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What have you done with a PowerPC today?

Yes hi I'm dragging out Shiratsuyu to fumble around Ableton Live enough until I make a competent studio mix.
Picture 1.1.png

insert bit about good audio thing staying good here

my skill though? none.
 
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New question trying to get a Rev D iMac G3 up and running. As the IDE->SATA adapter didn't want to work, I just got in and installed an IDE->CF adapter with a 4gb CF card, and it recognizes the drive in MacOS 9.1 setup! Wooo!

But now in setup it demands I update the firmware, but when I try to run a firmware update I get this error "The iMac firmware updater cannot move necessary files to the current system folder because the volume is locked. Your firmware will not be updated. Please restart from an unlocked volume."

It seems to me that it's trying to write the firmware update to the CD install (which is of course locked) instead of the CF card/drive? My CF cards don't have a lock/unlock switch... could this be an issue with master/slave jumpers?
 
DisraeliGears said:
New question trying to get a Rev D iMac G3 up and running. As the IDE->SATA adapter didn't want to work, I just got in and installed an IDE->CF adapter with a 4gb CF card, and it recognizes the drive in MacOS 9.1 setup! Wooo!

But now in setup it demands I update the firmware, but when I try to run a firmware update I get this error "The iMac firmware updater cannot move necessary files to the current system folder because the volume is locked. Your firmware will not be updated. Please restart from an unlocked volume."

It seems to me that it's trying to write the firmware update to the CD install (which is of course locked) instead of the CF card/drive? My CF cards don't have a lock/unlock switch... could this be an issue with master/slave jumpers?
Click to expand...
The key is in the error text. The updater can't move files to the "current" system folder. If you're booted from the CD, that would be the current system folder.

If this doesn't block system install, install the system and reboot to it, then you can update the firmware.

If it does block system install, you should still be able to copy the System Folder from the installer to the CF card manually in Finder (blessing the disk) and booting to it, which should then allow you to update the firmware.
 
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So I copied the system folder to over, and it would let me boot without holding Opt, but it would give me the same error trying to install the firmware. I pulled the CD and it would semi-boot, throwing an error “The system software on the startup disk only functions on the original media, not if copied to another drive”.

I also copied over the firmware installer onto the CF drive, but running it from there gave me the same error as before (cannot move files).

Edit: God I tried with multiple CF cards, copying sys files and firmware files from the CD on device and from alternative Macs… WHATS THE POINT IN AN INSTALL CD THAT CAN ONLY INSTALL ON ITSELF ARRRRRRRRGH IM LOSING MY MIND
 
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barracuda156 said:
What have you done to it, installed 12-core Power9? )
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Yeah my bad, I mean everything I got installed and it's not much (i think wget and some more simple tools, almost got ffmpeg to build) :) But one can dream...

barracuda156 said:
In principle, everything that uses either GTK or wxWidgets for GUI may work
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I love Audacity, but it's not that quick. Maybe ffmpeg and wxWidgets are actually the reason for that. For something like a single-track recording it's usable, but Logic runs 20-something multitracks just fine and Audacity takes minutes to think, but then maybe i'm asking too much. Sometimes I import MOGG multitracks, I guess I'll try pre-treating them on a modern machine for Logic.

MarkC426 said:
I use GarageBand in Sonoma.

Back in my G4PB days I used Bias Peak.
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Peak seems great (authentic ;)) but I haven't got the time to figure it out yet. Anyway single-track recording should be straightforward. It seems that Logic is the best tool for me right now. I guess I need me an early Intel Hack for when I render something huge
 
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maître said:
Yeah my bad, I mean everything I got installed and it's not much (i think wget and some more simple tools, almost got ffmpeg to build) :) But one can dream...


I love Audacity, but it's not that quick. Maybe ffmpeg and wxWidgets are actually the reason for that. For something like a single-track recording it's usable, but Logic runs 20-something multitracks just fine and Audacity takes minutes to think, but then maybe i'm asking too much. Sometimes I import MOGG multitracks, I guess I'll try pre-treating them on a modern machine for Logic.


Peak seems great (authentic ;)) but I haven't got the time to figure it out yet. Anyway single-track recording should be straightforward. It seems that Logic is the best tool for me right now. I guess I need me an early Intel Hack for when I render something huge
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Could try Logic 7. That was made to run on PPC and there's an XSKey emulator now.

Otherwise just use Logic 9 (what I use on my Quad). Should handle like 10-15 tracks at once I think on the iBook G4? IDK cause I run Reason 4 on mine and it works very well.
 
maître said:
Yeah my bad, I mean everything I got installed and it's not much (i think wget and some more simple tools, almost got ffmpeg to build) :) But one can dream...
Click to expand...

An observation about build times: I was accustomed to being able to do a full bootstrap of gcc in about 4.5–5 hrs on the Quad. Yesterday morning I started building gcc14 from nothing on G5 2.3. Since libgcc14 started building till this moment about 23 hrs passed. It is still 3d stage of gcc14 (i.e. the second build of gcc – one build takes about 12 hrs).
 
Success update on the iMac G3, I abandoned OS9 and burnt some install discs of 8.5.1 and one of those was able to install on the CF card drive. After like 2 months of tinkering it’s finally up and running. In the end I’ve lucked out with this one as the screen is in good shape (no fly back issues) and the CD drive has held up admirably so far.
 
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I worked on my 12" Powerbook today, restoring much of its functionality with new speakers, a new fan, and an SSD. It had been stored in a moist environment, and suffered some damage due to this.

Now to find that keyboard. They seem to be unicorns these days, unless you want to spend $100+ on a parts machine...
 
swamprock said:
Now to find that keyboard. They seem to be unicorns these days, unless you want to spend $100+ on a parts machine...
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I regularly see PB 12" on Yahoo Auctions, and unless confirmed as fully functional or boxed with accessories, they go for cheap. But shipping costs depend on your location, of course.
 
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barracuda156 said:
I regularly see PB 12" on Yahoo Auctions, and unless confirmed as fully functional or boxed with accessories, they go for cheap. But shipping costs depend on your location, of course.
Click to expand...

There were a couple on there, but all were fully-functional machines. I admit that my search-foo is probably a little lacking, as I've never checked that site out before. Thanks, all the same.
 
swamprock said:
I worked on my 12" Powerbook today, restoring much of its functionality with new speakers, a new fan, and an SSD. It had been stored in a moist environment, and suffered some damage due to this.

Now to find that keyboard. They seem to be unicorns these days, unless you want to spend $100+ on a parts machine...
Click to expand...
Kudos to you. :) Tearing these apart is not for the fainthearted. I've refurbished several and always fear removal/reinstallation of the four keys to get to the Phillips screws beneath. Not to mention difficult removal (occasional fractures) of two of the large heatsink spring screws.
Somewhat surprised to see the $100+price you quote for a parts machine. I frequently see these fully functional priced from 30€ ($40) to 100€ ($132). Having said that, having totally refurbished my 1.5GHz model, CPU repasted etc, plus max memory and an SSD with Sorbet Leopard I wouldn't be happy to part with it for less than $130. Very nice machines though which are now becoming scarce in very good refurbished condition.
 
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I received an "untested" 1.0ghz TiBook main board in the post today, and for the princely sum of $10 (shipped). I took the chance and swapped the wonky, busted cache and glitchy video main board in my TiBook with the $10 board. After a few hours of "burn-in", I don't see any issues with this untested replacement board. Lucked out, as they say...
 
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Yesterday I did some work for a friend on my Power Mac G5. They needed some 1x1 photos for their online profiles and I had happened to take some photos of them at an event we were both at. I imported my stuff into Aperture 2, marked some photos for editing, did some color balance and touch ups in Photoshop, and scaled down the final images. Nothing fancy. I was done with it all in maybe an hour and a half.

I wish Apple would bring Aperture back although I have one gripe. The Vaults feature is weird to me because it assumes that you are doing all of your work using Aperture from start to finish. You connect your camera and it opens the program, you then create a project and then import your photos into it, do your work, and then when you're done you should be like "well I want to vault this work I don't need it anymore" but vaulting just creates a back up of all of these photos when I already HAD by putting it on the external hard drive first and THEN going into aperture and importing my stuff. This was rectified with I think 1.0.1 or whatever back in the day so you could leave your files in place and just ignore vaulting, and I appreciate Apple making an easy path for import>work>archive but it's still so weird to me that you can't just archive individual projects. Vaults take all of your projects and makes a clean back up. Why can't I choose what I want to vault? I swear to god I am missing something surely this isn't the only way this feature works.

That's annoying but ultimately if you're already keeping your own backups and you're done, it's pointless.
 
Today I installed a new PRAM battery in my now 20-year-old eMac G4!
31AB1097-3D1D-43DA-880D-4E83C45B55C8_1_201_a.jpeg

Transferring some newer files to it.

6DA318A8-6102-46B5-8D83-886E6F0A934D_1_105_c.jpeg

I got InterWeb PPC installed on it now, too!

AF80EE9A-1C71-4E68-A95E-4F073AA33E7E_1_201_a.jpeg

Testing the IEEE-1394/FireWire video stream. Reason being is I'm going to produce another fursuit vlog showing off one of my retro technology pieces and edit a MiniDV video on it using iMovie HD! Stay tuned to see that!
499BAD22-1472-4D48-9B98-CE9FD293EE19_1_201_a.jpeg

Hey; a LOT of furries are into vintage technology!
 
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dandeco said:
Today I installed a new PRAM battery in my now 20-year-old eMac G4!
View attachment 2507443
Transferring some newer files to it.

View attachment 2507445
I got InterWeb PPC installed on it now, too!

View attachment 2507444
Testing the IEEE-1394/FireWire video stream. Reason being is I'm going to produce another fursuit vlog showing off one of my retro technology pieces and edit a MiniDV video on it using iMovie HD! Stay tuned to see that!
View attachment 2507446
Hey; a LOT of furries are into vintage technology!
Click to expand...
Is that a ‘box of laptops’ I see…. 🤩
 
Powerbook G4 17" A1107:- abandoned it for now. It does not see any drive, old/new/SSD/spinner, at all. So either the connector or the cable is bad, and I'm too frustrated with it to be bothered for the moment. Annoying. I'd like to get it going, but the problems make my teeth itch...
 
VOX PPC + FStream on PB 12"
Both are very lightweight. Sometimes I also record radio mixes.
 

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