BeTips.net

HLT (halt) instructions are used by good operating systems to keep processors cool — the halt instruction is sent whenever the processor has nothing to do. However, HLT’s impact can be unpredictable on multi-processor systems, so Be does not enable the feature by default. If you have a dual-CPU setup and want to give it a shot, open ~/config/settings/kernel/drivers/kernel and add the line

hlt

Save and reboot. If your machine remains stable, you’ll notice your CPU temperature dropping (use Sensor2 to monitor CPU temp). Otherwise, remove or comment out the line and get your stability back.
As one user said of this technique:

Thanks, it worked a treat! Temp fell by 12c on both processors within minutes. Well, that’s another Be convert. I’m just off to delete my NT partition 🙂

Note that using the HLT instruction is kinda useless if you use Seti@home or other number crunchers running, because your processor is never idle.

If you get no response from your keyboard after BeOS initializes, the problem may be an unspecified keymap setting. Launch the Keymap from Preferences and double-click on Keymap. Select the appropriate map for your country/language and restart. You should be all set.

While BeOS 5 supports mouse wheels on virtually all PS/2 and USB mice, two exceptions appear to be Logitech USB mice and MS Intellieye USB mice.
If you’re using a Microsoft Intellieye mouse on the USB interface, you’ll notice that the scroll wheel does not work in BEOS 5. The fix is simple — shut down and hook up the USB to PS/2 adapter that comes with the mouse. Plug it into the PS/2 port, reboot and the wheel will work perfectly.

An easily overlooked change to BeOS 5 is in the way the Find panel constructs relative date queries. Previously, a query for all mail sent „After last Saturday“ might work today, but not next week, because „last Saturday“ was being interpreted too literally, as a specific date. Now you can create queries like this and have them work forever — „last Saturday“ will always refer to the Saturday preceding the moment of query execution.

A subtle but powerful feature has been added to BeOS queries in BeOS 5, in the form of „Query Templates.“ While it’s always been possible to re-use or edit existing saved queries, you can now save a blank query with a few parameters filled in, absent the specifics. For example, if you find yourself searching your People file collection frequently, you can now store a query template on your Desktop pre-configured to find People files by State quickly without having to tweak the file type, attributes, and query volume each time. To create a query template, use the triangular widget at the top left of the Find panel. Note that this also lists the last few queries you’ve executed — no need to dig around in ~/queries for saved queries. Remember that you can always customize query results by manipulating folders in ~/config/settings/Tracker/DefaultQueryTemplates.

A query template is like a saved query, but without specific search criteria. This template lets you search the volume „gong“ quickly for Californians. All that remains is to enter a name.

Looking for some starter projects for use in 3dmiX? I’ve uploaded a bunch of them to www.catastropherecords.com (in the Misc section).

• be3d.zip
• she-loves-it-3dmix.zip
• the-price-of-things-3dmix.zip
• the-lynx-3dmix.zip
• saturday-work-3dmix.zip

Unzip them and double-click the file inside called blah.3dmix . 3DmiX will launch. Press „W“ to switch between track mode and 3dmix mode. If you have an SBLive card, Go to the Media preferences panel and set the input to be the output. Then launch SoundRecorder and you can record the output of 3DmiX while you mute, solo and move tracks around in the 3Dspace. =)

If you drag any file, folder, or app into the top of the Be menu and then navigate through the folders it contains and drop it, a symlink to that object will be created in the target location. This is a great way to add links to commonly accessed objects to any part of the Be menu quickly.
Be sure to start the drag in the upper part of the Be menu, not in the application entries in the Deskbar.

In BeOS 5, you can drag any file on top of the entry for any currently running app in the Deskbar, and that app will attempt to open it. This is a bit similar to right-clicking the file and choosing Open With… but some people may find it easier or more intuitive.
For example, let’s say you want to view the contents of a SoundPlay playlist quickly, without launching SoundPlay or a text editor. Just drag it onto NetPositive’s entry in the Deskbar and the playlist will open in NetPositive.

BeOS 5 introduces a great new way to move files, folders, or apps to other locations. Drag an object over a folder icon and hold it there for two seconds. The contents of that folder will spring out, letting you see its contents. You can navigate through the hierarchy and drop the object into any subfolder quickly.
To get the X-ray view without waiting, hold down Shift as you drag.

If you run a BeOS-only machine, you rock. But how do you install BeOS Personal Edition if you can’t boot into Windows and you don’t have a Linux installation? Simple. And you won’t have to worry about the 500MB partition size limitation, either.
First, download and decompress the BeOS4Linux package from one of the mirrors. It contains just the raw disk image and a floppy image. Create a new directory in your root, something like /BeOSR5. Mount the image in the new directory, like this:

mkdir /BeOSR5
mount ~/home/Downloads/image.be /BeOSR5

Now just use the Installer app (in the Applications group in the Be menu). Choose the just-mounted volume as the From: volume and your existing BeOS installation (or a fresh partition) as the target. Let ‚er rip and 10 minutes later you’ll have BeOS 5 installed on that partition.
If the mounted partition does not appear to Installer as a From: volume, use this technique instead:

copyattr -r -d /BeOSR5/* /boot

where /boot can be replaced by any volume name you want to install to or upgrade.
Re-run bootman if necessary so you can boot into the new OS from the boot menu, and you’re golden.