The Design and Implementation of laffer1

PROBLEM: Is there a way I can remove Classic from my OS X system? I don't have 9.2 installed, but the Classic pane is still in my System Preferences.

SOLUTION: When most people say they want to "uninstall" Classic, what they really mean is that they want to disable the System Preferences "Classic" pane. If you don't have an OS 9 install at all, or OS X is installed on a UFS partition, Classic won't start up anyway. Simply remove the /System/Library/PreferencePanes/Classic.prefPane file, and that's the last you'll see of Classic again. You'll need to have root-level privileges to do this, of course.

If you want to remove the whole Classic support structure from your system, you'll want to remove the Classic files and directories created by the OS X installer:

/System/Library/Classic/
/System/Library/CoreServices/Classic Startup.app
/System/Library/UserTemplate/English.lproj/Desktop/Desktop (Mac OS 9)

In addition to this, if you've already run Classic and would like to remove it afterwards, you'll want to remove any of these additional files and directories that exist in the root of the OS X installation:

/Mac OS 9 Files/
/Applications (Mac OS 9)
/System Folder/
/Documents/

And if your boot disk is a UFS volume, you may also remove the "fake" finder and system files which OS X uses to trick the HFS+ boot mechanism:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder
/System/Library/CoreServices/System

Speeding up OS X for G3 machines

PROBLEM: OS X runs slowly on my brand new iMac, even with 256MB of memory! Is there any way to improve performance, or does X really need a G4 to run smoothly?

SOLUTION: There are a number of fairly simple steps that can be taken to ensure the best performance from OS X, and these adjustments show far greater results on G3 machines (both old and new). Some are easiest with a new installation, though all but the first can be done at any time.

1) Install OS X on an HFS+ partition. While UFS is offered as a compatibility option for other Unix machines, OS X is optimized for HFS+, and the difference is noticeable on the G3 machines. While there are some tasks (searches, for instance) that should certainly move more quickly on a case-sensitive file system, it doesn't yet make up for the sluggishness you can experience in disk I/O under UFS.

2) Be sure to have all the current OS updates installed. As of this writing, 10.0.3 was the most recent release, but the "Software Update" feature under "System Preferences" will only let you upgrade one step at a time. You'll have to use the feature manually several times on a new install to get up to date immediately. This could be made a lot easier by Apple.

3) Don't use Classic. Many users may be reluctant to give up this feature, but not having Classic installed does speed OS X up considerably. If you require Classic applications for a large portion of your work, I suggest you run them from an OS 9 partition until they get upgraded by the manufacturer.

4) Use the "Login" feature under "System Preferences" to start applications when you begin work automatically. This will increase the initial start-up time for the machine, but leaving applications open plays to X's strengths, while opening and closing them frequently plays to its weaknesses. Opening and closing "Mail" all day could drive you crazy, and dynamic memory allocation means that applications you aren't actively working with shouldn't steal RAM from those you are.

5) Update the prebinding to shared libraries, which should cut down significantly on startup times for applications. This makes a far greater difference on G3 machines. You can do this by typing "sudo update_prebindings -root /". The process will take between 10-30 minutes depending on machine speed and installed applications. If you don't know what this does, please read the man page first, as simply typing Unix commands you found online can be a very dangerous habit to get into.

It should be "sudo update_prebinding -root /" - but it's still a great tip!