Upgrading to an 8 core from a G5...

[MIDI Life Crisis]

... am not!

[Frodo]

Are, too!!

[mikehalloran]

>A visit to the Finale site and I discovered in a few seconds that opening Font Book and resolving duplicates would solve the issue, which it did.<

It resolves certain Word performance issues, too.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

That's the kind of stuff that would take forever to try and get fixed in the 'olden days.'

[mikehalloran]

>The only thing that is odd ... is to boot in 64 bit you have to hold down the 6 & 4 keys at boot up ... I thought there was a system pref for the processors but don't seem to see it anywhere.>

See Method 2 below:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3773" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Summary
Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard includes a 64-bit kernel. On hardware that supports the 64-bit kernel, you can choose whether to start up (boot) your Mac using the new 64-bit kernel or the earlier 32-bit kernel.

Products Affected
Mac OS X Server 10.6, Mac OS X 10.6, Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
You can use either of these methods:

Method 1: Startup key combination (for current startup only)

If your Mac uses the 32-bit kernel by default, but supports the 64-bit kernel, you can start up using the 64-bit kernel by holding the 6 and 4 keys during startup.
If your Mac uses the 64-bit kernel by default, you can start up with the 32-bit kernel by holding the 3 and 2 keys during startup.
Your Mac will revert to the default kernel the next time you reboot it.


Method 2: On-disk setting (persistent)

To select the 64-bit kernel for the current startup disk, use the following command in Terminal:

sudo systemsetup -setkernelbootarchitecture x86_64

To select the 32-bit kernel for the current startup disk, use the following command in Terminal:

sudo systemsetup -setkernelbootarchitecture i386

Note: This setting is stored in the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist file and will take effect every time you start up from this disk. If you start up from a different disk, the setting on that disk, or the hardware default, will take effect.

Additional Information
Keys held during startup (such as 3-2 or 6-4, method 1 above) will override the setting in com.apple.Boot.plist (method 2 above).
Note: Learn how to determine whether your Mac can use the 64-bit kernel and which kernel it uses by default.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Awesome info. Thanks.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

If I may, another question: Other than apps running in 64 that can, is there a distinct advantage or more importantly, any disadvantage in starting up in 64 bit?

Thanks.

[mikehalloran]

The only disadvantage is that some older apps and plugins may not run. Easy enough to figure out which when you are looking for it.

I am reading that the Intel cores actually run cooler in 64bit - a number of reports say about 40 degrees cooler but I have never tested it. My fans come on rarely. The big advantage is that the 4G RAM barrier no longer exists - not your issue yet.

I am still converting old PPC files so I'm not running the 64bit kernal except to test it a few times. I tested the terminal script to set the preferences last year.


Hmmmm... I wonder if my wife's new iMac, running Lion, boots 32 or 64. Something else to play with...

[cuttime]

You can use your cmd-I window to choose if the application runs in 32 (if it is available as 64).

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I'll try booting in 64 bit for a while and if I don't hit snags just leave it that way. More RAM early next month so that should move things along. Thanks for the reminder about the Get Info thing, c/t.

Interestingly, when I went to tweak my TIme Machine settings I discovered that there were no backups I could go to on this machine when booted from the cloned and updated startup disk. If I started up from the old 10.5.8 disk, the TM backups appeared. I went ahead and wiped the old 2TB TM disk (after excluding everything that was simply copied off a DVD - like VI libraries, etc) and have the new backup in process now. About 560GB total to backup and that includes quite a few movie projects (scores and film) and pretty much everything else. Ironically, that leaves me with quite a bit of external disk space for all sorts of stuff and extra workspace.

There's another 1TB TM backup drive just sitting there, another 1TB internal drive that came out of the new machine sitting on a shelf, two 500GB drives in a USB enclosure for safe keeping but basically erasable, a 750GB and 500GB drive in my G5 that duplicates my 10.5.8 system & most files, and yet another 500GB MyBook drive. In the Mac Pro there's a 1TB boot drive, 750GB and 500GB support drives, and one empty sled. In all, that's like 10GB of HD space. I don't think I'll be needing to go to Fry's for a new HD anytime soon.

Finally feel like the 21st century has arrived. Question is: amI ready for it?

[dosuna11]

How did the upgrades go with your plug-ins? Did you experience many compatibility issues with any G5 plug-ins moving to the Mac Pro? Were there any costs to upgrade your plug-ins?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Actually, it went amazingly well - thanks for asking. All I really needed to do was add some RAM but that was totally by choice and the recommendation of a particular hobbit...

Several plugs as well as Finale and DP itself required reauthorization. No big deal. I popped the extra 8GB of RAM in two days ago and all is smooth as silk. There is a funny thing where the window under the current window in all apps will sometimes appear for less than 1/4 a second when I move the top window or switch apps. I am also seeing some digital garbage (about the same duration) when quitting apps but not always.

Tested the RAM - it's fine. I suspect the graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT) might have issues but not enough to worry about until it becomes more problematic. Sometimes I have to check that the screen has redrawn. It draws so fast I miss it!

And look at that, a palindrome post count. Better not post for a while....

[dosuna11]

And look at that, a palindrome post count. Better not post for a while....

Wow pop a racecar!

[toodamnhip]

And finally, if you want to see every last bit of RAM used up, open Safari!

Tell me more about your experiences with safari eating ram. I wonder if having safari on in the background in the past has caused some DP crashes?

[cuttime]

And finally, if you want to see every last bit of RAM used up, open Safari!

Tell me more about your experiences with safari eating ram. I wonder if having safari on in the background in the past has caused some DP crashes?

All I can say is that I've kept Activity Monitor open and seen Safari hog over 4 Gigs of RAM and page outs to boot on one of my machines. I would never keep it open during a session. I used to love Safari, however I barely use it any more unless I want HTML5 implementation, or .mp4 video. Here's a good Mac World editorial I read the other day, and I am inclined to agree, and the same with the comments.

http://www.macworld.com/article/162632/ ... c.rss_main" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;