3lectr1cPPC
Well-known member
One thing I've heard before on these forums is that on systems with poor 68k emulation speed due to lacking cache (like the Performa 6200CD, PowerBook 5300, 1400/117, etc), later versions of Mac OS like 8.1 and 8.5 will run better than 7.x due to being less reliant on 68k code. I decided tonight to give this a try on my 117MHz PowerBook 5300. First, I timed a bootup from its main system folder, which is OS 7.6.1. It's what I use on it normally. I got about 1:43 to boot up to the desktop, with timing starting when the happy mac icon appears. Then, I transferred over the OS 8.5 system folder from my PowerBook 3400, which is a pretty clean and non-bloated folder, besides for a custom theme. It took just over 3 minutes to reach the desktop!
I know that there's more to performance than boot time, but it's what's going to be noticed the most when running the system, at least for me, as the 5300 isn't a quick laptop either way. Any thoughts on this?
Specs:
117MHz PowerPC 603e with no L2 Cache
64MB RAM (Maximum for this laptop, best case scenario)
3.2GB Toshiba HDD (4200 RPM)
I also tried the same test on my 3400c/200, which should have much better 68k emulation speed, as it has a proper L2 cache. 7.6.1 also booted faster on that system as well. One note on both of these is that the 7.6.1 install on both systems has Speed Doubler installed, while 8.5 was not. I'm going to repeat the test with speed doubler off, but I remember not noticing a big difference after I installed it. It probably affected things a bit, but not by over a minute in the startup time.
I know that there's more to performance than boot time, but it's what's going to be noticed the most when running the system, at least for me, as the 5300 isn't a quick laptop either way. Any thoughts on this?
Specs:
117MHz PowerPC 603e with no L2 Cache
64MB RAM (Maximum for this laptop, best case scenario)
3.2GB Toshiba HDD (4200 RPM)
I also tried the same test on my 3400c/200, which should have much better 68k emulation speed, as it has a proper L2 cache. 7.6.1 also booted faster on that system as well. One note on both of these is that the 7.6.1 install on both systems has Speed Doubler installed, while 8.5 was not. I'm going to repeat the test with speed doubler off, but I remember not noticing a big difference after I installed it. It probably affected things a bit, but not by over a minute in the startup time.