F.A.Q. for PowerPC Macs

[skinniezinho]

Well, since in this section there are many times the same question, I decided to do a "F.A.Q." to keep the best information grouped.
I will try to do my best, if you have suggestion,please share them.
Don't use this topic for doubts.

Hardware Questions both for Notebooks and Desktops:


What mac do I have?

You can check you machine specs using the system profiler: apple logo=>about this mac=>more info.

graphic made by simsaladimbamba

If your mac doesn't boot to MacOS, you can check up by its serial number, using this website.


What is the maximum Ram that my mac can take? and wich ram it is? and where do I buy it?

The maximum ram that your mac can take and it's type is given on everymac.com or using the application mactracker, if you search by your model.

Be sure that the ram that you buy is low density.

Ram can be bought on several places, but the best bet is crucial (for new ram).
For used ram/lower prices check ebay, there are many people selling ram pulled out from working macs, or even oem ram proved to work in mac (low density ram, check the feedback of the seller. Remember, high density RAM is cheaper than low density ram, so if a user is selling mac ram at higher prices, maybe he is not fooling you).


What is the maximum HDD that my mac can take? and wich type it is? and where do I buy it?

Well, one more time you can check everymac.com or mactracker to know what type of hdd do your mac take, if it is IDE or SATA, 2.5' (laptop) or 3.5' (desktop).

Some macs have a 128Gb limit on the "onboard Ide", I don't know about notebooks, but the list of desktop computers are here:

Power Macintosh G3 - Beige
Power Macintosh G3 - B&W
Power Macintosh G4 - PCI/Yikes!
Power Macintosh G4 - Sawtooth
Power Macintosh G4 - Gigabit Ethernet
Power Macintosh G4 - Cube
Power Macintosh G4 - Digital Audio
Power Macintosh G4 - QuickSilver '2001' (733MHz, 867MHz, Dual 800MHz)

There are some "solutions for that:
1)SpeedTools ATA Hi-Capacity Driver - http://www.speedtools.com/ATA6.html

2)Open Firmware hack:

this DOES NOT WORK FOR OS9. For OS9, you will still need the speedtools driver available here:

http://www.speedtools.com/ATA6.shtml
This time, however, we need to write this to the non-volatile RAM so that the changes aren’t lost on reboot.

Reboot or Power up your Cube
Hold down Command + Option + O + F simultaneously as soon as the reboot starts.
You should now be at the Open Firmware prompt. Note that this is NOT the BASH prompt, so don’t try anything here.

Type in the following, exactly. Please note that the Underscore “_” is used to indicate a space.
nvedit
dev_hd
dev_..
"_"_"_lba-48"_property
device-end
Press Ctrl+C to exit from nvedit.
nvstore
setenv_use-nvramrc?_true
reset-all
That’s it. Now boot up and go to “About My Mac” to confirm the disk size.

If your disk was already formatted, it will have its original 128Gb partition and a region of inaccessible space at the end. It’s probably easiest to reformat the disk with a new partition scheme, unless you have some terminal disk utility or related tricks up your sleeve.

This hack will last until you reset the NV RAM (P RAM).
Similarly, if you hose your open firmware settings, use this fact to your advantage, perform a PRAM reset and start again.
If you do repartition the disk, it’s probably wise not to cross the 128Gb boundary with a partition, in case you ever have to reset the NV RAM, in which case you’ll only be able to access the first 128Gb of the the hard-disk. By splitting the disk at 128Gb, you’ll ensure that only whole partitions are visible and any partition after the 128Gb will be entirely invisible.

source

3)SATA/IDE - PCi cards- this go for 60-80 dollars, and can be found on OWC, ebay and maybe other stores.


I have IDE type hdds on my mac, but they are becoming scarce and the prices are becoming higher, is there a solution?

If you have a laptop, or a desktop with limited size for hdd, guess you have to stay with IDE hdds.
For those who have plenty of space (powermacs for example), you can use sata HDD's with SATA to IDE converter. They are available from ebay at something 3euros shipping included, or 40eur in other stores. It's up to you, guess you wouldn't notice any difference. Alternatively, you can use a CF to IDE adapter, but this is not recommended because CF cards are pretty expensive and don't come in large storage sizes.


I heard about SSDs, can I have one in my Mac? It only has IDE ports.

Most ssd's are available only with SATA interface, although as covered before if you have a desktop, you can either use the SATA to IDE converter or a SATA to pci card.
For Laptop users there are only two options:
1) IDE ssds - they are scarce but they exist! OWC has a high variety of sizes and there is the 32Gb Transcend.

2) Compact Flash (CF Cards) - CF cards are like "mini ssds", although the performance is worse than a good ssd, it benefits from the "almost zero miliseconds" time acess.
The CF cards can be used through adapters (to desktop 40 pin IDE (desktop) or 44pin IDE (laptop) available on ebay for something like 3/4eur),these adapters can take one or two cfs.
Because of the size, cf cards can fit on laptops with the adapters.
CF Cards are good alternatives to people who don't need much space (32Gb of a good CF (2x16Gb 400x or more) is almost the same price of an IDE SSD) but want more speed, less noise/vibration (the problem of high speed 7200rpm HDD's in laptops) and a little more battery.
Don't buy a CF with speed less than 233/266x, it will be very slow.

more options and info here

My Mac only has a CD-Reader, I want to put a DVD, where do I buy them?

In this part I don't have sure, but I guess you use any ordinary pc optical drive, if you then use patchburn.
If you don't want to risk, search for mac compatible drives.

Can I upgrade my processor?

Laptops - I don't have great info about this, but I guess only the powerbook g3 allowed processor upgrades (check OWC site, Sonnet, Gigadesign, Lowendmac.com for more info) although be aware that a faster processor will probably produce more heat and consume more battery.
*Under construction*

Desktops - g3's, g4's do have processor upgrades,either swap from newer machines to older (for example, the dual g4 500MHz fit in some Sawtooth (it has to have a Uni-N revision 7 chipset).
CPU Upgrades Reviews Here
OWC has a high range of cpu upgrades,although you can find it on ebay too.

G5's don't have processor upgrades.


*Under construction*

Can I upgrade my PowerPC processor to an Intel one?

Short Answer: NO, it's impossible!

Long Answer: the most that you can do, is taking all powerpc stuff inside your case and put there and "hackintosh".That will take you time,and some do-it-yourself.

 

[skinniezinho]

How can I add Wifi to my mac?

First of all, get some info about Wifi protocols: here.
You will find that N protocol>G protocol>B protocol in terms of speed..

I will divide this into parts:

1)For macs with the Original Apple Airport Slot here are the options that fit in that slot:

1.1)Original Apple Airport - available on ebay from 20 to 50eur​

1.2)Non Original PC Cards with a little DIY:​

DIY Guide here​

List of the PCCARDS/PCMCIA cards here​

2)For macs with the Original Apple Airport Extreme Slot here are the options that fit in that slot:

2.1)Original Apple Airport Extreme Card​

2.2)Some Broadcom MiniPCI Cards (not mini pci-e!!!) this Broadcom 4318 MPG was stated to work in Lowendmac Groups for example​

​

2)USB-Type Wifi Cards - this in my opinion is one of the easiest/cheapest ways of adding wifi to a mac. A 300MBps N Wifi usb adapter can be bought for less than 20eur.

2.1)Branded Cards - Conceptronics (for example SMCWUSBS-N3), Some Asus, etc..best bet, if it doesn't have mac drivers, try to know wich chip does it use, then go to the chip maker webpage and see if it has drivers for mac. For example,most of the cards today use ralink chips, most of them have mac drivers, although vendors don't say so.​

​

2.2)Non-Brand Cards - ebay,just do the same thing that I said for branded cards (you can ask the seller too),will appear good examples like this ones:​

​

High Power 300Mbps Wireless N WiFi USB Network Adapter- - in the description: Supported OS: Window 2000, XP, Vista, Window 7, Linux and MAC OS X​

​

150Mbps Micro USB Wireless N 802.11n/g WiFi LAN Adapter​

​

3)PCI Type Wifi Cards - divided into two sections:

3.1)Native PCI Wifi Cards - one more time, search for the ones with chips that have drivers for mac, for example Realtek, Ralink.​

I saw a Conceptronic 300Mbps C300Ri V3 card for cheap on a store, downloaded windows drivers, and saw RT2860 (ralink chip), although when I bough it, the chip on the card was RT3062 wich doesn't have mac drivers on site...I tried the rt2860 drivers,and it worked!​

One more time, a search on ebay, will give you 300Mbps PCI Cards for about 20eur with mac drivers like this one (realtek):​

 

[skinniezinho]

3.2)PCi Adapters- mini PCI to PCI adapters, to make use of the mini PCI cards such as the original airport extreme or the "broadcom" ones.
As far as I know, there are only B/G mini pci cards.

I think that cardbus to pci adapters should work too. Here is a list of Mac compatible Wifi Cardbus (valid for laptops to!)
​

How can I add Bluetooth to my Mac?

For those who don't any slots for bluetooth, the only option that I am aware are usb bluetooth dongles.
If you a branded dongle, search for anything with broadcom chip (TRUST uses them for example), or again OWC.
If you want the cheapest, you have a 5 dollar one here and I think the ones available @99pence on ebay are the same as that one (I ordered one to see!)

For those who have slots for original apple bluetooth cards, just search on ebay for them, or take a look here then here (adding bluetooth to a G5).
If you have another machine take a look @ifixit to know how to put it.

Which webcam should I buy to use with my Mac?

Of course you buy an use an Apple iSight, but they still have high prices compared to "pc" webcams.
In this site and on the logitech site you can find mac compatible webcams.
Other option is to use the Macam Driver with your webcam (or one in the list of compatible webcams)​

 

[skinniezinho]

Hardware - Desktops Only


Most of the hardware covered before can be applied both to desktops (even those "laptop like" (imac,emac). This section will only cover the missing hardware modifications to desktop mac (powermacs).

Can I change my graphic card?

Yes, you have three options:

1)Buy a real mac card - with this one everything will work as it should, although you pay premium price for them. You can find them new on owc and sometimes on ebay.

2)Buy a PC Card already modded/flashed for mac - if you don't know anything about flashing, modding cards, but still don't want to pay the premium prices of Mac cards, this option is for you.
Be aware that you may have sleep issues or so, and when buying the card, tell the seller wich mac you have!
On ebay you will find lots of this cards, ati 9800, geforce 6200, 6800, etc..
I heard about this guy that sells some cards and there are more like him, specially in the strangedogs forum

3)Buy a PC Card, and turn it into a Mac card - If you know something about flashing/modding, and think that 90dollars for used and flashed ATi 9800pro is too much (truth is that they can be bought used for 30/40eur) this is for you.
Lots of reading of The Mac Elite Wiki and the strangedogs forum will help you do it!
Don't rush the process, and one more time,read everything carefully.
Be aware of each model problems.

My PPC Mac Desktop is dead, I guess it is the power supply,but even used ones are too pricey, what can I do?

At least for some G3's and G4's you can mod an ordinary-easy to find-cheap to buy ATX power supply to work with it, here are some usefull links:

http://atxg4.com/sawtooth.html
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/ATX_G4_AGP_conversion/G4_AGP_to_ATX_case_pg2.htm#next
http://www.applefritter.com/node/9274


Remember, the power supply is the hear of your system, go for a good brand (for stock g4's and g3's you don't need top notch power supplys, but something as LC Power should be fine in terms of stability and price)

My Powermac has a busted fan, how do I know if the new fan has the same cfm (or more) of the old one?
Here you have a list of fans used in powermacs, you can always compare.

Hardware - Laptops and Desktops (emac,imac)


This section will only cover the missing hardware modifications to laptop macs and iMacs and eMacs


Can I change my graphic card?

No.

Can I change my processor?

No.

Can my ppc laptop have two finger scrolling?and gestures?

Some ppc laptops can do 2 finger scrolling,using iscroll2.
About gestures, read this thread.

How do I monitor my battery on my ibook/powerbook?

You can use Coconut Battery.
It can show you the number of cycles and the health of the battery.
Be aware that sometimes an "healthy" battery on coconut doesn't mean you are going to have a good experience with your battery.
My Ibook G3 showed 92% health, although it lasted me 1h, and when it was on 30% it shutdown.

How do I monitor my temperatures on my powerpc computer?

Use temperature monitor or iStat Pro.

Where can I find parts for my ppc mac?

Apart from ebay and the marketplace here you can find other places and opinions about it
here.

Can I overclock my G3?G4?G5?

G3: YES http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/g3-zone/yosemite/oc.html
G4: some of them http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G4ZONE/g4yikesoc/ use google and forum search, there are threads and articles about it
G5: NO!

Recently a lot of info about overclocking ppc macs is here

Is there a way to improve ATI RAge 128 performance?

Grab a read here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1691634/

 

[skinniezinho]

Software Questions


What is the latest MacOS that my mac can run?

This info is available on everymac.com or mactracker.
For those who like to "hack", and get a newer version of MacOS on it's unsupported mac, there is Leopard Assist and xpostfacto.
Other option is installing the MacOS X version you want in a supported machine,then use carbon copy cloner to clone it to the machine HDD.
I did this for my powermac g4..using my macbook!it worked fine!See more about this here.


Can I run MacOS 10.6/10.7/10.8 on my powerpc mac?

No

Can I have iCloud on my powerpc mac?

No.iCloud Requires 10.7.2.
Althought some people claim to have synced iCal and Adressbook in unsupported system using tutorials like this one and this one.
If you have mobileme DON'T UPGRADE! I learned the hard way.No "apple" sync with my powermac.Using google now.

What Cloud services have clients that will run on my powerpc mac?

1) Dropbox - 10.4+
2) Sugarsync - you have to use version 1.9.42 for powerpc 10.4+.
3) CXSync - 10.5 only,using a legacy version.
4) Spideroak - from my searches I've found that there is an old version that works on 10.4+ powerpcs, but I mailed them.

Are there any software tweaks that I can make to make my experience better?

Before installing MacOS: install only the languages that you need,along with extras/drivers.

After installling MacOS: update it, uninstall the current version of flash with the uninstaller available here and install the latest version of flash available wich is 10.1.102.64 available here.

See the section "Youtube is slow as hell,any tips?" for more info/tweaks about flash.

After that the only tweaks that I am aware of, are:

*Disabling the dashboard:Using Dashboard disabler or by hand using this tutorial.

*Disabling the spotlight:using this tutorial.

*Use some of the following apps to remove the intel code from UB apps and undesired languages:

XSlimmer

Trimthefat

MonoLingual

*Use Powerpc Optimized Builds of some software (mozilla has them):
Camino, Firefox, Thunderbird and Seamonkey PPC Builds

I want to use freeware apps,where do I get them?

http://www.opensourcemac.org

sometimes you must search for old versions to use with 10.3/10.4, a good site for that is http://mac.oldapps.com/

You can find lots of abandonware in the Macintosh Garden

Recently user gavinstubbs09 created this website, with a lot of apps too: http://ppcarchive.dyniform.net/

I need an office suite,what can I use?

In terms of office suite,the recent LibreOffice has the latest version por PPC in all languages (for example,openoffice only had old versions for ppc-portuguese) and it is free.
There are more free office suites based on openoffice, I will cover them later.

If you want a paid one, the latest you can have are:
Office 2008 - for 10.4+
iWork 09 - for 10.4+

For more ancient systems grab a look at powerpcusers.com


I need spotify for ppc,where can I find it?

Here.

I would like to hear music online, what services/methods run fine on my powerpc?

If like me, spotify doesn't run on your country you have some options:

1 - hear online radios on their websites (most of them have flash sites so it will consume a lot of cpu)

2 - using specific sites like grooveshark (I suggest the mobile site: html5.grooveshark.com) or ex.fm

3 - get some radios in .pls format and listen to them in a media player.For me iTunes uses a lot of cpu, so I use coreplayer.


Are there any databases of powerpc apps?

At least there are some blogs:
PPC Luddite
Mac Powerpc
[PowerPC] Software Verzeichnis
(German)


YouTube is slow as hell,any tips?

If you have the latest flashplayer,your best bet is to use Mactubes and play the videos through quicktime.

If your problem is with flash sites,your best bet is trying one of the browser above.
Don't expect miracles,flash runs poorly on macs,even on new macs the performance on macOs vs windows is very bad.

*There is a new tweak to make PPC Macs run latest flash see this thread.

*If you use Safari, there is an extension called YouTube5 which plays the HTML 5 version of the filehttp://www.verticalforest.com/2010/10/27/youtube5-version-2/

Some people tell that in certain sites if you use Safari and do this:

Safari>Preferences...>Advanced and check the "Show Develop menu in
menu bar" and then go to the Develop menu and change your "User Agent"
to "Safari iOS 4.3.3 – iPad"

It will play through quicktime.

What browsers are available for PowerPc Macs?

tenfourfox browser a firefox 24 port

Camino, Firefox and Seamonkey PPC optimized Builds

More Firefox PPC optimized Builds

OmniWeb Browser

Roccat

Shiira

Demeter

Sunrise

NagaraBrowser

Stainless

Webkit .

Radon.

I am tired of flashplayer, how to deal without it?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1496149/

I have a low spec powerpc mac,the MacOS versions that it run wouldn't serve me well,what do I do?

Well, it's a fact that older versions of MacOS don't benefit of updates in some areas as java, browsers, etc...and some people just need those to make some necessary task.
As a low end spec mac will not run/run bad a up to date MacOS,the best bet is linux.
Go to the Linux part of this F.A.Q. to know more about linux.

I'm forced to run a MacOS X lower than 10.5, what can I do to backup it like Time Machine does?

There are several options you can use: carbon copy clonerr, superduper, iBackup or even Tri-Backup (paid) to achieve similar results to the time machine..

I need java 1.6, what are my options?

If you are running 10.5, you can use soylatte as suggested by
666sheep here.Otherwise guess there are no options.


Can I theme my tiger to look more modern?

Of course you do, read about it in this thread.

What is the best video player for a powerpc?

Well there are lots of them, the most famous are VLC ,coreplayer (paid but claimed to be one of the best performing media players for powerpc, you can use discount code: MBHD20), Miro, Movist ,Perian, XBMC and MPlayer, and
here you can find a tweaked version of it claimed to be one of the best players for G4 (and maybe others too).

Do yourself a favor a take a good read on This article by our friend zen.state.
Other good threads to read are this one and this.


I have a phone that I want to connect/send sms/sync with my powerpc, how can I do it?

First of all, see in the manufacter support page if you phone has a suite for mac, or an isync plugin.
Some Nokias and most Sony Ericssons do.If not you can try googling about it (Sometimes people do isync plugins, and there are the paid Novamedia ones.
Other options (not only to sync but to send sms,make calls,etc) are this programs:

BluePhoneElite - you can download it and try for 14days, since it isn't available to buy, contact the owner or use google for the complete version.

MegaCellX - MegaCellX is shareware, so you can try the software before to buy it with some limitations. In order to eliminate the limitations it is necessary to buy it.

GSMRemote - This application is shareware (US $10). You can give it a time-unlimited test drive.

In the past I used bluephoneelite sucessfully with Nokia E51,E52 and others.And the others were the ones compatible with my black and white phones such as the siemens SL45i.

Android phones do airsyncing, read here: http://www.google.com/sync/mac.html
There's no need to buy app's or isync plugins.To send sms from the computer you can use AirDroid.


Well I'd like to play some games on powerpc, wich ones run on it?

Well you have a very good list here wich say if the games are powerpc,intel or both.
But do yourself a favor, search for "games" on powerpc forum,only titles, you will find some free/opensource games that will entertain you.
You can try macintosh garden, there are lots of games there.

I need to run windows,can I?

Natively no.
By virtualization,yes,using Q emulator or Virtual PC 7 for Mac (you must buy it on ebay or something).

I would like to have wikipedia offline on my ppc, how can I do it?

See this https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1284808/ topic.

My computer is having problems, I don't have the original cds, how do I check the hardware?

Well, every Apple computer has an Apple Hardware Test (AHT) Cd that comes with it.
SInce you don't have it, download it here , burn it to a cd, and run it.If possible in loops to test further.
If it doesn't report any error, it doesn't mean you don't have hardware problems, but it is unlikely that you have.
If you suspect that your problem is a faulty memory, use Rember to test it.

Oh and remember, reseting PRAM and NVRAM as stated here can solve a lot of problems.

After running this ones, running Onyx or disk utility to fix permissions or a fresh install is a good idea.

I want to put an SSD, what are the optimizations that can be made?
Read here

 

[skinniezinho]

Rational Questions

I have PowerPc Mac,would it be wise to upgrade it?

Guess it all depends on a bunch of thing: wich mac it is, what it is going to be used for, what software/hardware do you have/need.

example - someone has maxed out (ram and hdd) powermac g4 gigabit ethernet and uses it for photo editing,and has all the software bought for it (and it won't work on intel),guess it is worth spending 200/300eur on a used cpu upgrade.
If the upgrade value is about 600eur,maybe it is better to switch to better powermac (g5 for example) (I guess that "pro" software costs a fortune).


I have to buy a desktop Mac,should it be and intel or a powerpc?

example 2 - someone has about 800eur to blow on a mac.The use is going to be surfing web,and ocasional photo editing,what is better?new mac mini or good powermac g5 quad?
Guess the mac mini will be a better choice,adobe will not upgrade flash for powerpcs,and with the mac mini you have a whole possibilities of new software.

I have a powerpc computer, what do I do with it?
For god sake, use search!
Here you are, millions of thread with millions of suggestions for your old,not so old, trashed, not trashed, given, not give POWERPC Mac:

https://forums.macrumors.com/search/?searchid=25217654

I have a powerpc computer, what upgrades should I do?
If you are too lazy to read the whole first part of this F.A.Q. or you still have doubts on wich upgrade you should go, use search:
https://forums.macrumors.com/search/?searchid=25217671


Linux Questions

I've heard that linux is only for CLI type guys and that you must spend about a whole day to set it up, is that true?

Of Course not.There are lot of things you can do using CLI/Terminal, it is one of the most powerful "apps" in an operative system, but these days is linux can be very user friendly (in distros like ubuntu,lubuntu,mintppc e somehow debian too).
Setting up linux nowadays can be somehow easy, there are lots of tutorials, lots of info, but nothing better than to try.

Why should I try it?

If you don't want, don't try it.Don't blame it if you don't want to spend a little time searching and trying.
But if you want to use powerpc securelly and have new versions of apps, linux is your only bet.
There are even apps that don't have mac powerpc version but do have linux powerpc version (texlive,librecad ,etc)

Where should I search for simple and forwarding info about installing and living with linux?

I suggest you to read this two blogs:

http://powerpcliberation.blogspot.pt/
http://ppcluddite.blogspot.pt/

There lot's of info on google, and specially on the distros websites, although this blogs have more simple info.

What distro should I choose?

Here you have some of the active ppc distros:
http://linux.wikia.com/wiki/Category:PowerPC_distros

http://blog.finnix.org/2011/08/14/powerpc-distributions/

Although for a matter of user support I guess the best bet is a debian based distro (ubuntu,lubuntu, or even mintppc) or debian itself.
But go ahead try it all =) They are free!

In terms of requirements/footprint, here are some numbers of different Desktop Enviromnents in Debian ppc:
http://powerpcliberation.blogspot.pt/2013/06/debian-unrelenting-quality.html

With this you can "know" that for example Lubuntu (LXDE based) will eat less memory than Ubuntu (Gnome based).

OMG OMG I installed the X Linux Distro and my Sound/Wifi doesn't work,what now?Damn stupid linux!

Linux is not macOS, it is made for lot's of hardware, so sometimes things require a bit of work.
Sometimes you only need to install "non-free" packages, that have firmware for wifi cards,etc
For example for powermac g5 sound:
http://bobjwoolsey.wikidot.com/getting-sound-working-linux-ppc

for wifi:
You have to install bcm43xx firmware http://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx

more resources here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ

http://www.mintppc.org/content/user-experiences



PS: sorry for my english.If someone has more/correct info,just tell and I will add/correct it here.
Hope it helps you!

 

[pubjoe]

Great guide. Thanks.

Can I run MacOS 10.6 Snow Leopard on my powerpc mac?and the upcoming Lion?

Short Answer: No
Long ANswer: There is a guy on internet saying and posting a video about that.the description is here along with video links.

It's pretty clear that guy is lying. He's just modified the 'about this mac' identity and changed the desktop wallpaper.

- He claims his 400mhz G4 is emulating a dual-core processor and an nvidia gpu with 'Q'.
- In the videos, the frontrow gui is much faster than would be possible on his G4.
- He made a post a couple of months before about modifying 'about this mac'.
- His videos are suspiciously void of any proof whatsoever.
- But most of all, you can tell he's lying by his strange attitude in his posts.

It's impossible to run Snow leopard on a powerPC and even if it was possible to do so through emulation, it would be completely impractical. No offence, but I think you may as well remove your reference to that guy. It's only giving him attention.

 

[skinniezinho]

Great guide. Thanks.


It's pretty clear that guy is lying. He's just modified the 'about this mac' identity and changed the desktop wallpaper.

- He claims his 400mhz G4 is emulating a dual-core processor and an nvidia gpu with 'Q'.
- In the videos, the frontrow gui is much faster than would be possible on his G4.
- He made a post a couple of months before about modifying 'about this mac'.
- His videos are suspiciously void of any proof whatsoever.
- But most of all, you can tell he's lying by his strange attitude in his posts.

It's impossible to run Snow leopard on a powerPC and even if it was possible to do so through emulation, it would be completely impractical. No offence, but I think you may as well remove your reference to that guy. It's only giving him attention.

Thanks
I thought that thw whole thing could be made up,but I've already seen many strange things in the "pc" world (like an Athlon XP with an "evil" bios modded bios beating an Athlon 64 in benchmarks) so it wouldn't surprise me if the whole thing worked.
But I removed it already

 

[skinniezinho]

Well Guys,I updated the "browser" part,added OmniWeb Browser and the "PCI Wifi" part, now I cant tell for sure that the Conceptronic C300Ri V3 Card works with powerpc macs with the ralink RT2860 Driver Wifi 300N to my powermac

 

[skinniezinho]

Backup options for MacOS X systems older than 10.5 added.
Flash links updated.
Long live Powerpc

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

I have to buy a desktop Mac,should it be and intel or a powerpc?

example 2 - someone has about 800eur to blow on a mac.The use is going to be surfing web,and ocasional photo editing,what is better?new mac mini or good powermac g5 quad?
Guess the mac mini will be a better choice,adobe will not upgrade flash for powerpcs,and with the mac mini you have a whole possibilities of new software.

Even apart from this, the Mini is faster for everything and uses far less power.

 

[Rodus]

For highly multithreaded stuff the quad G5 will out run an Intel Mini, but it is a dead end architecture and has seriously bad coolant issues.

 

[rtrt]

thanks for taking the time to write this

some was familiar, but some was definitely new.

i might look at the linux side later this year.

 

[skinniezinho]

Even apart from this, the Mini is faster for everything and uses far less power.

For highly multithreaded stuff the quad G5 will out run an Intel Mini, but it is a dead end architecture and has seriously bad coolant issues.

I can't enter the "wich is best" because I have none to test, but I believe both are right.

thanks for taking the time to write this

some was familiar, but some was definitely new.

i might look at the linux side later this year.

Thanks.I am an huge linux fan, and tried to run it (ubuntu and debian) on my powermac, but couldn't succeed, although there are lots of tutorials and positive experiences from people with powerpc macs

 

[Cox Orange]

you can easily overcome the 128GB limit, by installing an OS higher than 10.2.8, because it is an OpenFirmware related issue, not the controller (as I thought a long time, too).

If you need OS 9, then you have to use OS 9.2.2 and make partitions not higher than 200GB.

This is officially said by apple
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2544?viewlocale=en_US

 

[Justinz]

Thanks this is very useful..

 

[Cox Orange]

WARNING!

I have to apologize. I got this wrong:

though one can easily (mis-)understand it the way I understood it, member zen.state recently told me, that I interpreted the text wrong. It seems that apple wants to say, that if you have a Mac without the 128GB limit, you have to install 10.2.8 or higher or 9.2.2 (with 200GB partitions)!

Sorry, for spreading sh**

 

[skinniezinho]

you can easily overcome the 128GB limit, by installing an OS higher than 10.2.8, because it is an OpenFirmware related issue, not the controller (as I thought a long time, too).

If you need OS 9, then you have to use OS 9.2.2 and make partitions not higher than 200GB.

This is officially said by apple
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2544?viewlocale=en_US

WARNING!

I have to apologize. I got this wrong:

though one can easily (mis-)understand it the way I understood it, member zen.state recently told me, that I interpreted the text wrong. It seems that apple wants to say, that if you have a Mac without the 128GB limit, you have to install 10.2.8 or higher or 9.2.2 (with 200GB partitions)!

Sorry, for spreading sh**

No problem people are always learning
Hope this FAQ becames usefull for powerpc users..any info that you have just say and I'll add it

 

[Riky.loebis]

how about webcam?

may, i give list webcam (except iSight) can support in Mac..
a. http://www.mac-compatible-web-cam.com/
b. http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6471/related/1

and i give link for old mac app...
a. (http://mac.oldapps.com/)

sory if you can't understand my english cause my english is not good but i just want share about power pc.

app working good in my ibook clamshell dan imac sunflower
thank's

 

[skinniezinho]

how about webcam?

may, i give list webcam (except iSight) can support in Mac..
a. http://www.mac-compatible-web-cam.com/
b. http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6471/related/1

and i give link for old mac app...
a. (http://mac.oldapps.com/)

sory if you can't understand my english cause my english is not good but i just want share about power pc.

app working good in my ibook clamshell dan imac sunflower
thank's

Thanks for the contribution,later I'll add it..
Other option is to use the Macam Driver

 

[Riky.loebis]

Thanks for the contribution,later I'll add it..
Other option is to use the Macam Driver

you're welcome,,,
pleased to meet you
i'm happy to help someone,

 

[raysfan81]

Can't we get this pinned to the top under the "mac guides" section? That would be a great idea.

Oh and BTW the links on the soylatte website are either down right now or broken so I don't know if you want to leave that in here until you can check later.

 

[skinniezinho]

Can't we get this pinned to the top under the "mac guides" section? That would be a great idea.

Oh and BTW the links on the soylatte website are either down right now or broken so I don't know if you want to leave that in here until you can check later.

Even if it was sticky here it would be very cool...I've already pm a mod,but no sucess...
The soylatter website seems to be fine..
Thanks

 

[skinniezinho]

still no sticky wouldn't you guys think this info should be sticky?

 

[burnout8488]

We desperately need a sticky with PPC information to avoid a lot of the redundant "Can I put snow leopard on my G4?" posts.

It's got my vote for sure. If not, someone should bump it once a week.