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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 Adobeª 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-Tech.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:

  1. 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 noticably 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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 Daystar Tech. Our Tech Support staff will be happy to help you get the best performance possible out of your multiprocessing machine.

QuarkXPress
To use QuarkXPress with your multiprocessing machine, you must upgrade to QuarkXPress 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-

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 History

DayStar 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