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What are you running on your PowerPC Macs?

Which OS are you running on your PowerPC Mac?

  • Classic

    Votes: 18 15.8%

  • Mac OSX 10.0-10.3

    Votes: 9 7.9%

  • Mac OSX 10.4

    Votes: 38 33.3%

  • Mac OSX 10.5

    Votes: 81 71.1%

  • Linux - Debian/Ubuntu Derivative

    Votes: 11 9.6%

  • Linux - Redhat Deriavative

    Votes: 2 1.8%

  • Linux - Other

    Votes: 1 0.9%

  • FreeBSD

    Votes: 4 3.5%
  • Total voters
    114
PowerPCMacMan

PowerPCMacMan

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2012
800
1
PowerPC land
Other than EBAY, and or second hand on-line dealers, NONE.. Microsoft does not sell it anymore...

Also, bear in mind that VPC 7.0 will run Windows slowly as the emulator has to translate Intel code into PowerPC code for it to run.. which is slow. I will say though on my G5 Quad, Windows XP runs quite nicely, not fast not too slow, but normal.. NOT like a native machine or Intel Mac, but not too bad.

My PowerBook G4 1.67 crawls with XP, but 2000 runs quite nicely, but its barely usable by today's standards.


RedCroissant said:
Is there a place to get VPC for a reasonable price these days?
Click to expand...
 
eyoungren

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,765
26,821
RedCroissant said:
Is there a place to get VPC for a reasonable price these days?
Click to expand...
See PowerPCMacMan's post.

There is a free emulator called Q. It does the same as VPC7 and it's PowerPC Mac. The only problem I've had with Q is that is doesn't ever seem to work for me. That may be because I'm asking way too much of it in what I want to do and what OS I want to run, but it seems to work well for a lot of other people.

If VPC7 has BIOS, then Q probably has it too. How to access that if Q does have it though, I have no idea.

You might look at Amazon. I won't post a link because the last time I did that the Mods came down on me like a ton of bricks, but it looks like Amazon has a few for sale. The particular one I saw was going for around $12.

If you do get VPC, make sure you update to the latest. I think that was 7.0.1. It should still be online I would think as a download from Microsoft. The update fixes a few bugs.
 
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R

RedCroissant

Suspended
Aug 13, 2011
2,268
96
PowerPCMacMan said:
Other than EBAY, and or second hand on-line dealers, NONE.. Microsoft does not sell it anymore...

Also, bear in mind that VPC 7.0 will run Windows slowly as the emulator has to translate Intel code into PowerPC code for it to run.. which is slow. I will say though on my G5 Quad, Windows XP runs quite nicely, not fast not too slow, but normal.. NOT like a native machine or Intel Mac, but not too bad.

My PowerBook G4 1.67 crawls with XP, but 2000 runs quite nicely, but its barely usable by today's standards.
Click to expand...

eyoungren said:
See PowerPCMacMan's post.

There is a free emulator called Q. It does the same as VPC7 and it's PowerPC Mac. The only problem I've had with Q is that is doesn't ever seem to work for me. That may be because I'm asking way too much of it in what I want to do and what OS I want to run, but it seems to work well for a lot of other people.

If VPC7 has BIOS, then Q probably has it too. How to access that if Q does have it though, I have no idea.

You might look at Amazon. I won't post a link because the last time I did that the Mods came down on me like a ton of bricks, but it looks like Amazon has a few for sale. The particular one I saw was going for around $12.

If you do get VPC, make sure you update to the latest. I think that was 7.0.1. It should still be online I would think as a download from Microsoft. The update fixes a few bugs.
Click to expand...

Well from what you both answered, it seems like it's not worth the hassle, especially since I have an iBook G4 that is only a single core as opposed to something that would comfortably and efficiently run Windows. I hate having to wait to get home to run IE for one of my classes and was hoping to be able to do it while at school. Maybe I should just consider upgrading my machine at some point. Thank you both for your responses!
 
I

ihuman:D

macrumors 6502a
Jul 11, 2012
925
1
Ireland
RedCroissant said:
Well from what you both answered, it seems like it's not worth the hassle, especially since I have an iBook G4 that is only a single core as opposed to something that would comfortably and efficiently run Windows. I hate having to wait to get home to run IE for one of my classes and was hoping to be able to do it while at school. Maybe I should just consider upgrading my machine at some point. Thank you both for your responses!
Click to expand...

I don't think VPC7 utilizes multiple cores.
 
eyoungren

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,765
26,821
RedCroissant said:
Well from what you both answered, it seems like it's not worth the hassle, especially since I have an iBook G4 that is only a single core as opposed to something that would comfortably and efficiently run Windows. I hate having to wait to get home to run IE for one of my classes and was hoping to be able to do it while at school. Maybe I should just consider upgrading my machine at some point. Thank you both for your responses!
Click to expand...
Depends. Even on my fastest Mac (1.67Ghz) I tend to close every open app just to run VPC. On the other hand with VPC (and Q) you can quit the program at any time. VPC will save the machine state. When you return it will restore right back where you left off.

So, you could boot Windows, open IE and open the site you need. When you're done, just quit VPC. When you return you will be in the same place. There's no need to boot/shutdown like you would a regular computer. And since the state is saved it's written to your hard drive. So, even if you shut off your Mac you can still return to the same state in VPC when you boot the Mac back up again.
 
seveej

seveej

macrumors 6502a
Dec 14, 2009
827
51
Helsinki, Finland
Lil Chillbil said:
Since I am no longer using my powerpc macs as my main machines I am currently running Amiga OS 4.1 on all my powerpc machines.
Click to expand...

AFAIK, Mac PPC hardware is not officially on amigaOS's supported list.. Is there's howto for this somewhere (I have an iBook G3 lying around, which I could toy with.)

RGDS,
 
rjcalifornia

rjcalifornia

macrumors 6502a
Oct 4, 2012
668
7
El Salvador
yangchewren said:
Ah, that's one vote for a redhat derivative!

How is YDL and which of your macs do you run it on?
Click to expand...

I use it on my iMac G4. It feels natural, apps run fast and smooth. Very stable and you can use any Desktop Environment you want (Gnome, KDE, etc) it has a very strong support, and it has been optimized for PowerPCs (G4)
 
Lil Chillbil

Lil Chillbil

macrumors 65816
Jan 30, 2012
1,322
99
California
seveej said:
AFAIK, Mac PPC hardware is not officially on amigaOS's supported list.. Is there's howto for this somewhere (I have an iBook G3 lying around, which I could toy with.)

RGDS,
Click to expand...

its not on its official list but there is also nothing preventing it from running on a powerpc computer
 
Y

yangchewren

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 1, 2012
215
1
rjcalifornia said:
I use it on my iMac G4. It feels natural, apps run fast and smooth. Very stable and you can use any Desktop Environment you want (Gnome, KDE, etc) it has a very strong support, and it has been optimized for PowerPCs (G4)
Click to expand...

Hmm, is there any powerpc compatible youtube viewer?

The main thing keeping me on lubuntu is minitube
 
76ShovelHead

76ShovelHead

macrumors 6502a
May 30, 2010
527
32
Florida
yangchewren said:
Just curious to know the proportion of linux users we have here. I'm also interested if you dual boot or are dependent solely on a single OS for your computing needs.
Click to expand...

Leopard runs on all my PowerPCs. I was thinking about Linux but too many have warned against it. I love Leopard anyways!
 
I

ihuman:D

macrumors 6502a
Jul 11, 2012
925
1
Ireland
MisterKeeks said:
It's a bit buggy, but I agree.
Click to expand...

I suppose in some cases it is and it also helps to know how to use the terminal(that helps in all oses actually, I suppose) but in general linux/Ubuntu has become a very friendly and usable os over the years.

Sent proudly from my Nokia Lumia 800 with WP 7.5! Made me realise how crappy and bloated iOS and Android are IMO.
 
MisterKeeks

MisterKeeks

macrumors 68000
Nov 15, 2012
1,833
28
ihuman:D said:
I suppose in some cases it is and it also helps to know how to use the terminal(that helps in all oses actually, I suppose) but in general linux/Ubuntu has become a very friendly and usable os over the years.
Click to expand...

I am 100% fine with using the terminal, and the support provided by the community is great, it's just that on older computers like PowerPCs, there just isn't all of the support needed for it to have polish. EG, the installer works fine, except the fans run at full speed throughout it, causing other residents of the household why I am running a blower fan. :D
 
I

ihuman:D

macrumors 6502a
Jul 11, 2012
925
1
Ireland
MisterKeeks said:
I am 100% fine with using the terminal, and the support provided by the community is great, it's just that on older computers like PowerPCs, there just isn't all of the support needed for it to have polish. EG, the installer works fine, except the fans run at full speed throughout it, causing other residents of the household why I am running a blower fan. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah lol :D. I understand where you're coming from but Linux isn't all bad. I still prefer Mac OS X though!

Discussions in the PowerPC sub-forum are very interesting and stimulating - Yeah, I'm a nerd and proud!
 
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