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Enabling Quartz 2-D Extreme in Tiger

post #1 of 80
4/29/05 at 12:53pm
Thread Starter 
All of you folks with a Radeon 9600 or better, or nVidia 5200 go or better, don't forget to turn on Quartz 2-D Extreme. The following is copied from John Siracusa's fantastic Tiger review on Ars Technica:





Right click this link to download, unzip and run the Quartz Debug application at

http://www.johnnylundy.com/Quartz%20Debug.zip

Choose "Enable Quartz 2-D Extreme" from the menu and leave Quartz Debug open. RE-LAUNCH all apps that you want to take advantage of it.

I will put this post in a sticky at the top of Mac OS.
--Johnny
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--Johnny
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post #2 of 80
4/29/05 at 1:41pm
You can also edit the plist com.apple.windowserver.plist located in /Library/Preferences/; change Quartz2DExtremeEnabled to YES.

Note too that there's very likely a reason why Apple deemed Q2DE not quite ready for prime time in 10.4.0. That said, enjoy!
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post #3 of 80
4/29/05 at 1:46pm
It doesn't make sense to me why apple would have it turned off sense it should increase performance of the OS on computer with newer GPUs.
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post #4 of 80
4/29/05 at 2:10pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Algol
It doesn't make sense to me why apple would have it turned off sense it should increase performance of the OS on computer with newer GPUs.


It's probably buggy.
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post #5 of 80
4/29/05 at 2:46pm
They have to save something to 'turn on' for Leopard 10.5

I never get tired of being right all the time... but I do get tired of having to prove it to you again and again.
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I never get tired of being right all the time... but I do get tired of having to prove it to you again and again.
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post #6 of 80
4/29/05 at 4:10pm
Not to mention when more graphics chips are available for Q2D extreme to be BTO options then people will be pleased.
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post #7 of 80
4/29/05 at 6:33pm
So has anyone that's enabled Q2DE noticed any bugs or their system becoming more unstable? I should be picking up my copy of Tiger today, would be interested to know whether there's any problems leaving it enabled.
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post #8 of 80
4/29/05 at 6:55pm
Will it work with a Radeon 8500 with 64MB VRAM?
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post #9 of 80
4/30/05 at 12:32am
I don't believe the Radeon 8500 (64MB) card has Pixel/Vertex Shader version 2.0, so the answer is no. The oldest card meeting this requirement is the Radeon 9500. See the below link for cards that are compatible:
http://www.neeyik.info/3dspecs/
- Dave Marsh
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post #10 of 80
4/30/05 at 4:32am
any bug?

or Apple just turn it off to avoid clash with low-end graphic cards?
YuY
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YuY
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post #11 of 80
4/30/05 at 6:31am
Quote:
Originally posted by Hobbes
You can also edit the plist com.apple.windowserver.plist located in /Library/Preferences/; change Quartz2DExtremeEnabled to YES.

Does this mod require that you re-enable it after a restart, or is it a lasting change?
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post #12 of 80
4/30/05 at 10:39am
Quote:
Originally posted by DanMacMan
Does this mod require that you re-enable it after a restart, or is it a lasting change?

I believe it's lasting, until the plist attribute is changed back to NO.
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post #13 of 80
4/30/05 at 1:10pm
It should be noted that com.apple.windowserver.plist does not exist in a system without Q2D Extreme graphics capabilities (iBook 1Ghz G4 as an example).

Secondly, after testing it on a Powerbook 15.2" 1.5Ghz system with:

ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 64MB of DDR SDRAM

com.apple.windowserver.plist property list is there but no reference to Q2D Extreme.

Downloading the Debug Utility and enabling it indeed shows improvement in Tiger.
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post #14 of 80
4/30/05 at 3:20pm
how safe is all of this? i don't want my card getting overheated or voiding some warranty.
Tsunami Steve
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Tsunami Steve
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post #15 of 80
4/30/05 at 8:35pm
Quote:
Originally posted by ipodandimac
how safe is all of this? i don't want my card getting overheated or voiding some warranty.

Works just fine. In debug mode, if anything you might be able to discover some reproducible bugs that you can submit to Apple and have it role into 10.4.1.

I filed several yesterday on Preview.app and its PDFX-3 flaws among other issues. I gave them the various scenarios and steps to reproduce and encouraged them to tag it against Appkit and where else necessary.

Bugs will be found and should be found--we are the best testers Apple can afford.
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post #16 of 80
4/30/05 at 8:41pm
Quote:
Originally posted by mdriftmeyer
It should be noted that com.apple.windowserver.plist does not exist in a system without Q2D Extreme graphics capabilities (iBook 1Ghz G4 as an example).

Secondly, after testing it on a Powerbook 15.2" 1.5Ghz system with:

ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 64MB of DDR SDRAM

com.apple.windowserver.plist property list is there but no reference to Q2D Extreme.

Downloading the Debug Utility and enabling it indeed shows improvement in Tiger.

Hey Mdriftmeyer,

I have the same powerbook but i do not have the com.apple.windowserver.plist on my system. Any suggestions?

Thanks.
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post #17 of 80
5/1/05 at 4:41am
Quote:
Originally posted by mdriftmeyer
com.apple.windowserver.plist property list is there but no reference to Q2D Extreme.

Oh, is that so? I'm quoting someone else here, don't have Tiger yet. Plists are now binary by default, unfortunately, so you'd have to edit/convert them using plutil.
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post #18 of 80
5/1/05 at 5:58am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by ipodandimac
how safe is all of this? i don't want my card getting overheated or voiding some warranty.

I've been running it for at least six months and my Radeon 9600 is fine.
--Johnny
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--Johnny
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post #19 of 80
5/1/05 at 6:18am
I enabled it in the debug utilt. but it dosnt stay enabled.
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post #20 of 80
5/1/05 at 10:53am
Quote:
Originally posted by icfireball
I enabled it in the debug utilt. but it dosnt stay enabled.

it only stays enabled while the debug is open.
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post #21 of 80
5/1/05 at 12:25pm
Hi all, Could someone confirm how to make this change permanent? Is it something along the lines of

plutil 1 /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist

?? Not knowing anything about terminal at all?

Cheers
Dan
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post #22 of 80
5/1/05 at 12:39pm
should i even be able to tell a difference? i know that i've turned it on using the debug tool, but to my eyes, i dont see a difference. what exactly should i be looking for?
much respect
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much respect
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post #23 of 80
5/1/05 at 2:12pm
Quote:
Originally posted by jedifunk
should i even be able to tell a difference? i know that i've turned it on using the debug tool, but to my eyes, i dont see a difference. what exactly should i be looking for?

A 10x speed increase.
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post #24 of 80
5/1/05 at 2:16pm
Quote:
A 10x speed increase.

speed increase in what? sorry if i sound stupid, but i'm just not sure what to be looking for.
much respect
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much respect
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post #25 of 80
5/1/05 at 3:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by jedifunk
speed increase in what? sorry if i sound stupid, but i'm just not sure what to be looking for.

Speed increase in drawing.

Resize a Finder window and a TextEdit window full of text.
--Johnny
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--Johnny
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post #26 of 80
5/1/05 at 3:48pm
I really don't notice a difference with it on or off. Are you sure the debug app doesn't just show it as off or turn it off automatically when run. I have a dual 2Ghz G5 with a 9800XT.

Yup no noticeable difference with itunes or safari resizing at all. Yes I restarted the applications.
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post #27 of 80
5/1/05 at 4:50pm
Quote:
Originally posted by hitby
Hi all, Could someone confirm how to make this change permanent? Is it something along the lines of

plutil 1 /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist

?? Not knowing anything about terminal at all?

Cheers
Dan

To extend upon Hitby's commentary:

The update to Tiger converted com.apple.windowserver.plist to binary1 upon rebooting the system.

To see exactly what got modified after running the Debug utility I did the following:

$cd /Library/Preferences
$sudo cp com.apple.windowserver.plist com.apple.windowserver.backup.plist
$sudo plutil -convert xml1 com.apple.windowserver.backup.plist

$sudo vim com.apple.windowserver.backup.plist

Results: at the bottom of the file:

Code:


<key>GLCompositor</key>
<dict>
          <keys>fileHeight</key>
          <integer>256</integer>
          <key>tileWidth</key>
          <integer>256</key>
</dict>
<key>Quartz2DExtremeEnabled</key>
<false/>
</dict>
</plist>



One would presume that false being replaced with true would suffice.

One could then copy your current binary version to .backup ala com.apple.windowserver.plist.backup and convert back the xml1 file plist to binary.

$sudo cp com.apple.windowserver.plist com.apple.windowserver.plist.backup
$sudo plutil -convert binary1 com.apple.windowserver.backup.plist
$sudo cp com.apple.windowserver.backup.plist com.apple.windowserver.plist

exit terminal

Restart the windowserver or just logout/reboot and login to your system with the set up enabled.

If anything hokey arises, boot into single user mode and sudo cp the com.apple.windowserver.plist.backup to com.apple.windowserver.plist and restart the windowserver and/or reboot your system.

As I've said, systems without Extreme 2D capable GPUs won't even see this list and will run the compiled windowserver settings automagically selecting your detected hardware.
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post #28 of 80
5/1/05 at 4:54pm
Quote:
Originally posted by greeneggsaregood
Hey Mdriftmeyer,

I have the same powerbook but i do not have the com.apple.windowserver.plist on my system. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Download the Debug Utility and test to see if you can enable the Quartz 2D Extreme option in its Tools Menu. Then on a hunch check to see if it autogenerates a binary plist in /Library/Preferences/.

If you just use vi, pico or another commandline editor check to see if it now exists.
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post #29 of 80
5/2/05 at 2:25am
Very useful post, nice one

Dan
Quote:
Originally posted by mdriftmeyer
To extend upon Hitby's commentary:

The update to Tiger converted com.apple.windowserver.plist to binary1 upon rebooting the system.

To see exactly what got modified after running the Debug utility I did the following:

$cd /Library/Preferences
$sudo cp com.apple.windowserver.plist com.apple.windowserver.backup.plist
$sudo plutil -convert xml1 com.apple.windowserver.backup.plist

$sudo vim com.apple.windowserver.backup.plist
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post #30 of 80
5/2/05 at 4:24pm
I didn't notice any performance difference when enabling it (PowerBook 1.67).

However (I tried this on the Finder), the desktop text looked slighty different, maybe a little more fuzzy.

Also, just a note, I found Quartz Debug in /Developer/Applications/Performance Tools/ (for those of you have XCode Tools installed).
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post #31 of 80
5/3/05 at 5:12am
You and your old fashioned desire to explain where quartz debug is. (kidding)

Anyone with tiger installed could simply spotlight quartz and find it under the applications section...

My experience with it has been pretty good so far. I enabled q2de via the quartz debug application and then force quit it. The only glitches i've noticed have to do with rollover link changes in safari.
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post #32 of 80
5/3/05 at 7:03am
It would be nice if someone could write a script that enables Quartz 2D Extreme in the .plist for those of us who aren't as comfortable as others in messing with the terminal app.

Addendum; is it possible to run an Automater Workflow to open the 2D Extreme Debugger on system startup, enable 2D Extreme and then hide the application? That would be a decent work-around until Apple makes it a standard.
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post #33 of 80
5/3/05 at 1:57pm
Will

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver Quartz2DExtremeEnabled -boolean YES

in the Terminal work?
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post #34 of 80
5/3/05 at 2:06pm
Will this work on the 9200s in the MacMinis?
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post #35 of 80
5/3/05 at 2:16pm
Quote:
Originally posted by a_greer
Will this work on the 9200s in the MacMinis?

No. It only works with Radeon 9600's or better, or GeForce FX's.
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post #36 of 80
5/4/05 at 7:49am
So, does quartz 2D extreme accelerate anything ? It's supposed to do so in theory, but in pratice it doesn't make the UI more responsive (from what I heard). I'm a bit disappointed.
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post #37 of 80
5/4/05 at 8:09am
Quartz 2D Extreme has not been turned on yet in Tiger...perhaps in the next dot update...
- Dave Marsh
iMac Intel 24" 2.8GHz x 2, MacBook Air 1.8GHz, iPad 3G
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- Dave Marsh
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post #38 of 80
5/4/05 at 10:19am
This looks perfectly safe from a corruption perspective; something you can set back to the normal setting if you get annoyed with the bugs. Nothing that could corrupt your files.
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post #39 of 80
5/4/05 at 12:10pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Dave Marsh
Quartz 2D Extreme has not been turned on yet in Tiger...perhaps in the next dot update...

I know, but people who turned it on don't see any improvement.
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post #40 of 80
5/4/05 at 4:13pm
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...refsetter.html

Does this help people who dont want to access the prefrences from the terminal?
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