I'm just curious...

[Qrios]

I'm kinda hoping someone could enlighten me a little bit.
Limewire is running smoothly on PC. Too bad bad for me, I use os x. I always upgrade to the latest version, because it features "dramatic improvments." On os x (and os 9), using limewire gives me the feeling of swimming upstream in glue. It must be possible to improve this, I have thought many a time. Then I think: I know I ain't the only one who's noticed this, so why haven't this been done? Is is not possible? In that case, why? I've tried out an app called fern, which runs fairly smooth as far as user interaction comes. I think it's cocoa based (although it doesn't tell me anything), couldn't this been done with limewire?
All in all could anyone give me an enlightening answer to why the "dramatic improvments" never will include a smoother and faster user interaction?

Please. I am awfully curious.

[Theala Sildorian]

I had a problem when I switched from OS 9 to OS X that the program seemed very sluggish when switching tabs. Tweaking the window buffer memory and increasing the RAM for Limewire helped immensely. I made the following changes:

1) I changed the window buffer that allocates memory for saving the contents of each window. I found this hack in the April 2002 of MacAddict. Go to Library>>Preferences and open com.apple.windowserver.plist in TextEdit (MacAddict recommends using Psuedo to do this, or you can open Terminal and use the sudo command because if you screw up this hack you can damage your OS). Be sure to make a copy of the file before you change it in case you mistype something and have to change it back.

Then look for the FIRST <dict> tag, return down a line and copy in the following:

<key>BackingCompression</key>
<dict>
<key>compressionScanTime</key>
<real>5.000000000000000e+00</real>
<key>minCompressableSize</key>
<integer>8193</integer>
<key>minCompressionRatio</key>
<real>1.100000023841858e+00</real>
</dict>

Save the file and restart your computer.

2) Changing the memory Java uses when running Limewire requires a simple change to the runLime.sh file in Applications>>Limewire:

java -mx128M -ms128M -jar RunLime.jar

This line has to be pasted into the file to replace the original line (in my file, it was the last line of the file).

USE WITH CAUTION! I am not a programmer. I tried this and it works great--but I make no guarantees. I advise you to read up on this before you do it, and ask questions of people more knowledgeable than me if you are unsure.

Good luck!

Thanks for detailing the procedure. You are right, it is a scary proposition, though. I wish LimeWire or some wiz kid would post a script that could do it for us.

If you are not comfortable working in the Terminal, you are otherwise stuck with two bad choices, poor performance or no LimeWire.

[Theala Sildorian]

As long as you don't make any changes as root, then I don't believe the underlying system is affected--just your User profile. The Unix core of OS X opens a lot of doors for Mac users--but also lots of pitfalls. I'm enjoying learning how to tweak my system--it's fun--but I make sure to keep anything I don't want to lose backed up or on my external hard drive

Thanks. I printed your instructions. I need to read the chapter in OS X The Missing Manual, on the Terminal, and then get brave.

[Theala Sildorian]

Let me know how it goes

Okay, but I'm a slow reader, and not too brave.

[Qrios]

Thanks Theala.
Tried to modify the com.apple.wind.... -file, but had somewhat problems overwriting the file. You said to open the file in textedit, and then said something about pseudo and Terminal. Was it wrong for me to try to modify the file in textedit? If i should change it in terminal, why did i have to open it in textedit?

Well, i also changed the runlime.sh file, and it did much. I am grateful.

[Theala Sildorian]

Originally posted by Qrios
Thanks Theala.
Tried to modify the com.apple.wind.... -file, but had somewhat problems overwriting the file. You said to open the file in textedit, and then said something about pseudo and Terminal. Was it wrong for me to try to modify the file in textedit? If i should change it in terminal, why did i have to open it in textedit?

Well, i also changed the runlime.sh file, and it did much. I am grateful.

It's not exactly wrong to edit files in TextEdit--I do it all the time. But it's not recommended, esp for Unix novices. I shouldn't have said it, and I should have been clearer about Psuedo and Terminal.

If you backed up com.apple.windowserver.plist like I said before editing it, then no worries. Just Trash the altered file, and replace it with your backup. Then make another backup. Use Psuedo to open your new com.apple.windowserver.plist file and cut and paste the text I sent you in the previous message as I described, save and exit. You will have to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

I am curious--when you mention having trouble overwritng the file, did it actually overwrite? The date of the file in the View window will tell you. If it didn't overwrite then I don't think any changes were made. Are you having problems with your system after the overwrite problem?

The Terminal is a command line window that allows you to access the Unix Core of the Mac OS X operating system. It is a very powerful place, and if you know what you are doing you can do incredible things with your computer. You can also jack it up royally if you are not careful. Normally, you can't access files that are part of the core OS X. In fact, you can't even see most of them using the graphical interface (GUI)--to view them you have to use the text based Terminal. You also can't make changes to them unless you are in root or superuser mode-- which is Unix speak for Master of the Universe (also known as the superuser) But to do that you have to logout as your regular account and log back in as root. Even if you are the only user on your Mac, it behaves as if there are multiple users or accounts--each with a password. So to save time, Unix has a shortcut: the sudo command (short for superuser do). You type sudo and either use programs from the sudo command prompt or type a single specific command without having to logout as your User ID and logback in as root, then logout as root and log back in as your User ID. See how useful sudo is already?

Anyway, in usual Mac style, there is a graphical workaround--a shareware program called Psuedo that does what sudo does in the Terminal window from your desktop. Just go to http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/psuedo.html.
There you can d/l Psuedo. Once you've installed it, open it. Then drop and drag com.apple.windowserver.plist onto Psuedo and it will allow you to alter the file as root.

If you don't have it, then I highly recommend Mac OS X: The Missing Manual by David Pogue. It tells you a lot about the Unix core of Mac OS X. There's also a Unix for Mac OS X which covers Unix basics for beginners, also from Reilly Press (tho I forget the author at the moment).

I'm glad the change to the limewire file went well. Let me know how the rest goes and if I can be of any more help.

Thanks again. But for people who could not get the link to work, there should be an underscore between Brian and Hill, looks like this _