Guide: How to make OS3.x faster and more efficient. (Updated)

[AmigaMance]

But adding a accelerator, GFX card or FastRam
should speed up things more than some crappy patches.

 NO BLEEP! I bet nobody knew that! I think i will add it to my sig.

[AMC258]

The OS, but what about the applications?  Provector still runs faster on my A3000 than it does on my 2.whatever GHz Peecee.  And, it runs faster yet in native modes than with P96.
Turbocalc does some things faster on the real Amiga too.  Granted, not everything..

[dannyp1]

I don't know what happened here.  This started out as one of the best and most informative threads I'd read and now because a guy makes a joke it turns all nasty.  Lets get back to improving our OS's.  Not everybody has the extra $1000 to $1500 it now takes for an accelerator and good graphics card.  The patches are free and some can really help.  Just my thoughts.     Dan :-P

[Hyperspeed]

I think the urge to improve and meddle is an instinct all Amigans have so this cannot be surpressed, I mean MUI is a bit of a hack but I'm finding this quite a comfortable environment now.

Lots of diehards hate MUI but it gives you nice ways to present applications and a handy snapshot button to keep windows in place (there is a tool on Aminet called 'Snapper' which does this for non-MUI windows though).

Maybe all Amigans should strive to have a workhorse machine reserved for stable operation and a tinkering machine for experimenting with different patch combinations. A sort of quarantine system!

:-D

EDIT:

by AmigaMance:
Yes, Executive really enhance the multitasking ability of AOS. If "you" tend to run more than one CPU intensive program at the same time, it's invaluable.
If you, on the other hand, want to focus all of your horse power to one CPU intensive task only, it's better not to run it, since it consumes some CPU cycles itself and this will lead to a marginal slow-down of that task.
Personally, i have add it on the toolsDaemon's menu and i run it only when i need it.

Yeah I find this... best switch off Executive if you want to play Quake or watch MPG videos.

[Amigaz]

Have been running some of the patches AmigaMance mention for years without problems

Now I tested some I haven't tested yet he mentions in his posts and they seem to do good....

[AmiDude]

NO BLEEP! I bet nobody knew that! I think i will add it to my sig.

Don't be so upset dude...no need for that.
 :-D

[AmigaMance]

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[AmigaMance]

  The guide has been updated a few times with additional infos and corrections.
 If you have any good additional tips, advices, corrrections, etc. (on the topic) you can post them.


PS: Btw, mr_a500, i can't reproduce your problem with SmartWB (if this is what you were using) on AGA and CGFX screens. I don't know what causes it on your system.

[Hyperspeed]

Hmmm, some interesting tips for beginners:

· By typing avail flush into a command line/shell window you can flush all unused libraries from memory and display your largest available chunk of free RAM.

· By double-clicking the volumes button in a file requestor you can refresh the list (just in case a file is being constantly written to or you are multi-tasking)

· By using MultiCX you can utilise a 3rd button on Wizard 560-dpi mice to either use Shift or cycle between windows or screens quickly (without needing the Left-A M sequence. You can also use shortcut combinations such as Ctrl-Alt B to start a screen blanker instantly.

· Right-A C will copy text, Right-A X will cut text and Right-A V will paste text. This useful short cut will speed up your productivity, especially when cutting & pasting URLs in IBrowse.

· Using the PD program SysSpeed v2.6 can often help you identify where your system is slower. Get saved modules available on Aminet which contain info on other peoples' Amiga performance and use these as a benchmark to improve your own system. Sometimes you can identify jumper settings that need altering, sometimes you can update firmware or sometimes a software enhancement will make a difference.

[dannyp1]

Is it ok to use FBlit on an A4000d with a Picasso IV card and Picasso96.  The docs say not to but nothing is mentioned about that in this thread.  Thanks,   Dan

[guru-666]

a big fat thanks, this list is a great resource. Well done.

[guru-666]

a big fat thanks, this list is a great resource. Well done.
(sorry about the double post... not sre why)

[mr_a500]

PS: Btw, mr_a500, i can't reproduce your problem with SmartWB (if this is what you were using) on AGA and CGFX screens. I don't know what causes it on your system.

I tried many different smart refresh programs years ago (SmartWB included) and they all caused corruption in window background images.

I've been testing SmartWB again for the last couple days. Usually everything works fine, but twice I saw the same window background corruption. It happens a lot less often than before. I think it's a problem with icon borders because the corruption is an occasional shifting of the background image around icons. I use WB 3.1 and have my icons borderless (no stupid box). Before, I was using NewIcons to remove icon border, but now I use Birdie. This could be the difference.

Are you using WB 3.9? Maybe the new icon format in WB 3.9 fixes this problem.

[AmigaMance]

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[Amiduffer]

Thanks AmigaMance, I installed the ones I could install, and there's some improvement.

There was a slight discoloration in my WB background picture, but it was solved by reducing my colors from 16 to 8?? Hey, it worked.

[TNovosel]

Thank You for this nice tutorial.

Best regards, happy classic user!!!  :-)