PowerPC Macs Interest Kids These Days?

[Slix]

It's fascinating to see younger people interested in older Macs, or just older computers in general. I feel I'm on the younger end of the group here, but I grew up with PowerPCs and got them later because my dream computers from my childhood are more affordable. But it's so cool to see even younger people discovering these now, especially now that there is arguably much less you can use them for rather than in 2010 or earlier.

Speaking of Pentiums, I used an 1.1 GHz Pentium 3 IBM ThinkPad with only 384 MB of RAM during the 2010-2013 era, running Ubuntu 10.04, which was current at the time. It's crazy how much more efficient it was at the time compared to some even current Macs for things like web browsing.

I still have it, but it rarely gets used these days.

 

[MagicBoy]

The PowerPC was always touted as being much faster than equivalent Pentiums.

That's because it is. In pure get things done tests G5 is about 25% faster at the same clockspeed. 2GHz G5 = 2.66Ghz P4.

FX5200 runs Aero just fine.

 

[Project Alice]

@XaPHER 3 Ghz P4 w/ HT, 512mb DDR1 RAM, GeForce FX 5200, + 2 160gb ATA/100 HDs. This was actually that XP box I mentioned in the other thread. Newly acquired.

Dual-booting between Debian 10 w/ LXDE, and Windows 7. Windows XP would have gone in if it wasn't so unprotected, and available up-to-date software wasn't quickly dwindling. 7 on the other hand, is actually usable if Aero is off. Of course, the GPU isn't doing it too many favors, though I need to upgrade it when I get the chance.

In any case, RAM is more of a bottleneck at the moment than the GPU is, so Aero should be fine when the 2gb is in.

As for Debian, I'll put Cinnamon - perhaps accompanied by something else - in when it's got the 2gb.

Aero should be no problem on that.

Also, with the P4 being "smoother" than the G5, I'd say that's more the OS. Having supported software makes a big difference. Though the 3Ghz HT P4 is very fast and should beat any G5 with maybe the exception of the quad. Running Windows 7 makes it way better. Right now I have an IBM netvista I picked up recently, it was a 1.6Ghz P4 with 1GB of SDRAM. Obviously this is a first gen P4. It has a Windows 98 COA on it and a "designed for Win98\2000 Pro" sticker on the front. I tossed in a GeForce 6200, installed windows 7 on the original 20GB drive, and it flies aero and all. I stuck a 2.6Ghz P4 in there and its even better.

 

[MagicBoy]

Excellent.

In any case, it's a valid inquiry as to exactly how different those scores may have been if the two were running the same operating system.

Test was as close as it could be given it was 2003 and there were no common OS's available. OS X 10.2 on the Macs, Red Hat 7.1 on Intel. Same compiler built the application on both platforms.

They were valid, attempting to revise history 15 years on won't change that.

 

[z970]

Aero should be no problem on that.

Current state? Well, it displays fine, but performance is much better when Basic is on. It's noticeably choppy when Aero is on, and when it's doing window animations, and desktop work...

 

[Amethyst1]

It's really strange.
I like NetBurst. The later versions are fast enough if you know how to treat them, and there's no Management Engine in sight. Plus, there's something nice about using some of the last systems that still relied on an IDE interface...

NetBurst is utter trash - hot, slow and power-hungry. If you want a decent vintage x86 without the dreaded ME, go for AMD or an Intel Pentium M.

 

[z970]

Well, after several weeks of service, my P4 machine died while trying to repaste and clean out caked dust all over the processor heatsink. Was trying to take the heatsink out and did not realize it would take the CPU with it. A very long and agonizing story short, one of the pins got bent, was repositioned, and even after cleaning all contacts and reseating everything (a great multiple of times), the system when powered on, has all fans running loudly and will not boot.

Easy come, easy go...

 

[sparty411]

Well, after several weeks of service, my P4 machine died while trying to repaste and clean out caked dust all over the processor heatsink. Was trying to take the heatsink out and did not realize it would take the CPU with it. A very long and agonizing story short, one of the pins got bent, was repositioned, and even after cleaning all contacts and reseating everything (a great multiple of times), the system when powered on, has all fans running loudly and will not boot.

Easy come, easy go...

While the pin may appear to be positioned correctly, it might not be raised enough to make contact with the land on the CPU. I'd try bending the pin up a bit more, and giving it another shot.

 

[z970]

While the pin may appear to be positioned correctly, it might not be raised enough to make contact with the land on the CPU. I'd try bending the pin up a bit more, and giving it another shot.

It's in line and uniform with all the other pins. If you looked at it from its side, it would look like this:

| | | | | | | |

Same from the adjacent side.

 

[0248294]

Well, after several weeks of service, my P4 machine died while trying to repaste and clean out caked dust all over the processor heatsink. Was trying to take the heatsink out and did not realize it would take the CPU with it. A very long and agonizing story short, one of the pins got bent, was repositioned, and even after cleaning all contacts and reseating everything (a great multiple of times), the system when powered on, has all fans running loudly and will not boot.

Easy come, easy go...

Rummage through the trash, and you can probably find another P4 machine if you insist on using one, people throw P4 stuff out now that modern popular operating systems won't run on them worth a damn.

 

[z970]

Rummage through the trash, and you can probably find another P4 machine if you insist on using one, people throw P4 stuff out now that modern popular operating systems won't run on them worth a damn.

My local recycling place strictly prohibits "scavenging" and taking anything already in the piles (under the threat of prosecution), and even have cameras in the ceiling. They've got this mentality that all the abandoned machines and technology is their property, and that their final fate is to be destroyed, and nobody can stop them.

I couldn't tell you how many laptops, desktops, and other builds I've seen in these piles, usually thrown away because they're too "slow", or they won't boot up properly.

Their phony rules undermine the concept of second chances.

I hate them.

 

[Raging Dufus]

My local recycling place strictly prohibits "scavenging" and taking anything already in the piles (under the threat of prosecution), and even have cameras in the ceiling. They've got this mentality that all the abandoned machines and technology is their property, and that their final fate is to be destroyed, and nobody can stop them.

I couldn't tell you how many laptops, desktops, and other builds I've seen in these piles, usually thrown away because they're too "slow", or they won't boot up properly.

Their phony rules undermine the concept of second chances.

I hate them.

I may be able to shed a little light on this.

The recycling center's rules are probably to protect them from liability. When someone brings their old computing hardware in, there is an implied (or perhaps even explicit, if there's paperwork) contract between that person/party and the center. The agreement is that the equipment will be destroyed, and the center is bound by that.

Their potential liability lies in the fact that this equipment might contain sensitive information, on hard drives, etc. Failing to secure the equipment after they take custody of it could make them liable for breach of contract, negligence, or other tort law, if someone's information - that they trusted the center to destroy - got out. Even worse, criminal penalties could come into play if the center's mishandling/negligence ran afoul of state information technology laws. Also, if the center has contracts with any government agencies for recycling, there are undoubtedly laws that define their responsibilities because of the likelihood of citizens' personal data being present.

Of course, none of this would apply to anything that didn't contain some kind of digital storage media; but it's much simpler for the recycling center to simply say "no touchy, or we prosecute" even if you're just looking at a monitor or something.

I agree it sucks, but they're just covering their figurative rear-end like any responsible business should.

 

[z970]

I may be able to shed a little light on this.

The recycling center's rules are probably to protect them from liability. When someone brings their old computing hardware in, there is an implied (or perhaps even explicit, if there's paperwork) contract between that person/party and the center. The agreement is that the equipment will be destroyed, and the center is bound by that.

Their potential liability lies in the fact that this equipment might contain sensitive information, on hard drives, etc. Failing to secure the equipment after they take custody of it could make them liable for breach of contract, negligence, or other tort law, if someone's information - that they trusted the center to destroy - got out. Even worse, criminal penalties could come into play if the center's mishandling/negligence ran afoul of state information technology laws. Also, if the center has contracts with any government agencies for recycling, there are undoubtedly laws that define their responsibilities because of the likelihood of citizens' personal data being present.

Of course, none of this would apply to anything that didn't contain some kind of digital storage media; but it's much simpler for the recycling center to simply say "no touchy, or we prosecute" even if you're just looking at a monitor or something.

I agree it sucks, but they're just covering their figurative rear-end like any responsible business should.

All of that could be avoided if the (usually ignorant) consumer would take responsibility for their own data. Then, instead of contracting that this equipment will be destroyed, it could contract that the consumer's data is their own responsibility, that the recycling center would trust any dropped-off equipment has already been scanned by the consumer, and so they are not liable for any breach of plan. They could erect an obnoxiously large notice explicitly stating this, to specifically cover their figurative rear-end.

Imagine a world where general society was matured, self-informed, and responsible for their own actions. Our need for government intervention would drop by at least 60%, and would carry innumerable other benefits to basic living.

What a reality.

 

[Raging Dufus]

All of that could be avoided if the (usually ignorant) consumer would take responsibility for their own data. Then, instead of contracting that this equipment will be destroyed, it could contract that the consumer's data is their own responsibility, that the recycling center would trust any dropped-off equipment has already been scanned by the consumer, and so they are not liable for any breach of plan. They could erect an obnoxiously large notice explicitly stating this.

Imagine a world where general society was matured, self-informed, and responsible for their own actions. Our need for government intervention would drop by at least 60%, and would carry innumerable other benefits to basic living.

What a reality.

I couldn't agree with you more. Common sense and personal responsibility go a long way, but they're in shorter and shorter supply all the time.

 

[z970]

Common sense and personal responsibility go a long way, but they're in shorter and shorter supply all the time.

And this is a horrible, horrible travesty I can attest to every day...

Rest in peace...