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Post Your PowerPC Setup
- Thread starter Goftrey
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As regular readers of these forums may know, I have been working extensively on two PowerMac G5 Quads, trying to upgrade the LCS on one of them, and convert the other to air cooling. At this point, the air cooling effort is 100% successful while the liquid cooling effort is still in play. I have also spent a fair amount of time upgrading and loading a PowerMac G4 Sawtooth, and that also has been a 100% success.
The photo below shows my PowerMac G4, G5 work space. This is where the machines come for testing when they get off "the bench" from being worked on. If you spend a little time with the photo, you will see the G5 (Air) Quad at the lower right and the G4 Sawtooth right beside it. I connect the system under test to a wonderful older LaCie 324 24" monitor, supported by a PowerMac G5 original keyboard and Mighty Mouse. These too are visible in the photo.
All in all, it is a great little workspace, and my main desk and Mac Studio are just to the right of what you see in the photo, so I can shift back and forth between the two with ease.
The photo below shows my PowerMac G4, G5 work space. This is where the machines come for testing when they get off "the bench" from being worked on. If you spend a little time with the photo, you will see the G5 (Air) Quad at the lower right and the G4 Sawtooth right beside it. I connect the system under test to a wonderful older LaCie 324 24" monitor, supported by a PowerMac G5 original keyboard and Mighty Mouse. These too are visible in the photo.
All in all, it is a great little workspace, and my main desk and Mac Studio are just to the right of what you see in the photo, so I can shift back and forth between the two with ease.
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It sure does, @iBookmaster! As I reported quite some time ago, running under Sorbet, the Aquafox 2.2 browser can be used to access even that most demanding of web site types, a bank web site. Sorbet is "greased lightening"... so fast!
I keep hoping that Snow Leopard PPC (SL_PPC) will reach this level of functionality and performance, but my recent retry of it still shows too many basic things that are not up to snuff yet. Nonetheless, I keep my eyes on this development stream... there is so much promise there.
I would love to contribute to SL_PPC, but such a thing is waaaay outside of my skillset and development tools. I am a reasonably skilled programmer, but my professional focus was embedded real time systems, and just for fun, I still develop web sites in PHP, JavaScript and HTML. I also create new software for older systems, specifically DOS (gasp!) and Apple IIGS, but these skills do not translate up to Mac OS X!
I keep hoping that Snow Leopard PPC (SL_PPC) will reach this level of functionality and performance, but my recent retry of it still shows too many basic things that are not up to snuff yet. Nonetheless, I keep my eyes on this development stream... there is so much promise there.
I would love to contribute to SL_PPC, but such a thing is waaaay outside of my skillset and development tools. I am a reasonably skilled programmer, but my professional focus was embedded real time systems, and just for fun, I still develop web sites in PHP, JavaScript and HTML. I also create new software for older systems, specifically DOS (gasp!) and Apple IIGS, but these skills do not translate up to Mac OS X!
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I can't get any weather radar sites to display on Sorbet Leopard. I've tried other user agents but, they never display.
Here is my pismo running OS 9 hooked up to a dell xps laptop via a LAN connection. My Dell xps is running linux and I have configured it to host an AFP server and also share internet through a LAN connection back to pismo. Makes file sharing a breeze!
The Power Mac G5 in the bottom is the actual Power PC for the setup, and it is currently and temporarily hooked to the Lenovo display. The other two Macs next to the display are both Intel-based, and the two MacBook Airs beneath the iPad belong to myself and my girlfriend (M1 and Intel, respectively).
Not pictured yet are the used Cinema Display (23") I ordered as well as the new speakers for the G5. I'll be happy to get an updated picture once those both arrive.
My shed workstation, with recently restored 2001 iMac G3 (600mhz, 1GB, 120GB SSD) on the left and a 2007 Mac Mini on the right running 10.5 (which is perfect for ripping CDs for the G3).
Not pictured is the actual office with my M1 Mini and converted 2017 iMac display, or my Blueberry 99 G3.
What a lovely setup. Out of curiosity, what kind of stuff do you do on the G3? I have a PowerBook from around 2003 but I’m sure it’s so slow that it’ll crawl if I try to use it for anything.
I just finished restoring them over the weekend, but the plan is mainly for retro gaming, stuff like Backyard Baseball, Caesar 3, etc. I was also thinking about exploring OS9 features like AppleTalk. They’re for tinkering around more than anything else
ok i think i’m done. did not anticipate this hobby would consume my life over the past two years, but this has become a dream setup. lombard is most recent purchase, 40 GBP. i had to tear it down completely and swap out the DC in board, but all good now. it was my first computer repair, but thankfully G3 series are almost completely modular. both powerbooks running original HDDs… i should backup and switch. for now, time to make some noise. not in sight is my DLSD PB G4… i’ve run out of desk space!
... get used to it! This "hobby" is addictive (and expensive!). In 2013, I decided that it might be fun to get and restore one of the vintage Macs I used to use at work "back in the day". That was 15 years ago. It is 15 years later, and I am still at it! That first lone Macintosh had turned into literally dozens of machines at this point, two blogs, multiple web sites, a Gopher server and more.
The thing is... it is fun! I love vintage Macs - they are truly special.
So, your newfound hobby has consumed two years of life? Get ready for it... it may consume a lot more! ... and you will like it!