What have you done with a PowerPC today?

[AphoticD]

That works as far as making the external the main display, but the GPU is still driving the internal display even though it isn’t there. That means the mouse cursor doesn’t stop on one side and it’s wasting VRAM drawing pixels that aren’t there.

The only way I’ve found to actually disable the internal display is to do the magnet trick every time I want to use it.

I stumbled across this simple utility a few years ago;

GitHub - Eun/DisableMonitor: Easily disable or enable a monitor on your Mac.

Easily disable or enable a monitor on your Mac. Contribute to Eun/DisableMonitor development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

There was a very early CLI version (v1.1) which runs on PowerPC Leopard I have attached it here.

Just tested now on my PBG4 17-inch, here is the output I see;

DisableMonitor 1.1 - http://github.com/Eun/DisableMonitor

usage: DisableMonitor <display id>

Name       | Display ID | Metrics   | Main Display? | Active?
Color LCD  |   69667584 | 1440x900  | Yes           | Yes

The more recent version (v1.92) works well as a simple menu bar utility on Intel Macs.

 

[CJRhoades]

Thats a cool looking Titanium.. where is the head ? Did you chop it off ?? ROFLMAO !

The LCD was cracked, so I removed it.

I stumbled across this simple utility a few years ago;

GitHub - Eun/DisableMonitor: Easily disable or enable a monitor on your Mac.

Easily disable or enable a monitor on your Mac. Contribute to Eun/DisableMonitor development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

There was a very early CLI version (v1.1) which runs on PowerPC Leopard I have attached it here.

Just tested now on my PBG4 17-inch, here is the output I see;

DisableMonitor 1.1 - http://github.com/Eun/DisableMonitor

usage: DisableMonitor <display id>

Name       | Display ID | Metrics   | Main Display? | Active?
Color LCD  |   69667584 | 1440x900  | Yes           | Yes

The more recent version (v1.92) works well as a simple menu bar utility on Intel Macs.

Interesting, does it run on Tiger as well? It's a 667MHz machine so I don't run Leopard on it.

What's turning out to be more frustrating is installing OS 9. The external display works in the installer, but since it's not the main display I can't see the installer window.

 

[Macbookprodude]

What a garbage app !!!! It destroys monitors :-(

 

[Doq]

Today (actually, yesterday, but close enough) I got my PBG4 to play nicely with my AirPlay speaker. It was far harder than it needed to be and I had to use a third party tool because iTunes wouldn't communicate. But it works, and it's not even that bad-- it's actually better since I can now use apps that aren't iTunes with it (my preferred music app is Vox).

Wish Airfoil had a Menu Bar option like AirParrot does though.

 

[AphoticD]

The LCD was cracked, so I removed it.


Interesting, does it run on Tiger as well? It's a 667MHz machine so I don't run Leopard on it.

What's turning out to be more frustrating is installing OS 9. The external display works in the installer, but since it's not the main display I can't see the installer window.

The source might compile for Tiger with a few tweaks?

What a garbage app !!!! It destroys monitors :-(

interesting... what happened?

I found that if I disabled the only display I could blindly Logout (Cmd-Shift-Q, then Enter) to reset the displays.

 

[chikorita157]

After playing around with Mac OS 9 on the Mac Mini G4, I wanted something better since the setup is a bit janky with audio not fully working and certain games won't run. I decided to spend a few hundred dollars to build close to the "Ultimate" PowerMac G4 I can come up. This excluded third party accelerator cards since those are very rare and will cost a lot of money. Basically, I want this to be my ultimate retro Mac gaming setup and running a couple legacy apps.

It took buying two PowerMac G4s to get the perfect one and I couldn't buy locally since there is none available in Washington DC Metro. I bought a PowerMac G4 Quicksilver thinking it's an 800 MHz dual processor model. It's not and it had a failed hard drive and the fan was making loud clanking noise. So I basically returned that one for a full refund and bought an MDD for slightly more money. It worked out in the end as this is the 2003 model with a single 1.25 GHz G4, 1.5 GB of RAM (which I upped to 2 GB), and a ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 64 MB, which is the fastest that can boot into Mac OS 9. Surprisingly, the fans aren't that loud, especially after taking out the hard drive completely and replacing it with 2 SATA SSDs. Still, the machine is in really good shape, except a few cosmetic issues.

I found a rare PCI SATA card from an online store that allowed me to use two SSDs without having to use IDE to SATA adapters. Also, bought a PC version of the ATI Radeon 9000 Pro with 128 MB, which was easy to flash for the Mac since the ROM chip was big enough to fit the Mac ROM. I want to eventually find a official Mac version of the NVidia Geforce 4 Ti 4600, which is an option for this Mac and is the fastest card that works under Mac OS 9. Sadly, I haven't had any luck finding that yet. But the system is very snappy, especially after upgrading it to Dual 1 GHz G4s, which I added new Noctua Thermal Paste on (which I highly recommend since I use this on my server build). It runs fine after a few hours of use and haven't turned off.

Even with a Dual 1 GHz G4, browsing the internet is slow on this computer. Of course, this is not my intended use of this machine since I have other Macs and other devices that can do that. Still, I kind of wished Macs were this upgradable like in the past. But still, I am excited for what Apple M1 and Apple Silicon has to offer. I never find any of the Intel machines that unique compared to PowerPC and even the new Apple Silicon Macs. I have a collection of old Intel Mac, mostly MacBook Pros, but basically they are my former machines before I retired them.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Congrats on the machine ! Yes, the MDD is beast of machine and great for OS 9. I have a Titanium 1Ghz PowerBook and under tenfourfox it runs great the internet.. you can try also Arctic fox or IceWeasel PPC, as these are what I use when on internet. PPC and M2 are cousins as they are both RISC processors - I am interested to find out, if this M1 possible to create Universal binary app. Good luck with that machine.. also, what may help is to find dual 1.42 processor and copper heat sink - then you will have fast MDD. The fact you add SSD is good as it run faster abd load apps faster.

 

[Macbookprodude]

M1 because it is cousin to PPC - both this processors are RISC, it will open possibility to create UB apps which run on both.

 

[Macbookprodude]

The source might compile for Tiger with a few tweaks?


interesting... what happened?

I found that if I disabled the only display I could blindly Logout (Cmd-Shift-Q, then Enter) to reset the displays.

I just hear it destroys monitor and computers.. from that, what I read on developer’s website.

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

it will open possibility to create UB apps which run on both.

Highlily unlikely. AFAIK, XCode which supports M1, don't support PPC & vice versa. No profit for apple.

 

[MrVitalic]

@chikorita157 I have a highpoint rocketraid 2220 sata pci-x card that I dont use and surely never will. If your interested having it, its yours (I'm in Canada, not too far for shipping)

 

[pipetogrep]

Set up a Django/Python dev environment on an iBook G4.

 

[chikorita157]

Yep, after two days of using it, the PSU on the MDD had given up mysteriously. It's odd since it was working two days ago, but it kicked the bucket when I tried to power it on. Maybe I didn't notice since it took two attempts to boot into Tiger sometimes and changing the time in Mac OS 9 causes the Date/Time control panel to crash.

I message the person who repairs PowerMac G4 MDD PSUs on EBay as he also sells the ATX conversion cable for the MDD, but it's out of stock. I received a reply and he will be making some more. Hopefully I can revive this machine as I only really use it to run old games. I don't really want to do it myself since I have no experience with creating power wires or even soldering.

I plan to replace it with a Seasonic SPP300SUG since it's around the same wattage as the one in the MDD (360 W) and it's small enough to fit. Just need to put some double sided tape.

 

[MrVitalic]

Work in progress. I finally made my virus indigo tdm work inside logic 9, but so far it wont play from a midi keyboard argh!!! What I’m trying to achieve is : tdm working with midi inside logic 9 with rewire enable for renoise.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Spent yesterday and today configuring my PowerBook 1400 to dual boot between 7.6.1 and 8.1

 

[AphoticD]

Spent yesterday and today configuring my PowerBook 1400 to dual boot between 7.6.1 and 8.1

The last time I opened up my 1400cs to have a play, the 24yo plastic around the display hinges ruptured into little shards... so I carefully closed the lid and put it back on the shelf

 

[RogerWilco6502]

The last time I opened up my 1400cs to have a play, the 24yo plastic around the display hinges ruptured into little shards... so I carefully closed the lid and put it back on the shelf

Ow, I'm sorry to hear that >.>

 

[el-John-o]

Updated my 1GHz iMac G4 15" to Leopard and iTunes 10 today. While it's much snapper with an older OS (plus I prefer the look of aqua on that era of machine), iTunes 10 brings iTunes match. Which makes this iMac G4 a handy iPod Classic docking station; now that functionality is waning in macOS and features are missing and becoming buggy.

I think I'm going to dual-boot it with Jaguar just for grins.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Played around with the Print Shop Deluxe on my PowerBook 1400 :3

 

[MrVitalic]

Work in progress. I finally made my virus indigo tdm work inside logic 9, but so far it wont play from a midi keyboard argh!!! What I’m trying to achieve is : tdm working with midi inside logic 9 with rewire enable for renoise.

I quote myself . I finally made Logic work with tdm hardware, with tdm synth and renoise in rewire. Phew. I still have to make a template and read the manual again.

Also, I found out that my logic 9.1 serial number work to activate version 9.0.2. I bought a complete box set in my area for 80$ last year...

I may revert back to a panasonic lcs on my dp2.5ghz air cooled. The fan burst are getting on my nerves. Maybe try using a modern liquid reservoir to bleed the syteme more easily.

 

[el-John-o]

Added a period correct accessory! (Lava lamp. Those made a brief comeback in the early 2000's)

 

[Riku7]

Added a period correct accessory! (Lava lamp. Those made a brief comeback in the early 2000's)

Oh, Mathmos (the original) never quit since they invented it in the 60s! But the base colour and selection of lava colours has varied over time. I think this one would be the closest thing they have to a G4 look: Milky white and chrome, and the liquids are all aqua blue. Desk version.
Lava lamps definitely made a comeback to teen rooms in the early 00s, although most of them were rather skinny and plastic looking replicas!

 

[el-John-o]

Oh, Mathmos (the original) never quit since they invented it in the 60s! But the base colour and selection of lava colours has varied over time. I think this one would be the closest thing they have to a G4 look: Milky white and chrome, and the liquids are all aqua blue. Desk version.
Lava lamps definitely made a comeback to teen rooms in the early 00s, although most of them were rather skinny and plastic looking replicas!

Woah those are cool!

Yeah. I was a teen in the early 00’s. And had a lava lamp. Actually, I’ve been completely unable to find one like it since.

I bought the one pictured at target on a whim. I like it but it’s definitely not the quality of my lamp I had as a kid.

 

[Nikolaosth]

Work in progress. I finally made my virus indigo tdm work inside logic 9, but so far it wont play from a midi keyboard argh!!! What I’m trying to achieve is : tdm working with midi inside logic 9 with rewire enable for renoise.

where did you manage to get a protools hd8 license ? is it ilok ?

 

[MrVitalic]

where did you manage to get a protools hd8 license ? is it ilok ?

Yes ilok, same for the virus indigo. Bought from ebay and transfered to my ilok account. 100% legit you need the whole shebang (96 i/o or 192 i/o with a minimum of a hd core pci-x or pcie card)

I paid my virus 100$ ( still 999$ on avid website) Heres a link to another low price virus. You can still use current gen ilok on ppc mac.

Access Virus Indigo TDM Plug-in for Pro tools HD | eBay

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