Re: %#@*!@* grumble, back to installing "32-bit" apps from scratch
- From: Mark Conrad <none-of@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:55:17 -0700
In article <49e95f61$0$95549$742ec2ed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Kevin McMurtrie
<kevinmcm@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The push to 64 bits isn't just about memory. 64 bit mode ditches a few
of the limitations in the ancient Intel x86 instruction set. For Java
1.5 on MacOS X, I've seen speed improvements of up to 15%. Another
speed boost comes when the OS X kernel goes to 64 bits in 10.7.
I am looking forward to that speed boost when the Mac kernel
goes to 64 bits, every little bit of speed helps.
As you probably know, speech recognition apps are a marginal
technology, as evidenced by both Mac and PeeCee users avoiding
their use, despite the fact that modern speech apps now average
about 99% accuracy. (for a skilled user)
A slow speaker, say 60wpm , has no trouble correcting recent
recognition mistakes because he spots them on the screen as
he is speaking, so can correct mistakes on-the-fly.
In other words, present faster Intel Macs, say a fast iMac or
even a MacBook Pro are "fast enough" to display text on the
screen as the speaker is talking - - - unless the Mac user is
using virtualization software such as VMWare Fusion 2.
Most people speak normally at a faster rate, 150 to 200 wpm.
Any mistakes get "lost" in screen text way back, are not spotted
by the speaker, necessitating an additional "painful" editing
session to correct those mistakes.
Rule of thumb is that if it takes you ten minutes to dictate
1,500 words, it will take you another ten minutes to find and
correct the 15 mistakes that occur.
'dd' for regular backups? Wow. That's to tape, I hope.
No, it is to a tiny 100 GB LaCie drive that can fit in my shirt
pocket. It lets me get by with stuff like backing up to a 32-bit OS
after I have experimented with a 64-bit OS. (Vista)
Impossible to do with an incremental backup because of all the
configuration files kept in the OS itself, nasty stuff such as
the "activation" crapola for my $1,600 Dragon speech app,
which would otherwise involve a lengthy re-activation session to
convince Nuance that I was not trying to pirate their speech app.
Incremental backup software can be a hassle to configure but
it sure cuts down on storage costs.
Naw, not too bad, my compressed dd backups average about
12 GB in size.
One such "archive" backs up my entire internal hard drive,
with its 67 GB Mac partition, and its 81 GB Vista partition.
What is a PITA is the time necessary to properly backup
or restore the darn Vista part of my backup, 40 minutes.
By contrast, backup or restore of my Mac partition
takes only six minutes.
About every two years or so I reinstall EVERYTHING from scratch,
to avoid any creeping corruption that might otherwise build up
from using image backups exclusively.
Mark-
.
- References:
- %#@*!@* grumble, back to installing "32-bit" apps from scratch
- From: Mark Conrad
- Re: %#@*!@* grumble, back to installing "32-bit" apps from scratch
- From: Kevin McMurtrie
- %#@*!@* grumble, back to installing "32-bit" apps from scratch
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