From: Milton Aupperle <maupperl@gmail.com>
Date: August 14, 2014 11:06:45 AM MDT
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Strange Problem
Hi Kevin;
On 2014-08-14, at 10:28 AM, "Kevin in Fort Davis fsm79734@gmail.com [Astro_IIDC]" <Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Hi all - first, an easy question. What is the highest level of Mac OS that works consistently with Astro IIDC? I seem to remember, the last time I checked, that it didn't like Mavericks.
Mavericks is pretty buggy itself. I've done a fair bit of software validation with it lately and I keep seeing "weird" non repeatable issues in pure Cocoa Apps - let alone Carbon apps. I attribute most of the issues to Apple Compressing/Decompressing VM Memory usage on the Fly and also the NAP/Sleeping of applications to save energy (Performance is no longer a priority at Apple - it's Battery Life). The NAP stuff can cause timing issues with the RT Scheduled pThreads - and where your accessing external Hardware that isn't Audio this will be an issue.
You can disable the Napping stuff in the finder for each Application :
http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-disable-app-nap-in-os-x-mavericks/
And can disable it across the entire system using this :
http://osxdaily.com/2014/05/13/disable-app-nap-mac-os-x/
If you want to disable the VM memory compression stuff follow these Terminal commands:
http://superuser.com/questions/668114/disable-compressed-memory-in-mac-os-10-9-mavericks
More info on available VM Modes here:
Also, if you hate the fact that holding down a key results in the stupid pop up menu appearing with other characters in 10.7+, you can also permanently turn that off too using a Terminal Command of:
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
then re-boot.
That's from:
http://belchak.com/2011/07/23/re-enabling-key-repeat-in-osx-lion/
I've had a strange issue pop up. For a few years now, I've been using Astro IIDC on a newer Mac mini, running Mac OS 10.6.8, to control two PGR Flea3 cameras for solar observations. Now, all of a sudden, I'm having firewire bandwidth issues when attempting to run the two cameras (which I've always used at 7.5 fps). I'll either get the "not enough firewire bandwidth" error message or else the second camera isn't recognized after I open up the first one.
What Video size and bit depth are the cameras running at?
If you use 12 or 16 bit instead of 8 bit, then it's using 2x the Bandwidth. So I would check if that was somehow changed form 8 to 16.
I've determined that it's not a cable issue (although I am using 4.5 meter, PGR-supplied FW800 cables which, I know, are a bit on the long side) or a FW800 hub/repeater issue, and am beginning to suspect that the Mac mini has a problem. It lives in a hot environment in a hot part of the country, and perhaps I cooked something internally.
There have been cases where the internal fuses of the FireWire port gets into a funky state, and it doesn't deliver full voltage or other full bandwidth issues. That's usually solved by Zapping Pram:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph14222
and then shutting it down, next completely powering the Mac Off (unplug it) and then pressing the "On" button so it drains any residual power. Leaving it off for say an hour to 24 hours may rest the FireWire port to full functionality.
And I'm not ruling out a Mac Mini issue either. Hardware sometimes just fails.
Which brings me back around to my first question. I have a few more Mac minis that I can sub in for testing, and they have a variety of versions of Mac OS from 10.7 to 10.9. Is Astro IIDC happy with 10.7? 10.8?
I have not had many issues with 10.8 or 10.7. But from a General Mac stability perspective, 10.6.8 seems to be the most stable. Of course I miss having scroll bar arrows in anything after 10.6 too - so I'm biased on my likes.
HTH..
Milton Aupperle