How to tell if Universal Binary or not?

Question

How to tell if Universal Binary or not?

I just purchased a refreshed MacBook Pro 2.3GHz that was a demo unit in an Apple store (yay). When I went through all the normal beginning power-up stuff I chose to migrate the files from my old G4 iBook to the MacBook Pro using the target disk mode. Everything went smoothly but I am just not impressed with the speed of the new computer. I was wondering if transferring the info automatically this way had possibly installed PowerPC versions of the applications on the iBook over the Univeral Binary versions on the MacBook Pro. Is this even possible?

Is there a way to tell if an application on the MacBook Pro is PPC or UB?

Thanks,

-= Ken =-

Power Mac G5 Dual 2.5GHz, Mac OS X (10.4.10), MacBook Pro 2.3GHz

Posted on Aug 1, 2007 10:19 PM

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Answer 1

bj85

Level 1

35 points

Aug 1, 2007 10:21 PM in response to Ken Schneider1

Hi Ken,

Best way to tell if an application is PPC or UB is to go to Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor, and click on the Processes tab. There will be a column that says PowerPC or Universal Binary.

Cheers,

Ben

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Answer 2

Aug 1, 2007 10:26 PM in response to Ken Schneider1

Do bear in mind that initial spotlighting of files takes a while and slows things down for a bit.

Best of luck.

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Answer 3

Aug 1, 2007 11:21 PM in response to Ken Schneider1

Ken,

Also, you can open a Getinfo window for the application in question, and look at the bottom of the "General" section for the option to open it in Rosetta. While this doesn't specifically state that the application is UB, this option is only available for UB applications, and its presence indicates that the application is a UB. If the application is PPC only, the option isn't available.

Scott

Message was edited by: Scott Radloff

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Answer 4

Aug 2, 2007 4:44 AM in response to Scott Radloff

The Get Info approach is the easier (and faster) way to go IMHO That's what I use to determine if its UB or not.

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Answer 5

Aug 2, 2007 4:59 AM in response to Michael Flynn

The Get Info approach is the easier (and faster) way to go

Yes it's quicker, especially as you don't have to launch the application however it's not always accurate even though it's mostly so. For instance, Java based applications, LimeWire and Azureus come to mind, "can" easily be reported by Get Info as PowerPC where in actual fact they are Universal and reported as such by Activity Monitor.

This is normally not an issue (and usually requires a developer oversight) although I thought you should know.

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Answer 6

Rhyd

Level 3

806 points

Aug 2, 2007 7:29 AM in response to Michael Flynn

The fastest way and most accurate for the whole computer is to open System Profiler by clicking About my mac and then click More Info. You can also open System Profiler from your Utilities folder in your Applications folder. Go to the Software section at the bottom and click on Applications.

You will get a complete list of all applications on your computer and at the far right is the Kind column which tells you If app is Universal, PPC, or Intel.

Message was edited by: Rhyd

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Answer 7

Aug 2, 2007 10:00 PM in response to Rhyd

Sweet! I've been thinking I should go through all my apps and do a Get Info on each to figure out which aren't universal, but that's such a daunting task I haven't done it. Thanks for the tip Rhyd!

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Answer 8

Aug 8, 2007 6:47 PM in response to Ken Schneider1

Exactly what I needed to know.

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