Resolved PowerMac G4 MDD

[AppleGeek1127]

I was fortunate enough to come across a PowerMac G4 MDD that was ready to be thrown into the dumpster. Other than the lack of hard drive, everything seems to be in working order. I installed OS X Leopard on an external disk for the time being. I know that PowerPC systems are extremely limited in what they can do in the modern day. What do you recommend I use this computer for?

 

[eyoungren]

I was fortunate enough to come across a PowerMac G4 MDD that was ready to thrown into the dumpster. Other than the lack of hard drive, everything seems to be in working order. I installed OS X Leopard on an external disk for the time being. I know that PowerPC systems are extremely limited in what they can do in the modern day. What do you recommend I use this computer for?

We have to define limited. Because lots of us use our PowerPC Macs for daily use.

I have Suitcase Fusion 3, Adobe CS4 (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator), Acrobat 9.4.5 Pro and QuarkXPress 8.5.1 on my Quicksilver. I do design and my QS handles it.

In terms of raw power my Quicksilver has a 1.2Ghz processor with 1.5GB ram and I'm driving six monitors, USB 2.0, Bluetooth and a SATA card with 2x 1TB hard drives.

I use my QS as a design and media platform with browsing and Time Machine server functions.

So, it depends really, on what you are trying to get out of the Mac and how far you are willing to go in upgrades.

Your MDD has a faster bus than mine, a 2GB limit and the ability to have more than one optical drive, and there's been people that have had multiple drives mounted internally.

 

[cocacolakid]

They can still do just about everything a modern computer can, the only big issue is streaming video can be hard to impossible depending on your cpu/upgrades.

Obviously OS differences limit some features but Leopard can do everything a daily driver needs to do.

 

[ToroidalZeus]

itx or matx hackintosh.

as pointed out above the achilles heel of trying to use an old g4 mac is that modern video streaming doesn't work or is choppy.

 

[poiihy]

Besides the power usage, it would make a great file server. They have lots of space inside and they look nice.

 

[AppleGeek1127]

So, it turns out that it's not an MDD - it's actually a QuickSilver. Looks like someone didn't do their research
Regardless, it's going to take me some time to decide on the ultimate purpose for this machine. Thank you everyone for your great ideas, I'll take them all into consideration.

 

[Altemose]

So, it turns out that it's not an MDD - it's actually a QuickSilver. Looks like someone didn't do their research
Regardless, it's going to take me some time to decide on the ultimate purpose for this machine. Thank you everyone for your great ideas, I'll take them all into consideration.

Ah the QuickSilver. My first Mac! They are very expandable and a certain member here *cough* eyoungren *cough* has put a lot of effort into making his the best it can be. Definitely report back with the specs of the machine.

 

[desantii]

QS... My favorite G4

 

[redheeler]

So, it turns out that it's not an MDD - it's actually a QuickSilver. Looks like someone didn't do their research
Regardless, it's going to take me some time to decide on the ultimate purpose for this machine. Thank you everyone for your great ideas, I'll take them all into consideration.

The Quicksilver... like an MDD but without all the noise. Too bad mine is the low-end model.

 

[MatthewLTL]

I have two Macs - A 1.0GHz USB 2.0 Education Model eMac and a PowerMac G4 MDD 1.0GHz Single FW800 model.

most of it is pretty stock. It came semi-upgraded when i got it it came with a 120GB HDD and a 40GB HDD (upgraded from 60GB) a SuperDrive (Upgraded from a Combo Drive) a GeForce 4MX (upgraded from a 2MX) a 3port USB 2.0 Card and a M-Audio Delta 24 sound card. It even came with upgraded RAM of 768MB. I have added a 6 port USB 2.0 card and 1GB RAM as well as fill it up with random Hard Drives.

The eMac was bone stock i upgraded everything. It only have a CD-ROM drive so i put a SuperDrive from a G5 into it. It only came with Panther and 256MB RAM so I put 1.5GB into it.

Both have been upgraded to Leopard. They are BOTH my daily use computers. I used these exclusively for a year as i bought both of these to replace dying Windows Machines. Started using them again here in 2015. You can watch Videos easy.

I have TenFourFox installed as well as Perian, MacTubes and YouView I also have the QuickTime Enabler and MacTubesEnabler addoins for TFF installed. This allows youtube and using QTE any other flash videos to be played SD of course. I love my Macs I personally dont see a need for a Intel machine and even a WORKING one on eBay is still expensive PowerPC is still cheap and infact i might get a few more Macs.

If i could just find a way to get the Ralink 2780 wifi drivers working on PowerPC I wouldnt even need a Windows Machine.