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What have you done with a PowerPC today?

za9ra22 said:
The mini I used was the same 1.25 base model. OS 9 seems to work on it rather well.

I like pre-OS X versions of the system, though I'd be hard put to explain why, other than that OS X has always been too distracting and busy, and that doesn't help me concentrate on getting any work done!

I've been looking for ways to get it running on more modern hardware rather than vintage computers like the Classic and Classic II compacts, and the 630CD that I have. Emulating it on a Raspberry Pi seems possible, but getting it onto a mini is a great compromise - and it runs quite fast.
Click to expand...
Earlier this evening I hooked up a monitor, keyboard and mouse to the old Mac mini G4 1.25 GHz and got Mac OS 9.2 installed, using a CD I burned from the ISO image at Macintosh Garden. I am glad I was following this thread, or I may never have discovered that I could do this since officially the Mac minis did not support the use of OS 9 on them.

I then:
  • Got onto the Internet using Classilla, although I was limited in what I could do (partly lack of time). MacRumors was not too functional, but the home page did load and I could see the articles albeit not in the same format as a newer browser would display it. I am sure this will be the experience on many websites, but I didn't load OS 9.2 to experience the web in its full glory. 🤪
  • Saw that OS 9 recognized I had a monitor (AOC 34" ultra wide) that could go up to 3440 x 1440 and defaulted to that resolution at 30 Hz. I then dropped the resolution to around half that (forget the exact resolution) at 60 Hz so everything wouldn't be quite so tiny.
  • Set the time and date.
  • Poked around OS 9.2 a little bit.
More to do, especially exploring OS 9.2 (I briefly had a Mac clone in the late 90s, but didn't have it for long and I forget which clone manufacturer it was), getting sound setup using an external speaker via the headphone port, and getting Myst loaded if I can get the sound working.

This was the first time I powered up that old Mac mini G4 since I replaced it with an Intel Mac mini (2014 model) back in 2016.

So many Macs, so little time... 💻🖥️
 
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Why is it so satisfying to transcode a video in 12hrs just to watch the small window on the G3? lol. I put my baby to work this morning and she spit out the finished video about 10 mins ago. So I sat there barely two feet away from her, and stared at Smokey and the Bandit playing in MPlayer. I used ffmpegX and used MPEG-4. Runs smooth.






 
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Yesterday, not today, sorry, converted 3 videos for uploading to Cornica.
One is an old S.Jobs interview from 1981. Long, uncut, 19mn. Even in Sorenson at 15ips it's something like 140Mb.
Hope it'll work there. Perfectly readable on OS9 locally anyway.

Edit : Today, that is after my coffee...
I went to see how was doing a 500 Mhz Pismo, that I left building wget in Macports for a test.
It had a very basic Macport install to start with, so the amount of things Macports wanted to build/install just for building wget was impressive, gcc7, pyhton39 and a sh.. load of stuff. When I saw the list , I thought "Oh god, this will take weeks...", but decided to leave it in a corner plugged to power and never sleep, to see how long it would take.
It has an SSD, very quiet , so no bother.
Well, it failed building a dependency, itstool, so I don't have wget. But it did build all the big stuff, libgcc7, gcc7, Python39... ect . took 4 days ! :D
Warren-Lasky-190521.png
Cool, now I have a G3 with gcc7 and a recent python3, can see if I can build something that runs well on G3s there...
 
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iF34R said:
Why is it so satisfying to transcode a video in 12hrs just to watch the small window on the G3? lol. I put my baby to work this morning and she spit out the finished video about 10 mins ago. So I sat there barely two feet away from her, and stared at Smokey and the Bandit playing in MPlayer. I used ffmpegX and used MPEG-4. Runs smooth.






Click to expand...

I mean, I don’t know about you, but I would find plenty of enjoyment to hear, “My hat blew off, Daddy…” on iMac G3 speakers…
 
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Dronecatcher said:
I think you're safe with Apple content - 70% of my vids didn't make it on there - it's hard to know what's suitable.
Click to expand...
Yeah. the other two vids could be a bit more of a "problem", But we'll see. I leave the appreciation to the Cornica mods. If they don't want to show it there, no problemo.
Just wanted to share things I like there.
 
Tratkazir_the_1st said:
Guys, it is HEAVY OFFTOP, but plz have a look (preferably with kids) :). This is made in locality whre I lived for a long time. Have fun!
Click to expand...
Good link ! They don’t understand our language.. well, Ukrainian is my language which is different than Russian. Wait a min - Яка ця галіма ??? No words only cartoon ?
 
Tratkazir_the_1st said:
Guys, it is HEAVY OFFTOP, but plz have a look (preferably with kids) :). This is made in locality whre I lived for a long time. Have fun!
Click to expand...

It may have been off-topic, but to bring it back to topic: the thing I’ve done with a PowerPC today is I watched that entire clip (inline within the page and without suffering frame-hiccups) with @wicknix ’s InterwebPPC on a PowerPC running Snow Leopard 10A96:

1621492425348.png
 
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I did some more exploring of Mac OS 9 on my Mac mini G4 1.25 GHz yesterday.

As others had commented on the Macintosh Garden page, the internal speaker doesn't work once the OS is loaded (I am pretty sure I heard the power on chime, though). I connected an external speaker and that works, however. The speaker is a Monster Gaming Soundbar, model 2MNSK0716808L, that I picked up at Big Lots for $15.

Even though I can set the monitor at 3440 x 1440 @ 30 Hz, I have set it lower to 1920 x 1090 @ 60 Hz.

Set the wallpaper to a nice shot of the Apple Store in Singapore - great photo and it looks sharp.

Installed some applications and utilities, all seemed to at least open and work as expected, but I haven't done much beyond using Classilla so far. The USB Overdrive app enabled the second button on the Logitech Trackball, which is nice.

I plan on loading more games and maybe some more applications the next time I power the Mac mini up.
 
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Currently watching PPCMC 7 convert a directory of FLAC files to WAV (also works for any other audio file type), make a real .cue file, and burn it to a disc! Substantial progress in developing the next update.

EDIT: IT WORKS IN THE OCTOBER 1995 PLAYSTATION.

wonder why burned audio CDs work fine in the normal horizontal position but all my burned games need the console in the vertical position to even boot...

Another note, The critized (rightly IMO, this is from PPCMC6!) ugly highlighting of folders PPCMC to yellow has been criticized, I am happy to say that I’ve found the source of that and removed it.
 
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So, as some might know, Bluetooth audio on PowerBooks is notoriously bad; either by way of the PB only having BT 1.1 or pairing issues or having the sound of a tin can. I wanted to use my Bluetooth headphones at the best quality wireless can give me. So what did I do? USB Bluetooth adapter? Not ridiculous enough. Bluetooth transmitter out of the audio out? Close, but still not quite that ridiculous. How about....

Bluetooth headphones, connected to a Bluetooth transmitter, plugged in to an Airport Express, over AirPlay. And this is Tiger so it's actually AirTunes-- AirPlay didn't become AirPlay until iTunes 10.

That's more like it.
Picture-3.png

https://imgur.com/a/NtRNl1Y

I don't know what's more ridiculous; it working with my A1046 or it working with my A2348.
 
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Doq said:
So, as some might know, Bluetooth audio on PowerBooks is notoriously bad; either by way of the PB only having BT 1.1 or pairing issues or having the sound of a tin can. I wanted to use my Bluetooth headphones at the best quality wireless can give me. So what did I do? USB Bluetooth adapter? Not ridiculous enough. Bluetooth transmitter out of the audio out? Close, but still not quite that ridiculous. How about....

Bluetooth headphones, connected to a Bluetooth transmitter, plugged in to an Airport Express, over AirPlay. And this is Tiger so it's actually AirTunes-- AirPlay didn't become AirPlay until iTunes 10.

That's more like it.
Picture-3.png

https://imgur.com/a/NtRNl1Y

I don't know what's more ridiculous; it working with my A1046 or it working with my A2348.
Click to expand...

If it works, then heck, why not? :)
 
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