DayStar MP Floppy
- Got a multiprocessor DayStar? Join the Old
Mac MP email list.
- Have a DayStar or Power Mac? Join the PCI-Power
Macs email list.
DayStar MP Installer Read Me
DayStar MP Floppy Release 2.6
June 13, 1997
The DayStar MP Floppy provides the latest multiprocessing
software for your Genesis
MP or nPOWER upgrade card. Once you have installed the
Mac OS, run the DayStar MP Installer to install the software
listed below.
Installer Note
- When using the installer, be sure to install the
software on your machine's boot drive.
- Unlike previous releases, the second floppy is now
used by the installer program.
System software Note
- We recommend that you use System software 7.5.3 or
greater.
Changes from Floppy Release 2.5- This floppy release updates MP Startup, nPOWER
Control and MP Booster.
Note: MP Booster can now be used with Photoshop 4.x.
Changes from Floppy Release 2.4- This floppy release updates MP Startup and
PowerFrax.
Changes from Floppy Release 2.2- This floppy release updates PowerFrax to version
1.4.5 and DayStar Quad Processor HAL to version 1.4.8.
The DayStar MP Plus Pack 1.0 was added to this release.
The DayStar MP Plus Pack is a set of Adobe Filters that
have been rewritten to take advantage of
multiprocessing.
Changes from Floppy Release 2.1- This floppy release updates MP Startup to version
1.0.8, nPOWER Control to version 1.4 and DayStar Dual
Processor HAL to version 1.4.8.
Changes from Floppy Release 2.0- This floppy release updates MP Startup to version
1.0.7, nPOWER Control to version 1.3 and adds the
Photoshop plug-in 'DayStar MP Booster' version 1.0.1. The
MP update floppy no longer installs the FWB Drive Data
update. We recommend that all users of FWB Hard Disk
ToolKit upgrade to version 2.0.
Changes from Floppy Release 1.2- This update contains a new versions of DayStar's
multiprocessing software. This floppy also includes new
and updated MP plug-ins for 3rd party software. The
Installer will place these plug-ins directly into the
appropriate application folders during the installation
process. You may select "Cancel" during the plug-in
installation to have the files installed in the DayStar
Files folder instead of the application's Extensions or
Plug-ins folder. PowerFrax, DayStar's fractal explorer
and benchmarking software has also been added. (See the
included Read Me files for more info on specific
files.)
Taking Advantage of Multiprocessing
Genesis MP or nPOWER equipped Power Macs run all existing
Mac OS based applications that are compatible with the
PowerPC 604 CPU. These non-multiprocessing aware
applications run on a single processor at speeds comparable
to the equivalent clock speed Apple Power Macintosh
machines. Multiprocessing (MP) aware applications
transparently tap into your machines additional processing
power to provide performance increases of nearly 200% to
400%, depending on the number of processors you have
installed.
Plug-in files are included that add multiprocessing
functionality to many existing applications. Over 200
software developers are supporting the Apple/DayStar
Multiprocessing Application Programming Interface (MP API),
so check with your application's developer concerning
support for specific applications.
DayStar maintains a list of developers and the
applications that support multiprocessing on our Internet
web page. You can access our web page at http://www.daystar.com.
Troubleshooting
Testing your MP system
If your multiprocessing application does not seem to be
accelerated on your machine try running PowerFrax to ensure
that everything is installed and functioning correctly. This
is a quick and simple way to test that the Multiprocessor
Library and the appropriate a HAL file are installed and
that all the processors in your system are functioning. The
info window should have a line of text in it that says
'PowerPC x 2' or 'PowerPC x 4', depending on the number of
processors in your machine. Use the Multiprocessing menu to
select the maximum number of processors in necessary; it
should be noticeably faster than using 1 processor. Note
that the number of processors you select to use in PowerFrax
is for PowerFrax ONLY. It does not affect any other
application. If PowerFrax shows fewer than the number of
processors you expect, use nPOWER Control for further
information.
Adequate free system memory
The Multiprocessor Library is a "shared library" that
gets loaded when an MP application is launched. It is not
loaded at boot time. For this reason you should not allocate
all of your available RAM to you applications(s). The
Multiprocessing Library requires approximately 2 MB of free
system memory in which to load.
Adobe Photoshop
To use Adobe Photoshop with your multiprocessing machine,
you must upgrade to Adobe Photoshop version 3.0.4 or later.
Contact Adobe for
upgrade information.
Photoshop 4.0 or greater includes Adobe's 'Multiprocessor
Extension'. (Make sure that only one copy of the
'Multiprocessor Extension' is installed.) To fully
accelerate Photoshop 4.x, you should also install the 'MP
Booster' file. You should NOT use the 'Multiprocessor
Accelerator' and 'MP Plus Pack' that DayStar provides if you
use Photoshop 4.0. A common problem occurs when users
upgrade to Photoshop 4.0 or greater and continue to use
their existing plug-ins folder which includes the older
incompatible MP plug-ins.
If Photoshop does not seem to be accelerated on your
machine perform the following steps to ensure that
everything is installed and functioning correctly: - Run PowerFrax. This is a quick and simple way to test
that the Multiprocessor Library is installed and that all
the processors in your system are functioning. The Info
window should have a line of text in it that says
'PowerPC x 2' or 'PowerPC x 4', depending on the number
of processors in your machine. Use the Multiprocessing
menu to select the maximum number of processors if
necessary; it should be noticeably faster than using 1
processor. Note that the number of processors you select
to use in PowerFrax is for PowerFrax ONLY. It does not
affect any other application. If PowerFrax shows fewer
than the number of processors you expect, use nPOWER
Control for further information.
- Quit all open applications and launch Photoshop. Once
it is running switch to the Finder. Use 'About This
Macintosh' under the Apple menu to see what the largest
unused block left in the system is. If it is less than 2
MB quit Photoshop and use the 'Get Info' command to
adjust its preferred and minimum memory allocations so
that the largest unused block in the system with
Photoshop running will be at least 2 MB. If you plan to
have other applications open while running Photoshop then
you will need to reduce Photoshop's memory allocation
even more. The Multiprocessor Library needs at least 2 MB
of free memory in which to run.
- If you still don't see a performance boost then it's
possible that you have an older version or more than one
copy of the 'Multiprocessor Accelerator' installed. Quit
Photoshop and use the Finder 'Find File' command to
search for 'Multiprocessor Accelerator'. You only want to
keep one copy; the latest one. As of this writing, the
latest version is 1.0.2. You can find out what version a
file is by using the 'Get Info' command in the Finder's
File menu.
- Make sure that the one copy you keep is in the
plug-ins folder that Photoshop uses. A common problem
occurs when the plug-ins folder is changed using
Photoshop's Preferences command. When this is done
Photoshop will not find plug-ins in any other folder
which can lead to considerable confusion.
- After making sure that there is only one copy of
'Multiprocessor Accelerator' installed relaunch
Photoshop. Use the 'About Plug-in' submenu under the
Apple menu to get information about the 'Multiprocessor
Accelerator' extension. If you cannot find a
'Multiprocessor Accelerator' item in the submenu then
Photoshop is not looking in the plug-ins folder you
thought it was. Quit Photoshop, move the 'Multiprocessor
Accelerator' extension to the real plug-ins folder and
try again. If you can't find your real plug-ins folder,
try using the Finder 'Find File' command to search for
any of the plug-ins that showed up in the 'About Plug-in'
submenu. This should lead you to the appropriate
folder.
- Having completed the above steps you should now be
able to see a significant performance boost in normally
slow operations inside Photoshop. A simple test is to
open an image that is less than a third of the size of
the RAM currently assigned to Photoshop. Run a 'Find
Edges' on it while counting off seconds. Now use the
'About Plug-in' submenu under the Apple menu to get
information about the 'Multiprocessor Accelerator'
extension. You can turn off multiprocessing temporarily
here using the check box. Click OK and run Find Edges
again. You should notice a considerable slowdown without
multiprocessing.
- Repeat steps one through five for the 'DayStar MP
Booster'. As of this writing, the latest version is
1.0.1. The 'DayStar MP Booster' is always active and does
not have a toggle switch to turn multiprocessing off. To
test the 'DayStar MP Booster' launch Photoshop with the
'DayStar MP Booster' in the plug-ins folder. Perform an
arbitrary rotate of 30 degrees. Quit Photoshop, remove
'DayStar MP Booster' from the plug-ins folder and
relaunch Photoshop. Perform the same rotate. You should
see a noticeable difference.
If problems persist please contact StarTeck.
Our Tech Support staff will be happy to help you get the
best performance possible out of your multiprocessing
machine.
Quark XPress
To use Quark XPress with your multiprocessing machine,
you must upgrade to Quark XPress version 3.3.1 or later.
Contact Quark for upgrade information.
Suitcase
To use Suitcase with your multiprocessing machine, you
must upgrade to Suitcase version 3.0 or later. Contact
Symantec for upgrade information.
Virtual Memory (VM) or RAM Doubler
Turning on Virtual Memory or installing RAM Doubler will
disable multiprocessing on your multiprocessing machine. For
this reason, the DayStar Installer turns VM off and displays
a reminder on start up if VM is enabled. RAM Doubler should
be removed from your active Extensions Folder in order to
disable it.
Software Updates
Updates to DayStar's multiprocessing software are
available on the following online services: Internet Web
Page- /daystar/download.html
System software Note
We recommend that you check out the Mac OS web page
(http://www.info.apple.com/swupdates/)
for the latest Mac OS software updates.
Note: Genesis MP or nPOWER-equipped Power Macintosh
systems use the same version of the Mac OS as the Power
Macintosh 7500/7600/8500/9500. Any updates to the Mac OS for
these Power Macintosh computers will also be designed for
use with your Genesis MP or nPOWER card.
Version HistoryDayStar MP Floppy Release 2.6
Files Updated
MP Startup 1.2.1
nPOWER Control 1.5
MP Booster 1.0.4
Files Removed:
DayStar Precision CP2 MP
DayStar MP Floppy Release 2.5
Files Updated
PowerFrax 1.4.8
MP Startup 1.1.0
DayStar MP Floppy Release 2.4
Files Updated
Adobe Premiere MP 1.0.1
Adobe After Effects MP 1.7
nPOWER Control 1.4.1
DayStar MP Floppy Release 2.3
General Maintenance Release
Files Updated:
PowerFrax 1.4.5 DayStar Quad Processor HAL 1.4.8
Files Added
DayStar MP Plus Pack 1.0
DayStar MP Floppy Release 2.2
General Maintenance Release
Files Updated:
MP Startup 1.0.8
nPOWER Control 1.4
DayStar Dual Processor HAL 1.4.8
DayStar MP Floppy Release 2.1
General Maintenance Release
Files Added:
DayStar MP Booster 1.0.1
Files Updated:
MP Startup 1.0.7
nPOWER Control 1.3
PowerFrax 1.4.4
Files Removed:
FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit Drive Data
DayStar MP Floppy Release 2.0
Support was added for the dual processor Genesis MP and
nPOWER upgrade cards. The name of the floppy was modified to
reflect these changes. Files Added:
Adobe Premiere MP 1.0.0
DayStar Dual Processor HAL 1.4
PowerFrax 1.4.2
FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit Drive Data - February 14, 1996
(This file should be used with version 1.8 of HDT in
order to fix the Quantum Fireball Hard Drive problem. See
the Important Hard Drive Info file for more information.) Files Updated:
Multiprocessing API Library 1.4 (formerly DayStar
MPLibrary)
DayStar Quad Processor HAL 1.4 (formerly Genesis MP
Support)
MP Startup 1.0.5 (formerly Genesis MP Startup)
Multiprocessor Accelerator 1.0.2
Adobe After Effects MP 1.4
DayStar Precision CP2 MP 1.0.1 (Formerly Genesis MP
CP2)
Files Removed:
Printer Fix 1.1 (DayStar now recommends upgrading to
System 7.5.3 or greater)
Genesis MP Update Floppy Release 1.2 Files Updated:
DayStar MPLibrary 0.9.14
Genesis MP Support 0.9.18
Genesis MP Update Floppy Release 1.0 This was the Initial Release
©1995-1996 DayStar Digital, Inc. and its
licensors. - <back to
DayStar
index or Low
End Mac home
page>
-
Low End Mac Reader Specials
© 1998-2001 by DayStar Technologies, Inc.
Posted by permission. All Rights Reserved. Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized,
sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Opinions expressed are
those of their authors and may not reflect the opinion of Cobweb
Publishing. Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one
may not work for all.
Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2016 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All
rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are
trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh,
iPad, iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, Mac Pro, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple
Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
Please report errors to
.
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to
any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a
frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for
publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission,
and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be
edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal
information unless you explicitly provide it, and we don't share the
information we have with others. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
|
