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AirPlay Receiver PowerPC Mac?

Slix

Slix

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 24, 2010
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Hey guys! I had a thought, since I recently got an iMac G5 that works, with those nice speakers, wouldn't it be nice to turn it into an AirPlay receiver for my iTunes from my MacBook or iPod touch?

I looked around online a bit, and only seemed to find 1 app that was a standalone app that didn't need additional Java or anything installed, LonelyScreen. However, this app doesn't work on 10.6 and below, according to the site, and so it won't run on Leopard.

Are there any pre-built libraries or apps that you know of that make your PowerPC Mac act as an AirPlay receiver? I don't care about video streaming, I just want audio.

Thanks! :D
 
Slix said:
Hey guys! I had a thought, since I recently got an iMac G5 that works, with those nice speakers, wouldn't it be nice to turn it into an AirPlay receiver for my iTunes from my MacBook or iPod touch?

I looked around online a bit, and only seemed to find 1 app that was a standalone app that didn't need additional Java or anything installed, LonelyScreen. However, this app doesn't work on 10.6 and below, according to the site, and so it won't run on Leopard.

Are there any pre-built libraries or apps that you know of that make your PowerPC Mac act as an AirPlay receiver? I don't care about video streaming, I just want audio.

Thanks! :D
Click to expand...
Take a look at AirServer.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/airserver-powerpc.1969284/
 
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I bought a copy of airserver some time ago. I tried again in January and it wouldn't let me use it. I wrote the support and that is what they said me...

"Hello Phil,

Unfortunately you will probably not be able to activate AirServer version 3.1.2 on your PowerBook.

And unfortunately we do not support older versions of AirServer, such as version 3.1.2."

Is there a workaround for it ?
 
This isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but I’ve been a long time fan of Airfoil from before the iPhone/iPad even existed;

https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/

Install the current version on your MacBook, then grab the legacy v3.x for Tiger and Leopard:
https://rogueamoeba.com/legacy/

Trial it out and if it all works, buy a license for the current version. If you email them about your usage of the iMac G5, they may even hook you up with a free license for the older version.
 
Just to clarify. I bought it in 2013 and installed it under various OS (Tiger/Leopard) on an iMac G3 I gave away two years ago where it was activated.
In January I wanted to look into it to install it on another PPC mac (don't remember which one actually) and while I could download the old version from their website I couldn't activate it so kind of wonder while they still offer the downloads in the first place.
As it's understandable I wouldn't like to spend again money on this just to be left in the cold again.
 
philgxxd said:
Just to clarify. I bought it in 2013 and installed it under various OS (Tiger/Leopard) on an iMac G3 I gave away two years ago where it was activated.
In January I wanted to look into it to install it on another PPC mac (don't remember which one actually) and while I could download the old version from their website I couldn't activate it so kind of wonder while they still offer the downloads in the first place.
As it's understandable I wouldn't like to spend again money on this just to be left in the cold again.
Click to expand...

I've seen a couple of old apps which refuse to activate using their licensing system, even though they activated and worked in the past. I think it comes down to SSL changes and expiration of certificates, so unless the developer chooses to reinstate their older auth system or provide you with an unlocked copy of the software, it's not likely to ever work again.

The alternative might be to locate a cracked version on the shadier side of the internet. I don't see any harm in it if you hold a valid software license.
 
Would you not be better off installing Linux on the G5 and seeing if there are any PPC binaries to do what you want?

My AirPlay server is running off a Raspberry Pi, so I'm sure there'll be some modules you can yse on a G5 to get it to receive connections, etc.
 
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One thing that just came to mind; iTunes has undergone so many changes, but I can vaguely recall there used to be an option to choose where to send the audio output between computers running iTunes. Or was this only for sending audio to Airport Express speakers?
 
On my (High Sierra) laptop I hold the "Apple" key and press the volume button on the menu bar, this gives me the option to redirect all system audio to whatever output I want. I haven't seen an option to send it to other computers running iTunes (Version 10 is the latest supported on my PowerBook, so I doubt that would be an option here anyway)

The PowerMac is going to suck a lot of juice (being a workstation and all) anyway, so for just an AirPlay receiver, would you not be better off with a Pi Zero solution? (Add a HiFi berry card if you're wanting quality)
 
As @eyoungren mentioned earlier - AirServer. I use a later version on an Intel Mac mini. Our local schools also use it as it's cheaper and more flexible than an Apple TV.

My PPC Macs have no issue AirPlaying iTunes audio to AirServer, an Apple TV 4 or my Sony AV Amp. It just works. In fact it's the best way to get decent quality audio out of an early TiBook as the onboard sound is a bit rubbish by modern standards.
 
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But it seems you can't make it run anymore on PPC Macs.

My email is used to activate the app and it isn't accepted anymore as something with their servers seemed broken.
 
Chuck them an email and ask if you've got an activation issue. The fraction of a percentage point of users that are using an architecture that's been dead for over 12 years probably don't figure high enough to warrant acres of help documentation on the website. ;)
 
I haven’t tried this one yet, but googling around, I read about a reverse engineering hack of the AirTunes / Airport Express protocol called shairport (github). Which is a Perl script that effectively turns any Mac (including PowerPC), Windows or Java capable device into an AirTunes receiver.

I’ll give it a try when I’m at the office.
 
XBMC might also do it. v11 had AirPlay support when I ran that a few years ago on the Mac mini? Was somewhat more flaky than AirServer IME though.
 
AphoticD said:
I haven’t tried this one yet, but googling around, I read about a reverse engineering hack of the AirTunes / Airport Express protocol called shairport (github). Which is a Perl script that effectively turns any Mac (including PowerPC), Windows or Java capable device into an AirTunes receiver.

I’ll give it a try when I’m at the office.
Click to expand...

https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync#building-and-installing

"
Mac OS X: A HomeBrew package exists for Shairport Sync. With HomeBrew installed, Shairport Sync can be installed using the command:

$brew install shairport-sync

Note that the installation uses the libao library and so synchronisation is not available — playback glitches will occur occasionally, when the ao system's buffers overflow or underflow."

https://www.foobarflies.io/shairport-is-back/

https://github.com/abrasive/shairport The old one

https://www.npmjs.com/package/shairport-sync
 
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I did see the documentation about Shairport (I have that on my Raspberry Pi), and Shairport Sync, but the reason I wanted to get an app rather than a library that has to be installed and configured on every machine is because I own a lot of PowerPC Macs, and running an app on startup would be faster than configuring all of them every time I would want to play music, especially if it requires installing Xcode and something like MacPorts. The iMac G5 is just the one I mentioned. :)

Thanks for all the input though!
 
Slix said:
I did see the documentation about Shairport (I have that on my Raspberry Pi), and Shairport Sync, but the reason I wanted to get an app rather than a library that has to be installed and configured on every machine is because I own a lot of PowerPC Macs, and running an app on startup would be faster than configuring all of them every time I would want to play music, especially if it requires installing Xcode and something like MacPorts. The iMac G5 is just the one I mentioned. :)

Thanks for all the input though!
Click to expand...

@wicknix read the MacPorts manual and came up with a solution to package a build to distribute as standalone. Build it once and then install as a package on each Mac.

This could possibly solve the problem of not wanting to install Xcode and Macports on each machine.
 
MagicBoy said:
Chuck them an email and ask if you've got an activation issue. The fraction of a percentage point of users that are using an architecture that's been dead for over 12 years probably don't figure high enough to warrant acres of help documentation on the website. ;)
Click to expand...

They gave me access to my lost account so I could deauthorize the 3 installations I had still bound to but they gave me the answer I posted above when I said it wouldn't accept my account for the new installation on my PPC mac so saying that I can't use and there were nothing they can do about it.
At that point I didn't go further and booked it under "just another silly acquisition decision".
I'm encouraged to try it again.

If I feel a urging need for that kind of software again and I can't make run Airserver I will look into that opensource alternatives. Thank you for your detective work on that matter.
 
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Thanks for coming back to share it. I have a lot of use for it as my iMac G4 is connected permanently to my main stereo and I can now stream to it.
 
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