What to do with my old G4 iMac?

[BornToMac]

I recently got my wife's old G4 iMac up and running and now have an extra mac laying around. It's no beast but I am looking for ideas as to what to do with it. Currently it has:

150GB hard drive
256 RAM
running Tiger

I was thinking of using disk utility and installing Ubuntu to mess around with it or maybe turning it into a music server for the house (although I would have to add an airport card to it). Any of you guys have any cool ideas to try as a project?

 

[Paulywauly]

my girlfriend got me one of the last iMac G4s for christmas last year (1Ghz, 160GB, 1GB ram, airport extreme, usb2) and i did try setting it up as a complete server in the house (media, files, backup, printing) this is what i found:

1. It makes a good little media server if you have a ps3 or other macs you want to stream iTunes libraries to, however, its completely useless trying to transcode any video on (e.g. transcoding MKV to work on PS3) its just not fast enough. Try ripping a DVD for the fun of it it takes around 2 days lol

2. The built in networking is quite dated and slow if you use it alot, if you use it as a server it can take a while to move large files around the house. it also affects streaming if you do high quality video.

As long as you dont set your expectations too high there are still uses for these iMacs, i have mine in the kitchen now as a hifi and print server although im sure it could do more. Its a design classic too, guests always ask about it then find it hard to believe its a 7 year old computer!

 

[ProstheticHead]

If you've got anyone in your family that just needs a computer for the basics of the basics, those iMacs still get the job done. I recently apprehended one and used it to upgrade my mother (an elementary school teacher) from her Pismo G3. It's a decent upgrade for someone with that age of a computer.

For word processing, flyer making, email checking, minimal surfing, they're great little machines.

And I agree, a design classic.

 

[BornToMac]

Thanks for the replies. I do have a PS3 so maybe setting it up as a sever to stream music and pictures isnt a bad idea. Do you know if it would be possible to install iOS 4 on it assuming I could figure out how to use a mouse instead of a touchscreen?

 

[Paulywauly]

If you could put ios4 on it that would be awesome, although I doubt it would be possible. There are Mac os icon packs out there though which look like ios app icons. You could get rid of the dock and put a load of App icons on it's desktop with a funky wallpaper?
If you want to stream media you also have a few options, for videos ps3mediaserver is excellent, but if you also wanna do music/pictures there are medialink and tversity.

Hope that helps!