Things that really slow down my TX

[vovka1965]

Right after a hard reset my T\X is reallly fast.
But with enough 3rd party luggage, it starts slowing down. Most annoying is the white screen for about 2 secs when switching between apps. I am guessing it is a dbcache problem and soft reset definitely helps it (OFFflush does not help though).
So, I started looking for some worst offenders that I can, perhaps, live without.

1. Any program that is memory resident? For some reason the new TealScan Beta (now version 0.60) is really terrible in that respect. Once you start it and do a scan and quit, it is all over..
2. DisplayManager/DIAMemory seem to slow things down.. Is it because they make decisions on per-app basis? Is it because of some display action that is slow?

Can anybody report any TX-specific experiences?

[BrentDC]

Try running Palm Internals. The notifications that slow your palm down, from what I understand, are 'Hede' and something else, it says it in one of the tips. The reason your Palm is probable slow, is because of not enough DbCache. Contrary to popular belief, a soft-reset does not clear your DbCache, when you have enough stuff installed, it actually fills it up. A flush after a reset should speed things up, but will not solve the problem. The things that solve this problem are 1) Moving applications to the card, or 2) using UnCache.

[cms]

Right after a hard reset my T\X is reallly fast.
But with enough 3rd party luggage, it starts slowing down. Most annoying is the white screen for about 2 secs when switching between apps. I am guessing it is a dbcache problem and soft reset definitely helps it (OFFflush does not help though).
So, I started looking for some worst offenders that I can, perhaps, live without.

1. Any program that is memory resident? For some reason the new TealScan Beta (now version 0.60) is really terrible in that respect. Once you start it and do a scan and quit, it is all over..
2. DisplayManager/DIAMemory seem to slow things down.. Is it because they make decisions on per-app basis? Is it because of some display action that is slow?

Can anybody report any TX-specific experiences?


The screenwhine blip you hear is most likly warpspeed about to kick in and shut it off. Using a glass digitizer gets rid of the screenwhine.

[vovka1965]

it is not a sound
I mean the screen just going blank

[cms]

it is not a sound
I mean the screen just going blank


OMG I HATE THAT TOO :eek: :D

If its background proccesses that cause the tx to go slower, try doing a warmreset and see if the palm is as fast as it was after a hardreset. if not then it could just be too many apps in ram.

lets hope its not the later :(

[BrentDC]

Doing a warm-reset will not tell anything imo. It disables background processes, and doesn't let apps load into and out of the DbCache at reset.

[wozofoz]

I noticed this '2 second blank screen' as well and found that changing from 16bit to 8bit helped speed things up.
I did this using myKbd (zlthemes.com/ProductDetailListing.php?PID=98) but Colorize (www.freewarepalm.com/graphics/colorize.shtml) also has the option.

Eventually I got rid of stuff I did not really need, this was the best solution of course and now I am back to 16bit :)

All the best, woz of oz

[vovka1965]

I noticed this '2 second blank screen' as well and found that changing from 16bit to 8bit helped speed things up.

All the best, woz of oz
What would that do? If it helped speed things up, why did you change back eventually? What does 16 bit refer to, in this case? Display colors??

[wozofoz]

Yes, display colors.
I don't know the tecnical stuff behind it, I just found it through trial and error. I guess it is just something like less color variation and so less to 'launch'.
As for the look, well I can't see much difference especially since I use a screen protector but it will be up to your personal taste on that one.

If you install Colorize, on the front page you will see 8 or 16 bit selection. Try selecting 8bit and see if it lessens the 'white screen' time.
If you already have myKbd it is in the Menu.
I suggested this to OHappyDaye in this thread (forum.brighthand.com/showthread.php?t=235281&page=3) Posts # 22, 23, 24 and she had good results too.

I went back to 16bit because after deleting many apps I really did not need my TX is now lightning fast and 8bit makes no big difference.
So this is only a work around not a fix :)

All the best, woz of oz

[alominator]

Hi everybody! It's the first time i post on 1src, but i've spent many hours reading new posts...
For the whitescreen delay, if you're using it, try disabling frameTX (or blackborder).
I've noticed that my TX seems faster in opening apps when I take off frameTX from uncache list...I don't know why but palminternal told me that these programs are HEDE notification, and maybe are slowing my palm...
Happy Christmas to everyone!!! :D :D :D

[vovka1965]

OK,
I still have this 2-second whitescreen delay. It bugs me a lot!

I tried playing around with color depth: 8 bit vs 16bit, but no difference in delay.
I use CleanStart and I load it up with just the stuff that I don't want to live without.
I usually have about 8 MB dbCache free right after re-start.
I don't use frameTX.
So, what causes this delay: is it applicaitons swapping stuff in and out of dbCache? If so, I guess overclocking will not really do anything..

It is annoying because my Palm now is quite a bit less peppy than my old retired Viewsonic running Windows Mobile 2003..
Any ideas anyone?
Grr,,, :( :(

[Ex Clie User]

The screenwhine blip you hear is most likly warpspeed about to kick in and shut it off.
Am I lucky in not getting the screen whine (with my recently purchased T|X), or is that still to come?

[Greek]

I have mine since Nov 2005. That makes it 2 years and four months. No screen whine, no audio hiss, no digitizer drift. Think positive. :D

Regards,

[vovka1965]

Any comments on topic, though? "White" screen, not "whine"

[wozofoz]

Disclaimer: The following is all guess work based on my experience in trying to get a fast TX. Plus it's not great news.

Firstly, I have:
90 Apps in RAM
30 Apps on the Card and linked to RAM with ZLauncher
9 Extra Prefs (CentreMenu etc)
14 DAs
2 Hacks

Long ago I tried an app Crystal PopUp Suite which is DA type popup (although no DA Launcher is needed) that has Memos, NotePad, Timer. Good idea but....

This is when I noticed a huge increase in the amount of 'screen white time' not just when using that app but in general use. Deleting Crystal PS was the only solution.

It was then that I really noticed that there was still some 'screen white time' I had just gotten used to it and thought of it as normal.

The only final solution I could find was to NVBackup then delete an app I could live without and test, delete another app then test etc
There were no other apps that made a big difference to 'screen white time' but rather a group of apps that each made a small difference.
Surprisingly the apps that others had said would be the problem like ShortCut5, CutPaste5 did not make any real difference both in my eyes and by speed test.
I still have them and my TX is lightning fast except that large complicated apps will always take time.

Sorry but it seems to boil down to.this:
If you can't live without any of your apps then putting some on the card may help but then they will take longer to launch anyway.

Soft Reset and CleanStart:
It seems to me that there is a trade off here also.
If I exclude (not ticked) apps in CleanStart then my TX is generally faster but when I launch an excluded app it will take a little longer to launch, this is not so noticable on small uncomplicated apps.
I guess (and it is only a guess) that the good thing about a Normal Palm Reset is that every app gets 'woken up' and is 'ready to go'
When using CleanStart and the app is excluded then it has to be 'woken up' on launch.

Sorry I don't have a wonderfull answer and gook luck with this :)

All the best, woz of oz

[vovka1965]

Woz,
That is a lot of info, thanks.
Assuming that memory is the culprit, flushing cache (with OffFlush, say) may actually keep things slowed down?
So, if I don't use CleanStart at all, my Palm may respond faster, but I am more likely to get "out of memory" errors, correct?

Here is another thought: when an application gets added (not excluded) at reset, it should launch faster. Is that just for the first-time launch? Is there an advantage to launch-code being sent at reset vs. just starting up the application manually after the reset is finished?

[wozofoz]

Assuming that memory is the culprit, flushing cache (with OffFlush, say) may actually keep things slowed down?
I don't ever Flush so I can't say, sorry.

So, if I don't use CleanStart at all, my Palm may respond faster, but I am more likely to get "out of memory" errors, correct?
If I have an app Ticked in CleanStart then Reset and then launch that app straight away it is fast to launch.
But, it seems that every time you use an app a little bit of usable dbCache is taken away until eventually you need to Reset or Flush or wait for the Palm to Flush (white screen before Blazer) or the Palm will Reset itself (Crash)

If some apps are slowing your Palm down then using or not using CleanStart will not help the White Screen problem in the end.
The only real solution is to find and get rid of those apps.

Using CleanStart will help with 'Out of Memory' problems if you Reset before you launch the app.

Here is another thought: when an application gets added (not excluded) at reset, it should launch faster. Is that just for the first-time launch?
Yes the app seems to launch slightly faster the first time but this is only noticable with 'big' apps (say 300kb and over)
eg: I have the game Dynomite which is just over 1MB and if I Tick it in CleanStart it loads a little faster the first time.
If it is not ticked then it launches a little slower the first time but launches quite fast the second time.

Is there an advantage to launch-code being sent at reset vs. just starting up the application manually after the reset is finished?
Not really, if I use an app on a regular basis I Tick it in CleanStart so it gets the Reset launch-code thing.
If I only use it occassionly I don't Tick it eg: most games.

I have found CleanStart to be safe and easy to use.
My method was to write the CleanStart Profile in a notepad and test it for a day then change it slightly and write that down and test.
Eventually I found a Profile that suited me.

All the best, woz of oz

[Pgr]

IMHO, the best suggestion was the first reply from BrentDC: check with PalmInternals what's happening with your event notifications. Hede (slows everything down), hapl, hapq (app startup and exit), lazy (Palm turning on).

My Palm TX was like you described until I started removing apps that hooked the hede event: PsLink, ButtonsEx, and others. BTW, the new Apt application hooks hede but does it very efficiently, and replaces the functionality of many apps (I dropped about 4 apps when I started using it :)).

These issues are a lot more critical to speed in everyday use than flushing and cache size, except perhaps for apps that require a lot of memory like Browsers, GPS, etc.