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What have you done with a PowerPC today?

Currently working on PPCMC 7.... I apologize for how long these releases are becoming. FFMPEG seems to not recognize OpenSSL alpha 15, I may have to revert to the 'stable' openssl versions to compile everything in this update. If you didn't know, PPCMC has always been updated with bleeding edge software, OpenSSL Alpha 12 was in the last release, which is newer then any linux distro. This is why PPCMC releases take so long, besides Python (Python actually still supports v3.6,.x, the last version to officially support Mac OS X panther, and has security updates till the end of this year) everything in PPCMC 7 is always bleeding edge at time of release. For example, in the last version:


I apologize about how the last version broke PPC G3 compatibility, I'm currently very tight on cash and can't buy another iBook G3 Clamshell charger at the moment to test for G3 compatibility (the whole reason I bought the clamshell). However, @Dronecatcher has said he will test the next update for G3 compatibility when it''s ready, which is amazing!

PPCMC7 has alot of life left. I have no doubt that YouTube on PowrerPC will continue on till the next decade of 2030 at least. The OpenSSL people are amazing, as well as everyone still making open source software compatible with PowerPC.
 
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Guys, its all your fault (Yes, that’s right, YOU are to blame ;)): Just received an iBook G3 800. Mostly intended for OS 9.2.2 playing around. I'm pretty happy, it was an absolute bargain (30 pounds), its near new condition. The iBook is pretty basic (128 MB RAM). However, upgrade is on the way.

I just installed OS 9.2.2 as well as 10.4
 
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Today, I posted maX on the MacGarden. with screenshots e all from a PDQ.
maX is a X Window System for Mac OS X Server 1.x aka Rhapsody. Pretty cool.
Will try to post more Rhapsody apps, there are too few there (... well, they are few anyway :) ).
Voilà... was my useful (?) PPC task of the day.
 
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alex_free said:
Currently working on PPCMC 7.... I apologize for how long these releases are becoming. FFMPEG seems to not recognize OpenSSL alpha 15, I may have to revert to the 'stable' openssl versions to compile everything in this update. If you didn't know, PPCMC has always been updated with bleeding edge software, OpenSSL Alpha 12 was in the last release, which is newer then any linux distro. This is why PPCMC releases take so long, besides Python (Python actually still supports v3.6,.x, the last version to officially support Mac OS X panther, and has security updates till the end of this year) everything in PPCMC 7 is always bleeding edge at time of release. For example, in the last version:


I apologize about how the last version broke PPC G3 compatibility, I'm currently very tight on cash and can't buy another iBook G3 Clamshell charger at the moment to test for G3 compatibility (the whole reason I bought the clamshell). However, @Dronecatcher has said he will test the next update for G3 compatibility when it''s ready, which is amazing!

PPCMC7 has alot of life left. I have no doubt that YouTube on PowrerPC will continue on till the next decade of 2030 at least. The OpenSSL people are amazing, as well as everyone still making open source software compatible with PowerPC.
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@alex_free, does your Python 3.6 comes with pip3 installer ? It's useful for installing and upgrading mps-youtube from the GitHub dev page.
 
Installed x1900GT (flashed on unused currently PC with atiflasher 379 & rom from macelite). It works in MacOSX, but both linuxes (Gentoo & Void) now can't start Xorg :D. Some incompatibilities in Xorg modules, at first glance. (Previous card was Gf7800Gt from asus, single-slotted & flashed, too).
 

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galgot said:
@alex_free, does your Python 3.6 comes with pip3 installer ? It's useful for installing and upgrading mps-youtube from the GitHub dev page.
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AFAIK yes, you can use the PPCMC terminal option in the main app interface to open a special terminal window and it should work like normal.

In other news, the new version in development has the latest version of git working right now. Still sorting out some FFMPEG stuff and then the backend stuff will be all done.
 
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Captain Trips said:
I am getting excited, according to the USPS package tracker my PowerBook G4 17" should be delivered this Friday. 💻 👍
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So the PowerBook G4 17" ended up arriving on Saturday.

I have been having fun testing it out and even though I knew the web browsers on the older versions of Mac S X would not be as fast as a modern bowser on newer Macs, I must admit the performance hit/lag is better than I expected.

The battery only had 17 cycles, which was a pleasant surprise. It has 512 MB memory (which I will upgrade to 2 GB) and the 150 GB HDD is performing well so far (maybe an upgrade to an M.2 SSD using an M.2 to IDE adapter in the future).

It has Leopard installed, but the admin account auto-logs in (which is good since I don't know the password). I have ordered retail install DVDs off of eBay for Tiger and Leopard, so I should fine as far as the OS goes. I want to try Tiger first since it has the "compatibility mode" and I want to try a few older games like Myst and Riven that weren't released for OS X. Once I get the install discs, I am wiping the hard drive and installing Tiger.

I am using TenFourFox with the TenFourFoxPEP prefs.js file, and so far I can get to the important sites (including MacRumors) and the page loads are mostly very good - the pages with lots of graphics (like some of the Digital Photography threads) do load slower, but not painfully slow.

iTunes works fine, and I can connect to the full sized HomePod via AirPlay in the kitchen - I wasn't sure if that would work since I didn't know when airPlay support was added to OS X / iTunes, so this is a pleasant surprise.

Next up I want to connect the PB G4 to an external monitor. I have a DVI to HDMI cable, so I hope it goes well.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
You'll be able to do up to 1920x1200 (at 60 Hz). What resolution is your monitor?
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The monitor goes up to 3440 x 1440 - I love using it with my 2014 Intel Mac mini.

I connected the PowerBook to this monitor using a DVI to HDMI cable and it worked great. I could tell it wasn't at 3440 x 1440, nor did I expect that since I had seen the specs for external video resolution (thanks for confirming that!), but it is nice to have the option if the 17" screen isn't enough to do something.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
What resolution is the monitor's menu reporting?
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Sadly, I did not think to check. Also, the System Preferences app is a little "jacked" in that I don't see as many options and many of the icons are the System Preferences icon instead of the unique icons for the individual options.

In addition, I don't have the password for the admin account. But that is OK, I have ordered retail DVs of Tiger and Leopard off of eBay (good prices) and there are the MacGarden ISO downloads as well.

Having said that, the next time I use the PB I will again connect to the monitor and see if I can get the resolution.

I suspect it will be 1920 x 1200, but regardless of the actual resolution the entire "physical space" of the monitors screen is being used.
 
Amethyst1 said:
Cool - I'd be interested in seeing what the PB is actually pushing to the monitor. I've run 2560×1440 and 3840×2400 from my PBs (A1085 and A1106) but there were graphical glitches at the ultra-high rez.
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Will do. It may take a day or two before I connect the PB G4 to the Ultrawide again, and if the "jacked up" System Prefs don't let me get to the external monitor resolution then it will have to wait until I can re-install Mac OS X on it.

But I will let you know once I can validate the resolution. Plus I am curious to see what resolution options I have, I just didn't think to check it the first time.
 
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Captain Trips said:
Will do. It may take a day or two before I connect the PB G4 to the Ultrawide again, and if the "jacked up" System Prefs don't let me get to the external monitor resolution then it will have to wait until I can re-install Mac OS X on it.

But I will let you know once I can validate the resolution. Plus I am curious to see what resolution options I have, I just didn't think to check it the first time.
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Well, given how you’ve already bought the licences for Tiger and Leopard (the discs from eBay), why not grab an image of the OS from online and install it today? That way, if you need to re-install later, you’ll have the originals once they arrive. :)

(Yes, of course I’m enabling you.)
 
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B S Magnet said:
Well, given how you’ve already bought the licences for Tiger and Leopard (the discs from eBay), why not grab an image of the OS from online and install it today? That way, if you need to re-install later, you’ll have the originals once they arrive. :)

(Yes, of course I’m enabling you.)
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Actually, I already downloaded them. :cool:

But I figure using the actual retail DVDs will reduce the chances of issues with a bad download / bad disc burning.

As far as enabling goes, I am now wanting to get a PowerMac G4. I saw a thread in this forum about someone wanting to get rid of a PowerMac G3 case, so of course I had to go to eBay and see what PowerMac G4s are being sold.

Back in the late 90s I built a Windows/Intel mini-tower. It was pretty fun, and restoring a PowerMac G4 sounds more attractive the more I think about it...
 
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Fired up my maxed out iBook G4 2005 for the first time in a while. I'm always blown away by the performance, this thing is basically a Mac mini G4 portable with an even better GPU and slightly worse CPU...

Best budget PowerPC Macs:
iBook G4 mid 2005 or late 2005 as a portable PPC mac.
Mac Mini G4 1.42GHz or 1.5 GHz as a desktop PPC mac.

Max the RAM in both of these and you will have an amazingly wonderful time using both IMO. What's the point of an Intel Mac again?
 
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There is just something about using the software you made work on some legacy OS. and seeing others use it as well. The best thing I've ever done is https://github.com/alex-free/panther_sdl2 ... Which was a hard trial and error port to Mac OS X 10.3.9. I tried so many things, and in the end modifying iPhone functionality to work in PowerPC Mac OS X Panther because it was so damn similar IMO actually worked in the end. If @Dronecatcher never requested FFplay in PPCMC7 this would of never existed!

Edit: I use my own FFplay with PPCMC 7 to play ALL my media files, up to 480p. Simply works amazing, even in 2021. The most up to date and compatible video player for PowerPC Mac OS X remains to this day as PPCMC 7 FFplay...

Edit 2: What are ads on YouTube lol...
 
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alex_free said:
There is just something about using the software you made work on some legacy OS. and seeing others use it as well. The best thing I've ever done is https://github.com/alex-free/panther_sdl2 ... Which was a hard trial and error port to Mac OS X 10.3.9. I tried so many things, and in the end modifying iPhone functionality to work in PowerPC Mac OS X Panther because it was so damn similar IMO actually worked in the end. If @Dronecatcher never requested FFplay in PPCMC7 this would of never existed!
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This is a fair point! And you’ve done Herculean work in making PPCMC stay alive and well!

But my big flex with this reply is I’m typing it from a PowerBook G4 on Leopard, into an open Remote Desktop window of a PowerBook G4 (on a desk in the next room over), running InterwebPPC on Snow Leopard (Darwin kernel 10.0.d1).
 
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So I finally had all PPCMC 7 backend updates finished. Everything working as it should. YouTube-dl is now updated via git, executed uncompressed for a speed boost (stole this idea from rpi forums). OpenSSL 3.0 alpha 15 and FFmpeg 4.4 are playing nicely. Then I go to copy PPCMC.app, and... it's 2GBs? Where did that 1.5 GBs come from? Turns out, if you don't strip debug symbols from git, it is over 1.5 GBs in size! That's bigger then my iBook Clamshell's HDD. Currently recompiling and stripping git, so git itself is now just over 11MBs! Is Linus designing an OS or a source control solution with git?
 
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So my company installed a new firewall yesterday, which led to everyone using a VPN for work. We all knew that was coming as they let us know a few weeks back.

That means my work issued MBP thinks that I am now in Tempe on the work network and not at home in Phoenix on my actual network. So, unless I implement split-tunneling (learned that was a thing the other day) I do not have access to the very network my MBP is using while using the VPN. I am however, not going to mess with that.

I needed some files off my NAS though, which is why I'm even talking about this. I used my own MBP to move them over to my server, at which point I connected the work MBP to the server (because my server is accessible from outside my home network). Then I copied over the files to the server at work.

My server is the PowerMac G3 B&W with a 2TB RAID so this is how PowerPC is relevant.

Just think it's funny that I have to connect to my own server from the 'outside' because the work MBP thinks it's 40 miles away when in reality it's less than two feet away from the server and both using my home network.

SMH! :)
 
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When I got my PowerBook 1400 a few weeks back, it came with a Jaz Drive. Tbh I had no idea what that was when I picked it up but I soon figured it out.

The guy I bought it from contacted me saying he had found some of the disks. He asked to make sure it was erased.
Apparently Mac OS X 10.2 recognizes the disks out of the box; which is nice because Mac OS 9 was refusing to format it. These things are actually pretty fast, I thought they were super slow but that must’ve just been because I was using 8.6 and the PB1400 last time I hooked it up.

Securely erasing with my 233MHz Wallstreet

294A84EA-4F0B-4601-AA21-DDB43DB02B5E.jpeg

This second picture is backing up the factory Jaz Tools disk
3DEB41A6-2114-44C8-871F-B0E137B76B90.jpeg

Does anybody know how to get a scsi connection for this thing on a newer Mac?
 
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