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 DBoost - 1.6boosts the current frontmost application |
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| Overall Rating: | Not rated (0.0) | Features: | Not rated (0.0) | Support: | Not rated (0.0) |
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Working fine here 
- Version: 1.6, 6/21/2007 08:01AM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
alexkorova
No probs here - Version: 1.4.5, 8/11/2004 03:50PM PST
(3 of 3 users found this comment useful)
John Sawyer
Actually, DBoost isn't snake oil--my experience has been that it does what it says it does--it speeds up the frontmost application. This might not be as noticeable, if at all, on a G4, but on my Blue & White G3, it does make a difference. Not a huge difference, but the improvement is nice. I've been using it almost since it was released, and it's been doing its job well for me.
It's fine to theorize and say that using the renice command could cause trouble, but that's not backed up by any citations. Yes, renice is there for a reason, and DBoost makes use of it--the reason renice exists is to be used.
As for Zo-1's problem with his Powerbook G4 getting messed up after installing DBoost--the most likely explanation is coincidence. Computers get messed up. It happens. Just because it didn't get messed up when he tried other renicers, doesn't automatically mean DBoost caused the trouble. It's true, you need to consider the last installed thing as the possible cause of trouble that follows, but you don't want to depend too heavily on that concept--I've been fooled many times before.
It's fine to theorize and say that using the renice command could cause trouble, but that's not backed up by any citations. Yes, renice is there for a reason, and DBoost makes use of it--the reason renice exists is to be used.
As for Zo-1's problem with his Powerbook G4 getting messed up after installing DBoost--the most likely explanation is coincidence. Computers get messed up. It happens. Just because it didn't get messed up when he tried other renicers, doesn't automatically mean DBoost caused the trouble. It's true, you need to consider the last installed thing as the possible cause of trouble that follows, but you don't want to depend too heavily on that concept--I've been fooled many times before.
Use Speed Freak... - Version: 1.4.3, 7/10/2004 06:40AM PST
(2 of 3 users found this comment useful)
svetgladv
...and save yourself some dough. Does the same, works just as good.
More snake oil for the masses. - Version: 1.4.3, 6/22/2004 03:28PM PST
(4 of 7 users found this comment useful)
leoofborg
Oh, glory. More snake oil for the masses. Look, in a Unix operating system like OSX, the 'nice' system is there for a reason. If you mess with it without knowing the whats and whys of the way it is, then prepare to pay the piper.
To those of you running double processors, this is NOT software overclocking. There is no free lunch.
If you insist on doing this, 'Renicer' from Northern Softworks is free.
To those of you running double processors, this is NOT software overclocking. There is no free lunch.
If you insist on doing this, 'Renicer' from Northern Softworks is free.
Just reporting a coincidence - Version: 1.4.2, 6/6/2004 07:50PM PST
(2 of 5 users found this comment useful)
zo219I wouldn't post a negative on a poor hardworking developer - unless my smoothly running G4Ti GHz, OS X 10.3.4, gradually got all forked up over a period of four or five days of using this app. Despite the usual daily maintence routine, despite the best efforts of Disk Utility and DiskWarrior. We'll never really know--but one of the first rules of troubleshooting is, What did you just install.
Two, Have other renicers caused problems in the past. Noooo. . .
Excuse me while I do an Archive and Reinstall.
Most Recent Replies: View All 1 Replies
- Just reporting a coincidence - Not!
Works for me - Version: 1.4.1, 6/3/2004 01:23AM PST
(0 of 1 users found this comment useful)
John Sawyer
Don't know why geerod isn't seeing some speed boost, but he might try some other applications besides Altivec Fractal Carbon, and also see if he can just observe (not running benchmark apps) the speed of various apps on his Mac without DBoost running, to get a visceral feel for their unaltered speed, and then start up DBoost and see if there's any improvement. His Mac also has some zippy specs (dual processor, etc.), but that shouldn't have anything to do with it--if an app responds to the renice command, you'd think it would show some speed improvement regardless of the hardware. Anyway, on my old, slow B&W G3 at 400 mhz, DBoost noticeably speeds up the frontmost app just enough to make it more pleasant to use.
Reduced speed when requested; however, no boost - Version: 1.4.1, 5/31/2004 08:39PM PST
(5 of 5 users found this comment useful)
geerod
I did a rigorous test in which Backlight 2 was running the SolarWinds screensaver on my desktop, and iTunes was maximized with the visualizer at highest quality settings, large view, at a resolution of 1280x1024 on a dual processor 867MHz G4 with a GeForce 4 TI 4600 and 1GB of RAM, running Mac OS 10.3.4. iTunes was playing music from one of my playlists and I also had Safari open at the time of my testing. Processor usage viewed from Activity Monitor stayed at 100% constantly for both processors.
With DBoost disabled, I opened Altivec Fractal Carbon and did a few benchmarks. I did three tests which returned results of 2228.3 MFlops, 2239.8 MFlops, and 2292.7 MFlops, or an average of 2253.6 MFlops. With DBoost's sliders set to -95% (both sliders, don't know what Leaving Boost does, and the documentation apparently doesn't explain its purpose), DBoost unexpectedly quit during Fractal's rendering; however, programs quit unexpectedly occasionally and I do not think that this is a problem with the program itself. On the second attempt, returned results were 1013.3 MFlops, 1218.3 MFlops, and 1026.4 MFlops, or an average of 1086 MFlops. With both sliders set to +95%, the returned results were 1827.4 MFlops, 2109.9 MFlops, and 2335.6 MFLops, or an average of 2090.96 MFlops.
Thinking something may have been different during the first control tests, I redid them and got similar scores to the first round of tests.
Apparently, DBoost does a good job of slowing applications if that is what you choose, but from my tests I did not see any boost to the frontmost application, Altivec Fractal Carbon. Perhaps the randomness of the iTunes visualizer and the randomness of the SolarWinds screensaver affected the results. I have also played with the renice command in the terminal in the past and never saw any change in speed in any application I tested, so it may not be the fault of DBoost. Either way, I did not see as much of a boost as I saw reduction of speed, which may be useful in any case.
With DBoost disabled, I opened Altivec Fractal Carbon and did a few benchmarks. I did three tests which returned results of 2228.3 MFlops, 2239.8 MFlops, and 2292.7 MFlops, or an average of 2253.6 MFlops. With DBoost's sliders set to -95% (both sliders, don't know what Leaving Boost does, and the documentation apparently doesn't explain its purpose), DBoost unexpectedly quit during Fractal's rendering; however, programs quit unexpectedly occasionally and I do not think that this is a problem with the program itself. On the second attempt, returned results were 1013.3 MFlops, 1218.3 MFlops, and 1026.4 MFlops, or an average of 1086 MFlops. With both sliders set to +95%, the returned results were 1827.4 MFlops, 2109.9 MFlops, and 2335.6 MFLops, or an average of 2090.96 MFlops.
Thinking something may have been different during the first control tests, I redid them and got similar scores to the first round of tests.
Apparently, DBoost does a good job of slowing applications if that is what you choose, but from my tests I did not see any boost to the frontmost application, Altivec Fractal Carbon. Perhaps the randomness of the iTunes visualizer and the randomness of the SolarWinds screensaver affected the results. I have also played with the renice command in the terminal in the past and never saw any change in speed in any application I tested, so it may not be the fault of DBoost. Either way, I did not see as much of a boost as I saw reduction of speed, which may be useful in any case.
dBoost 1.3.5 - Version: 1.3.5, 3/20/2004 07:59PM PST
MacWizard
The developer is very quick to respond via email. Installer is now fixed. I love this program! No crashes. No problems. Works with OSX 10.3.3. I set it at 90% boost and leave it.
dBoost 1.3.5 - Version: 1.3.5, 3/19/2004 12:38PM PST
MacWizard
Neat program. Works well. Now the installer won't work. Hopefully the developer will get this fixed soon. The vise x installer appears to have expired so dBoost won't install. Definitely speeds up my 450 cube!
DBoost more flexible than Cunning Fox? - Version: 1.3.5, 3/16/2004 12:02PM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
John Sawyer
I just downloaded and tried Cunning Fox, and though it looks nice, DBoost appears to do everything CF does, but DBoost also automatically renices the frontmost application, without the user having to manually do anything to accomplish this except to bring the app you want to boost to the front, and keep it there. With CF, whenever you want to boost a particular application, you have to open CF, select the applications you want to temporarily disable from its list of running applications, and then click its "Stop" button, and when you want to enable these apps again, you have to open CF, select these apps again, and click its "Play" button. Pretty tedious for something that DBoost does automatically. Also, CF will knock down all its disabled app's processor access to a minimum, giving maximum access to the app you select, without giving you the ability to select how much extra processor time you want for the frontmost app. DBoost lets you select how much extra processor time the frontmost app gets, so that the background apps' processor time isn't reduced to a bare minimum. I believe DBoost will also let you assign boost percentage figures to individual apps, giving you further control over their processor access.
The documentation is a bit empty though, but I understood everything fine anyway.