardware acceleration for 3D on M acOS X Q: My <insert the same mac model here> HAS a graphic accelerator, it's writtenon the box! A: Having a graphic accelerator is not enough, you also need it to be suppor ted by MacOS X Not only in 2D (aqua drawing etc) but also in 3D. Q: When I try to type a <accented letter> it doesn't work, why ? A: GLterm handles Latin-1 translation for keyboard input and rendering. I am a freelance developer, you can contact me directly if you have any need of quality development on OSX. Warranty GLterm doesn't come with any warranty whatsoever. I cannot be held responsible for anything happening to you as a result of installing, possessing and/or using this software. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. I know that to be trendy and all I should type this section in capital le tters, but I hate my capslock key and typing all that whilst holding the shift key would tire my poor left pinky. Revision History Version 12 Changes: * Added 8 bits clean support, Latin-1 translation keyboard input and re ndering (ANSI & ISO8855-1 fonts supported) + BitchX, pine, mutt and other strictly ANSI applications now render perfectly. This one can be slow to print, but it's exactly what's on the screen, with cursor, double sized text etc included. This one doesn't even have the graphic characters, but it's really fast (uses Courier font) and reasonably accurate. Clicking it's icon in the dock can automaticaly open a terminal if none are already open. You can change and add your own keyboard macros there if needed. Version 101 Interface Changes: * Fixed a potential crash when creating several windows. profile or equivalen t * Added support for automatic closing of windows when shell exits. Version 10b5 Interface Changes: * Fixed a potential crash when displaying lots of text. Control-delete sends ^H * Control-space works again (for emacs mark). Emulation Changes: * Re-did most of the cursor positioning sequences. Known Issues: * Arrow keys do not seem to work in OSX's vi, while they work everywher e else. Version 10b3 Interface Changes: * Removed all the extra output that was ending up in the Console. Emulation Changes: * Fixed a cursor positioning problem involving scrolling region. Known Issues: * Preference window is drawn weirdly at first, change tab to refresh it . I will be able to fix that one once Metrowerks and Apple get us a working debugger. Version 10b2 Interface Changes: * Added a text-cursor for selection, then removed it. Appears to work properly Version 10b1 Interface Changes: * Input/Output/Display/Scrollback subthreads now lock themselves to pre vent races. Use shift with page-up, page-down, arrow-up, arrow- down, end, and home to move around in the buffer from the keyboard. The goal is to have black pixels completely black without a 'gray shadow'. If you find a good setting, hit control-home to save it in the preference file. |