Classic slow - Trueblueenvironment?

Been having this problem ever since the Tiger upgrade, driving my wife and daughter nuts over the poor game performance.

Saw this thread and tried the "renice" command, and there was a dramatic improvement. Haven't had them try all their games but the stutter was gone in Hoyle Card Games, at least.

Thanks for the tip.

Hi there,

I'm having the same issue as outlined in this thread.. specifically with old kids games (like Backyard Soccer MLS edition) under Classic. The "renice" command worked perfectly for me. Thanks to the poster for that tip! The computer is a G4 sawtooth with 1 GHz upgrade and Radeon 9000 AGP 128 MB video card, 80 GB HD less than half full.

Now the tricky part... when my kids login to their account Classic starts automatically. Is there any way I can configure their account to automatically run the "renice 20 PID command"? How does one issue terminal commands automatically? How does one get the PID of TrueBlueEnvironment each login?

Thanks!

Mace

I have read all the posts of this thread and found no solution.

But I noticed a consistent way to bring TrueBlue to jump to 85-90% of CPU Usage.

Open classic in secondary account(user), everything run fine.
Switching to my account(admin), still fine-of course no Classic there
Switching back to secondary user account and bingo, Activity Monitor shows True blue with full CPU power.

I initially noticed that feature when I heard my iMac's fan blowing loud even in Sleep mode.

Still trying to find a solution.

(Excuse my not so correct English language, I hope it's understandable...)

JfS from FRANCE

Here's a possible solution, but your mileage may vary, and I am just trying it out. Maybe the spike in activity, and I have it as well, is a result of virtual memory.

You can change memory allocation in Classic by going to system preferences and choosing the classic pane. Hit the option key while you click Memory/Versions. You will then have a button that says "Adjust memory", which changes the allocation of real memory to classic. I don't know if this will work, as my Classic application hasn't crashed for an hour and still stutters a bit, but since the setting can be reversed it's a harmless solution. It looks like my usage dropped down to the 40-60%'s, but the Classic program is full screen so I only see the process a few seconds before it opens. Note that you have to restart Classic for the memory change to become effective.

You can also still change individual memory allocations of OS 9 programs by getting info on them and putting the size you want in the memory box.

Well, It's still crashing no different than the other times. It was worth a few minutes time, though.

Brett
As a Panther user I am following this topic with keen attention.
My G3 ibook runs Classic OK most of the time. Sometimes Classic crashes.
In line with your experience, certain Apps. use 80 - 90 % of processor time and 1.1 Gb of Virtual memory. (The process viewer shows a "null" process number 565 whose Parent is WindowServer.)

I'm a newbie to this discussion, but have read all the comments and tried a few things with no success. I am running OSX 4.5 on a 450MHz G4 AGP and beginning to wonder why I was getting the spinning disk all the time. I have Rolodex type Classic application I have up all the time (very simple and small resource user) and use a Schwab application called Velocity once in a while. The Rolodex application alone sends the CPU usage over the top with trublueenvironment as well as raising the virtual memory to over one Gig. Without knowing what all the tools do in activity monitor, I went to "sample" and got an interesting report. The last part of it follows as an attachment. Note that the first two lines of text were actually repeated a hundred or so times before the one I copied. The rest of the text goes to the end of the report I received. Although I don't know how to interpret the report, a red flag goes up for me when I see that a stack is corrupted. Anybody know how to interpret this or is it pertinent to the issue?)

ORGramps

Attachment:

" 2006-02-23 20:30:14.654 sample[4926] thread readstack: stack appears to be corrupt or in inconsistent state. Truncating stack.
Analysis of sampling pid 4860 every 10.000000 milliseconds
Call graph:
1551 Thread_0f0f
1551 0x8806c20
1551 0x23f48
1551 0x6806e1e0
1551 0x6806e1e0
1551 Thread_1003
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 CFRunLoopRun
1551 CFRunLoopRunSpecific
1551 __CFRunLoopRun
1551 mach_msg
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 Thread_1103
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 CFRunLoopRun
1551 CFRunLoopRunSpecific
1551 __CFRunLoopRun
1551 mach_msg
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 Thread_1203
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 mach msgserver
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 Thread_1303
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 semaphore timedwaittrap
1551 semaphore timedwaittrap
1551 Thread_1403
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 semaphore timedwaittrap
1551 semaphore timedwaittrap
1551 Thread_1503
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 0x5e009fc0
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 mach_msg
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 Thread_1603
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 0x5e009fc0
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 mach_msg
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 Thread_1703
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 mach_msg
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 Thread_1803
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 semaphore waittrap
1551 semaphore waittrap
1551 Thread_1903
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 CFRunLoopRun
1551 CFRunLoopRunSpecific
1551 __CFRunLoopRun
1551 mach_msg
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 Thread_1a03
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 semaphore waittrap
1551 semaphore waittrap
1551 Thread_1b03
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 0x5e009fc0
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 mach_msg
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 mach msgtrap
1551 Thread_1c03
1551 pthreadbody
1551 catch exception_raisestate
1551 select
1551 select

Total number in stack (recursive counted multiple, when >=5):
24 catch exception_raisestate
13 pthreadbody
8 mach msgtrap
7 mach_msg

Sort by top of stack, same collapsed (when >= 5):
mach msgtrap 12408
semaphore timedwaittrap 3102
semaphore waittrap 3102
0x6806e1e0 1551
select 1551
Sample analysis of process 4860 written to file /dev/stdout
Sampling process 4860 each 10 msecs 300 times


Mac OS X (10.3.8)

I'm replying to myself, but wanted to add to the record that I also have filed a bug report to Apple. The Number is: 14545443.

Perhaps if enough of us submit they will respond.

I've had some success with disabling all control panels for OS 9. I got the idea from Pogue's Missing Manual. He felt some control panels would be handled by OS X; it turns out all of the control panels I turned off were handled by OS X. Some stuttering, though less, but hasn't crashed since I disabled the control panels. I wonder what extensions I can turn off now?

Powermac G5 2X2Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.2)

this is a test

Hello,

I think I have an/the answer to the problems about slow/no response from the Classic environment.

The problem is that the Classic environment contains many old system processes that do nothing under OSX but which may still be active. If the OSX environment has been perturbed by installing new software, then one of the old system processes may get confused and either loop or to fail to respond, resulting in either slow response from Classic applications or failure of the Classic startup. It is not a problem with Tiger or OS 10.4 or any of the new software; the problem is the old software that is still trying to run.

You can see the trouble by looking at the active processes. In a finder window, go to Applications / Utilities / Terminal to get a unix command prompt, and type the command "top" (carriage return). If a process called TruBlueEnv is using 85%+ of the CPU time, then Classic is spinning its wheels either after or during startup.

There is no one fix for the problem because any of the old system processes could be the culprit. All of them cannot just be turned off, because various Classic applications may expect to see some of them. I suspect this open-ended and multiple-points-of-failure difficulty is the reason why the otherwise excellent Apple support staff have not responded to the slow Classic environment complaints.

So you have to take matters into your own hands. Here is how.

(1) In the Apple menu, go to Force Quit and kill Classic Environment and its Startup.

(2) In the Apple menu, go to System Preferences and open "System" "Classic". Choose the "Advanced" window pane, select "Turn Off Extensions", and press "Restart Classic". The Classic environment should start up in a few seconds.

(3) In a finder window, from the top level of your hard disk, go to System Folder / Control Panels / Extensions Manager. It is probably best to press the "Duplicate Set" button to get a new list of the extensions that are active or disabled; you must give the new set a name, say "New Set".

(4) For the "New Set", in the Extensions Manager top horizontal menu bar, select View / as Packages. You will see many groups of related extensions. Most of these are not needed. For example, my system had "Airport 2.0.1" and "KODAK PRECISION CP1". Turn off the packages of extensions that appear to be superfluous. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to identify which you need. For example, I have an old application that uses "ATM" even though fonts are controlled by the new OSX.

(5) Close out of Extensions Manager and then in the Apple menu go to System Preferences and open "System" "Classic" and press "Restart".

(6) If the Classic environment comes up and you can use your favorite Classic applications, then you are done. Otherwise, you have to enable some of the extensions. Go back to step (4) and repeat as needed.

This worked for me; I hope it works for you.

Best, -- Joe

PowerPC G4 and others Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Hi Everyone,

So, after checking the discussion list, it appears that no solution to classic running slowly and crashing has been found yet. Or have I missed something? Although I like many new features of the new system, the operation of classic is certainly not one of them. I have tried reallocating memory within the systems panel and changing the amount of memory allocated to each program (using the get info feature). I have optimized ... 😉 ... the performance so that it runs for about 10 minutes before crashing (compared to my classic apps running seemlessly for indefinite periods on my old version of OSX).

Does anyone have any further suggestions of what I can do? The program I am desparately trying to cling on to is the best one around ...

Thanks for your help!

Jillian

1.67 G4 laptop and G5 Quad Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hi jillian_fecteau;

May I start by welcoming you to the Apple Discussion Forums.

I notice that you list Netherlands as your place of origin. Since I was stationed there with USAF for four years I would be curious to know a little bit more about exactly where you might live. It is a very small country with some very interesting people. My wife and I enjoyed our four years there.

Now on to the serious stuff, could you please let us know exact what application it is that you are trying so desperately to hang onto? Thank you.

Allan

Excellent. On first tests, this solved my recent slow-down of Framemaker 7.1 (and other Classic apps) on my PowerBook G4 12inch, running 10.4.4

I had tried all the usual suspects up until then (rebuild Desktop; remove Classic UI etc.; startup with no extensions; start in Safe mode.

It has always been fine on my G4 PowerMac Mirror Drive, but I know what to try first if it slows up 🙂

PowerBook 12", G4 MDD etc. ad nauseam Mac OS X (10.4.4)

I too use a CAD application in Classic that, since installing Tiger, has "slowed right down and become jerky and unusable."

Has anyone found a way to fix this problem?

HELP! I really need to use this software and there is no OS X upgrade version available.