F.A.Q. for PowerPC Macs

[Nameci]

Edit : Be extremely careful with some of the things below, best way is to have a backup.


I've been using PPC for about 12 years now, first a Pismo G3 and now a PB 1.67 Ghz.
It's fairly rare that I look into the PPC sections, only on slow news days but maybe I can add a few things.



There are many more things you can do to make your mac faster and cleaner.

You say Trimthefat is a program to remove Intel Architecture, this is true but it only does so on Applications.
There is a way to remove Intel Architecture from your WHOLE system, although you need some skils and if you mess up your system might not boot.

I did it this way :
Make all files visible, Show & Hide App is the easiest way.

Use this command to get rid of non PPC architecture :
ditto --rsrc --arch ppc <input folder> <output folder>...

Example 1 : ditto --rsrc --arch ppc /Applications /Applications111
Example 2 : ditto --rsrc --arch ppc /usr /usr111

Note the 111 on the end, I add this so it won't overwrite the existing folder since if the files are in use inside it won't work, also you can use anything -222-qwe- or whatever as long as it is different.
After it is finished you then move the original to the trash, rename the other one back to original (example Applications111 to Applications) and then restart.
The best way is to do one folder at a time and delete the trash only after restart or better when you have plenty of space leave it until you're sure everything is ok.
Do it on all these folders.

/Applications
/bin
/Developer (only if it's there)
/Library
/private
/sbin
/System
/Users
/usr

And on the next two Kernel files, yes even your kernel can be skimmed.

/mach_kernel.ctfsys
/mach_kernel

The only problem is that you have to remember to remove non PPC arch every time you install new Apps, not needed but better if you do.
There is such a clean PPC install for download on a certain site but it's against the rules to give such a link.(Mix of demon and android )

Note, you need to log into root to do all the above.

You can save GB by doing the above and to remove even more GB you can further delete many of the next things if not needed.

Language files.
Many use programs to delete unnesesarry language files but I do it this way.
Download Easyfind and open it, the best way is to log in as root, now search for .lproj with the following settings on the left, only folders-all words-ignore case-package contents-invisible files & folders.
Thousands will show up and now select the language files you don't need, keep en.lproj-english.lproj-englishGB.lproj-englishAu.lproj.
The easiest way is to select the first one if it's not an english file and scroll to the last one before the english.lproj and hold the shift key and click that one, you selected a bunch now and click delete, takes a bit of time to move them to the trash.
You can do the same after the english.lproj files.

Beware If you search in all of your disk you remove all non english files, some programs might not work, adobe for instance, oh and of course if you're non english you should not delete your own language files.

You can do the same for help folders but only do so if you know what to delete, help folders inside your Applications and Applications/Utlities folders are overall safe to delete.


Next Documentation and dictionaries, if you are fine without them it's safe to delete them,they are in :

/Library/Dictionaries
/Library/Documentation

Then if you don't need voices you can safely delete most of them, I left only the Vicki.SpeechVoice, they are in :

/System/Library/Speech/Voices

Note You need root access or sudo rm command.

Next Modem scripts, you can safely delete the scripts if you never need a modem, they are in :

/Library/Modem Scripts
/System/Library/Modem Scripts

Lastly, this is a very difficult one and completely depends on which hardware you have, the Extensions folder.
There are quite some extensions which under normal circumstances can be deleted but again it depends on what hardware you have.
I have a powerbook G4 1.67 Ghz and in it is an ATI Graphic card so I can delete all Geforce .kext files and Intel Graphic .kext files.
Actually I didn't delete them, I made a new folder in /System and called it Disabled Extensions.
All of the next ones I moved to that folder :

Powerbook G4 1.67 Ghz Leopard 10.5.8

/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ACard62xxM.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ACard68xxM.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ACard671xSCSI.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ACard6280ATA.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ACard6885M.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ACard67162.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/Apple_iSight.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/Apple16X50Serial.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleACPIPlatform.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleADBMouse.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleAPIC.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleBlower.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleBMC.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleEFIRuntime.kext (Intel Only?)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleGraphicsControl.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleHDA.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleHPET.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleI2SModemFamily.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext (Intel Macs only)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleIntelGMA950.kext (Intel Macs only)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleIntelGMA950GA.plugin (Intel Macs only)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleIntelGMA950GLDriver.bundle (Intel Macs only)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleIntelGMA950VADriver.bundle (Intel Macs only)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleIntelGMAX3100.kext (Intel Macs only)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleIntelGMAX3100FB.kext (Intel Macs only)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleIntelGMAX3100GA.plugin (Intel Macs only)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleIntelGMAX3100GLDriver.bundle (Intel Macs only)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleIntelGMAX3100VADriver.bundle (Intel Macs only)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext (Intel Macs only)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleLM7x.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleLM8x.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleLM87.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleMaxim1989.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleMaxim6690.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleMCEDriver.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleMobileDevice.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ApplePCCard16ATA.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ApplePCCardATA.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ApplePlatformEnabler.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleRAID.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleRAIDCard.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleSMBIOS.kext (Intel Only?)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleSMBusController.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleSMC.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleSMCLMU.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleSPU.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleSym8xx.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleTyMCEDriver.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleUpstreamUserClient.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleUSBAudio.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleUSBDisplays.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleVSP.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/AppleXsanFilter.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATINDRV.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeon8500.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeon8500DVDDriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeon8500GA.plugin
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeon8500GLDriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeon8500VADriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeonDVDDriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeonGA.plugin
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeonGLDriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeonX1000.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeonX1000GA.plugin
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeonX1000GLDriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeonX1000VADriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeonX2000.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeonX2000GA.plugin
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeonX2000GLDriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/ATIRadeonX2000VADriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/CHUDKernLib.kext@@@@ (Comes with Developer Tools)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/CHUDProf.kext@@@@ (Comes with Developer Tools)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/CHUDUtils.kext@@@@ (Comes with Developer Tools)
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForce.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForce2MXGLDriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForce3GLDriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForce7xxxGLDriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForce7xxxGLDriverPPC.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForce8xxxGLDriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForceFXGLDriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForceFXGLDriverPPC.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForceGA.plugin
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForceGAPPC.plugin
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForcePPC.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForceVADriver.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/GeForceVADriverPPC.bundle
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/IOACPIFamily.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/IOBluetoothHIDDriver.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/IOFireWireAVC.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/IOI2CControllerPMU.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/IOI2CControllerSMU.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/IOI2CCPUVoltage.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/IOI2CMaxim1631.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/IOI2CMaxim1989.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/IOI2CMaxim6690.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/IOSMBusFamily.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/iPodDriver.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/iTunesPhoneDriver.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/LSIUltra320.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/MegaRAID.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/SCR24X_Apple_Driver.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/SM56KUSBAudioFamily.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/SMCMotionSensor.kext
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/SoftRAID.kext****
/System/Disabled Extensions 28-04-12/zfs.readonly.kext****

**** If you have any of these or need them don't move/delete.
Note You need root access.
Through trail and error I also found out that not all ATI kexts were needed, the ones in bold are I think safe to move on all systems.
Edit : It took Me very long to figure out which to move and which to keep, some kexts depend on others and I always started up in verbose so I could see if some extensions lacked dependencies on other kexts, or I read the system log.


I also deleted Java since I don't need it but that's really hard to do so I won't start on that one, I only used 2 Java Apps before, Cyberduck which there are other Apps for and Mobile Partner for Huawei USB 3G stick but only needed the kernel extensions and use Menu Extra and Network Pref. to connect, it's an awful program so I deleted it, use SurplusMeter for data usage now, much better.
(Java is Slooooowwwww on PPC)

Will deleting those kexts speed up the boot process?

 

[justperry]

Will deleting those kexts speed up the boot process?

Bit late response, didn't check for a few days.
Yes it does, when you remove/delete kexts from the extension folder the Extensions.mkext gets updated and it will speed up your boot time.

It took me a long time to figure out which ones to keep and which ones are needed, if I moved a wrong one it would not boot up, start up in verbose and it hangs, but I do have a second clean partition and then just logged in as root and moved it back.
So, if you do that you need a second disk to boot from in the case it won't boot.
Boot time went down substantially.

 

[jtkc]

swaps ??

ok we all know that you cannot install an intel processor on a ppc board. lol.

here is my question. Can you take intel based internals and swap them into a ppc case?

also, if my ppc is or was a 1.8ghz 20 inch.
Wanting to know if i found 2.0ghz ppc internals, would i be able to just swap out the 1.8 logic board and processor for the 2.0, or would it be a complete gut and total re-install of all internals?

im relatively new to the forum, but not to forums, i most always try to find and read the stickies and FAQS before posting, i hope i didnt miss this topic, if its already been addressed

 

[Cox Orange]

ok we all know that you cannot install an intel processor on a ppc board. lol.

1) here is my question. Can you take intel based internals and swap them into a ppc case?

2) also, if my ppc is or was a 1.8ghz 20 inch.
Wanting to know if i found 2.0ghz ppc internals, would i be able to just swap out the 1.8 logic board and processor for the 2.0, or would it be a complete gut and total re-install of all internals?

im relatively new to the forum, but not to forums, i most always try to find and read the stickies and FAQS before posting, i hope i didnt miss this topic, if its already been addressed

Allthough I think we should keep these kind of post out of the sticky, which should more be a collection of information, I will answer you.

1. - why shouldn't one use a different case? As long as you take all Intel components (or PC components) it will work with some tinkering (may include cutting new holes for ports etc.).
2. - some G4 PSUs are not compatible with other PowerMac G4 model's mainboards. PowerMac G5s are even more trouble some, because you hardly find PSU line-outs on the net. The number of incompatible parts (PSU, Mainboard, CPU, liquid cooling vs fans,...) is higher. If you do not have an "Apple diagnostics CD" (Apple techs have them only), you will not be able to calibrate a swapped G5 CPU even, if the models are the same and only differ in CPU speed.

 

[wlo]

Mac OS Xserve performance check

Hello everyone,
I using Mac OS X 10.4 of rackmac3.1 with powerG5, CPU x2, Cpu speed2.3 GHz, L2cache 512KB Memory 4GB. It is as a file server for 20 mac client. Users always complain about slow performace in accessing file which are using in Photoshop. I check using the activity monitor and does not find any problem. Could you have any suggestions that might check this issue?
Best regards,

 

[Cox Orange]

this is a FAQ, it is meant to collect information, not for asking questions.
May I be so polite to ask you to open a separate thread for your specific problem? You can ask the moderators to move your post.

 

[Ariii]

I just wanted to add that the palmrest for the TiBook pops off very easily... I just found this out a couple hours after owning one .

 

[skinniezinho]

Linux section added, some more usefull topics added too

 

[ihuman:D]

You shouldn't recommend to use Ubuntu on a low-specced Mac, it would run slow as hell. A better choice would be Debian 7 with LXDE or Lubuntu 12.04 or 13.04.
I'd stay away from any Ubuntu distro except for Lubuntu and I'd only run the LXDE and Openbox GUIs/window managers on Debian.

 

[skinniezinho]

You shouldn't recommend to use Ubuntu on a low-specced Mac, it would run slow as hell. A better choice would be Debian 7 or Lubuntu 12.04 or 13.04.

I didn't =)
I told about running ubuntu but didn't stated on what mac, guess people should do their homework, but sooner I try to update using some numbers too =)

 

[ihuman:D]

I didn't =)
I told about running ubuntu but didn't stated on what mac, guess people should do their homework, but sooner I try to update using some numbers too =)

I must have mis-interpreted this then:

but the most user friendly is for sure ubuntu.

 

[skinniezinho]

I must have mis-interpreted this then:

not mis-interpreted, it's kind language barrier, what I mean is that ubuntu based distros are most user friendly.
I will try to modify it =) thanks for the suggestions!

 

[ihuman:D]

Your welcome!

 

[Cox Orange]

I wanted to share this link:

- it has infos about Mac OS 9 and about hardware restrictions
- Quicksilver and 128GB limit (some of you might know, that some Quicksilver Models with the same CPU speed and production year can see drives over 128GB and some not. Here they say for what number on the logicboard you have to look, in order to know, which one is what.)

http://macos9lives.com/mac os 9 lives_003.htm

They also have a forum.

 

[ouimetnick]

Very nice thread, and lots of useful and plain good to know information here.

 

[arnofwtx]

Thanks for the information

You have saved me a lot of search and "sounding and like an idiot" time.

 

[xtempo]

Does anyone know how to recognize a 750GB HD in leopard on G5?
I mean all 750 GB of it so far when I format it shows 633 and i lose about a 100GB it seems.

 

[jrsx]

Does anyone know how to recognize a 750GB HD in leopard on G5?
I mean all 750 GB of it so far when I format it shows 633 and i lose about a 100GB it seems.

You must have the correct drivers. Your mac cannot 'see' all the HD unless you 'tell' the mac that it's there.

You shouldn't recommend to use Ubuntu on a low-specced Mac, it would run slow as hell. A better choice would be Debian 7 with LXDE or Lubuntu 12.04 or 13.04.
I'd stay away from any Ubuntu distro except for Lubuntu and I'd only run the LXDE and Openbox GUIs/window managers on Debian.

Not all true. Lubuntu is the best alternative for PPC Mac, but Ubuntu 10.04 can be very fast on even low spec iBooks. Ubuntu 13.10 isn't often good for PPC, as all necessary drivers aren't there for a lot of PPC machines. Go with 12.04, I would say.

 

[xtempo]

You must have the correct drivers. Your mac cannot 'see' all the HD unless you 'tell' the mac that it's there.

I should have know this since I bought it new from MicroCenter.

how does updating the driver work? I know how to do the stuff in windows but I've never done anything about drivers on the mac.

thanks for the help.

 

[Intell]

There's no need to additional drivers when using Mac OS X. How is the drive connected to the machine?

 

[jrsx]

There's no need to additional drivers when using Mac OS X. How is the drive connected to the machine?

Several people have stated that some PPC machines can only use some of the drive because the machine only supports as much as it 'sees'. It can only use as much as it sees, so they found additional drivers helpful.

 

[Intell]

Several people have stated that some PPC machines can only use some of the drive because the machine only supports as much as it 'sees'. It can only use as much as it sees, so they found additional drivers helpful.

That's only for G3's and early G4's. No G5 has that problem. Even then, the drive would should up as about 120GB in a G3/early G4 not as 633GB.

 

[jrsx]

That's only for G3's and early G4's. No G5 has that problem. Even then, the drive would should up as about 120GB in a G3/early G4 not as 633GB.

Aha! That's useful to know.....
Thanks for clearing that up, I would have never known.

 

[ifrit05]

Some OS's set aside a percentage of space for background use, like virtual memory, data redundancy, etc. Not really sure if HFS+ Journaled/OS X is the same.

But then again I never really encountered this problem (at most the OS set aside ~.5% of any of my drives).

 

[xtempo]

the drive is internal.

Seagate ST3750640NS 750GB. I have not found any drivers so I might have to stick with what it sees. Luckily I have a USB drive I'm using as a backup.

Might have to get another USB if I need more space.