> and by what processor. Whilst OSX is multithreading, preemptive etc the > background tasks still do affect the foreground tasks, yes even on my > G5 do I see it (I've got a Gig so it's not swap disk activity either)
A gig isn't that much these days. When I had a gig on my 7600 I'd still get some swapping. But you're right, it's probably not swap. Part of it is the pseudo-microkernel design (I say "pseudo" because the BSD subsystem is still a monolithic kernel and most of the non-graphics work ends up being delegated to it), and part of it is poorly programmed applications: run a CPU meter, and you'll see there's some CPU activity all the time, even if you've minimized everything and are just sitting there watching the clock turn. On a UNIX system running typical UNIX applications that should drop you back to a complete stop, zero CPU usage, but on OS X you'll see things like Stuffit Expander running some pointless background code ALL THE TIME. > so why not be able to allocate the system processes and say mail, > browsing or even other background tasks to one processor and then > leave the entire second processor for anything happening in the > foreground and what ever slack is left in first processor to be used as > needed if available. Because the foreground tasks are talking to the system tasks. Nothing in the non-BSD part of OS X happens unless something like SystemUIServer or WindowServer or coreservicesd lets it. And if these are busy, your foreground process could have 100% of the CPU and you'd still have to wait for them to respond. The absolute best performance you're going to get is going to be when you let the system manage the process load and distribution. -- Unsupported OS X is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Unsupported OS X list info <http://lowendmac.com/lists/unsupported.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive <http://www.mail-archive.com/unsupportedosx%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
