LCIII System Advice

7.1 is what I used I think, might need an enabler.

It's not very fast with 7.5 nor 7.6, no.

A RAM disk helps, and you've got plenty of RAM, so...

7.1 would indeed be faster. 7.5.5 is what I have used on LCIIIs in the past and I've been fairly happy with the performance, but I guess it depends what you are doing with the machine. RAM Doubler helps somewhat and makes things a bit quicker than using the System's Virtual Memory.

The LCIII is admittedly no speed demon!

With 36MB of memory, I turned virtual memory off thinking it would make it faster. I'm not talking about CPU intensive stuff. It's slow opening a small text file with teach text. Maybe I should reinstall 7.5 fresh so I can see if it makes a difference.

Just to check, are you running in 32 bit mode? Check your memory control panel. Also, turn off VM (if its turned on) - with 36MB of RAM, you don't need it, and all it does on 68ks is slow 'em down.

Try going through your system folder and cleaning out crap in there that you don't need. Also try defragging your HDD.

System 7.1 would likely be faster. You'll need System Enabler 003 though.

030s aren't very speedy in 7.5+ OS configs - 7.1 would be the way to go

And certainly consider overclocking to 33MHz. It's a relatively quick and painless mod -- you don't even need to buy any new parts. I've not heard of an LCIII that didn't overclock to III+ status, so your chances of success are pretty good. That 1/3 boost in clock speed translates to much higher overall performance boosts because the overhead is already paid for. You will feel it.

And certainly consider overclocking to 33MHz. It's a relatively quick and painless mod -- you don't even need to buy any new parts. I've not heard of an LCIII that didn't overclock to III+ status, so your chances of success are pretty good. That 1/3 boost in clock speed translates to much higher overall performance boosts because the overhead is already paid for. You will feel it.

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How bad is that heatwise? I've taken the case fan out of mine, y'see..

Well, with the fan, there doesn't seem to be any problem with the overclocking. I have no data on how well it works without a fan, but if the heatsinking is reasonably good (I don't remember), it'll probably work ok. I've overclocked many a PB140 to 33MHz, and have never had a problem. Those have no fans, so that experience gives me some (foolish) encouragement. I invite you to try the experiment on a fanless LCIII, and report back!

In the old days, 7.5.x or 7.6.x would have been recommended on your LC III in order to support Netscape. But I don't think that we need to worry about that, today...

I'd go straight down to 7.1 before thinking about overclocking. Mess around with RamDisk settings and games, and I think that you'll find that performance is adequate.

f the heatsinking is reasonably good (I don't remember), it'll probably work ok.

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There's no heat sink of any kind in mine.

I've overclocked many a PB140 to 33MHz, and have never had a problem. Those have no fans, so that experience gives me some (foolish) encouragement. I invite you to try the experiment on a fanless LCIII, and report back!

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That sounds interesting... but those have a heat sink, I imagine?

My LCIII came without a heatsink. I did overclock the machine to 33 MHz and its works well with help of the fan. I also put a math copro desoldered from a broken PB180 into the socket. The copro works fine, but after I noticed the processor housing melts during operation, I put a heatsink onto the copro. The machine is fine now

How much of a speed increase is it, though? What annoys me most about it is screen redraws, really, as it's the most visible... Disk access, too, but then I tend to use a RAM disk to alleviate that.

I'm surprised an LC III would be considered so slow since it has the same CPU as a IIci and those were always raved over in terms of speed. The IIci doesn't have the legendary status of the IIfx, but it was always given it's due respect.

I was surprised too, which is why I was thinking I might need to do a fresh install in order to see if it's really the machine.

How does overclocking to 33 MHz compare to replacing the mother board with a Quadra 605 and putting in a 25MHZ 68040 (not the LC version)?

--David

Personally I'd go the 605/475 board route, if I were you. Its much easier, requires no soldering, and will be faster, as well as allowing you to run 68040 only software. (such as Marathon Infinity, which doesn't run well on LCIII's, and OS 8, which has no 68030 support) Also, an LC475/Q605 board should be very easy to find.

I'm surprised an LC III would be considered so slow since it has the same CPU as a IIci and those were always raved over in terms of speed. The IIci doesn't have the legendary status of the IIfx, but it was always given it's due respect.

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There are other factors - memory speed and disk access speed, for instance. Also the speed of the graphics are very important to the perceived speed of an OS.

I don't have to change the motherboard to put in a 68040 do I? I thought I could just swap out the LC version with a full 68040.

If you already have an LC475 board, no, you just need the full '040 chip.

If you still have the stock LCIII board though, you will need to change the mobo - you cannot put a '040 of any type on the LCIII board.

Right, I was getting confused, about what I was asking. Too many strands in the duder's head.

For the FPU socket on the LCIII motherboard, a 68881 _won't_ work right? It must be a 68882?

You know you could always install NetBSD on that thing... I ran it on a stock LCIII with 36 megs and it was fine in spite of me not having a clue what I was doing.

I like that idea. With two LCIIIs there's no reason not to have one of them running NetBSD. I just need an ethernet card for it to make it useful.

Thanks for the idea luddite.

If you want to install a unix like os on it I would agree with luddite. NetBSD is a good choice. Another good choice would be Debian Linux. There are other options, but those would probably be the easiest for you to install and administer.

--David

If I was going to run 7.5 then i personally would go no further than 7.5.3, beyond that seems to be just bloat which slows the system for no apparent purpose. This is speaking from experience with a LCII

Not that you'd want to run any version of 7.5 on an LCII period - 7.5 and 7.6 are very nice on an LCIII, but in my experience, rather sluggish on an LCII with 10MB of RAM.

If I was going to run 7.5 then i personally would go no further than 7.5.3, beyond that seems to be just bloat which slows the system for no apparent purpose. This is speaking from experience with a LCII

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The difference in power between an LC II and LC III is huge. It's not really a good comparison to make.