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laptoplover2

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 4, 2011
45
0
USA
So I'm here in 2012 here, there's my MacBook, my good old reliable Toshiba laptop, my machine that was built in 2003, and then all the way over here in front of me, a Titanium PowerBook G4, running and surviving with Mac OS X 10.3.9 Panther on it.

Anyone else surviving here with Panther like me? What Mac? :D:D:D

What browser are you using? I'm stuck with an old version of Camino and it crashes so often I can barely stand web browsing on this good old machine and am considering also installing Ubuntu PowerPC on it where I'll have a modern-day browser.
 

skinniezinho

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2009
1,084
91
Portugal
So I'm here in 2012 here, there's my MacBook, my good old reliable Toshiba laptop, my machine that was built in 2003, and then all the way over here in front of me, a Titanium PowerBook G4, running and surviving with Mac OS X 10.3.9 Panther on it.

Anyone else surviving here with Panther like me? What Mac? :D:D:D

What browser are you using? I'm stuck with an old version of Camino and it crashes so often I can barely stand web browsing on this good old machine and am considering also installing Ubuntu PowerPC on it where I'll have a modern-day browser.

10.3.9?Somehow hard...
Why don't you upgrade to tiger?
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,660
26,604
From what I have read, it's my understanding that Opera 10.10 and up to 10.20 Alpha will run on 10.3.9. Not the newest browser, but Opera still has a few things going for it such as speed. You can also customize it with user javascript and both 10.10 and 10.20 have full screen. 10.20 will give you private browsing.

I'd have suggested SeaMonkey, but that's at least 10.4 and most browsers now except for one version of iCab (4.8) I think require 10.4. Sunrise 1.7.4 will run on Panther if what I read is correct.

As far as the OS itself I was using Panther from 2005 to 2009. I didn't move to Tiger until mid 2009 so I can commiserate having to be on it. The best thing Panther had going was that it was rock solid stable. At least for me anyway. It was boring but I could count on it to not crash.
 

Imixmuan

Suspended
Dec 18, 2010
526
424
iCab

is the last browser to support Panther, but the webkit is so old you might as well be running Safari 2.0. Hats off to Alexander Clauss for supporting old OS's as long as he can.

You have a Titanium G4, so Tiger will run well on it. That will give you modern browsers and a generally much better OS/web experience. If you go Linux avoid the bloated Ubuntu and head straight to mintPPC. It is hardly headache free, but as far as PPC linux, its best in show. mintPPC 11 has some issues (like, umm DVD playback), but its super speedy, and you get a modern Firefox and Midori. Yum.

Tiger: mactubes, tenfourfox, omniweb, latest camino (yum), more modern vlc, xbmc...there really is no logical reason I can think of to stay with Panther.
 

Lil Chillbil

macrumors 65816
Jan 30, 2012
1,322
98
California
I was surviving with panther just 2 months ago on both a g3 powermac and a g4 sawtooth powermac

needless to say I don't hate it, i mean I like it, but I don't love it
 

G51989

macrumors 68030
Feb 25, 2012
2,530
10
NYC NY/Pittsburgh PA
Oh wow man, I have not used panther snice well...it was current. Pismo college memories!


Try to upgrade to 10.4 or 10.5 if you can, its just well...better.
 

TheUI

macrumors newbie
Jul 18, 2012
26
0
is the last browser to support Panther, but the webkit is so old you might as well be running Safari 2.0. Hats off to Alexander Clauss for supporting old OS's as long as he can.

You have a Titanium G4, so Tiger will run well on it. That will give you modern browsers and a generally much better OS/web experience. If you go Linux avoid the bloated Ubuntu and head straight to mintPPC. It is hardly headache free, but as far as PPC linux, its best in show. mintPPC 11 has some issues (like, umm DVD playback), but its super speedy, and you get a modern Firefox and Midori. Yum.

Tiger: mactubes, tenfourfox, omniweb, latest camino (yum), more modern vlc, xbmc...there really is no logical reason I can think of to stay with Panther.

Are you suggesting the abandonment of Unity!? Haha!
 

Dustman

macrumors 65816
Apr 17, 2007
1,381
238
Another vote for updating to Tiger. I loved panther too, but you've got to let it go. You can download disableTigerFeatures to get it a bit lighter. It'll disable spotlight and dashboard.
 

Zeke D

macrumors 65816
Nov 18, 2011
1,024
167
Arizona
I have a pair of iMac G3s dual booting Tiger and Panther. I rarely use them anymore. When I only had a Sawtooth G4 450Mhz, I used it because it had a 600Mhz CPU.

I still have both units, but now I use my G5 and eMac. Currently I am trying to work out a trade on craigslist to get a DP 1.25Mhz G4, but it is slow work.

Anyway, I am also in agreement to upgrade to tiger if nothing else, for the networking features.
 

Jethryn Freyman

macrumors 68020
Aug 9, 2007
2,329
2
Australia
I tried a week ago, then I finally managed to install Tiger on my 1GHz eMac [that came with Panther.] Make the upgrade if you can. Still, Panther holds a special place in my heart. First Mac I ever called my own <3
 

tom vilsack

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2010
1,880
63
ladner cdn
i have a older G3 ibook and can relate to panther and camino crashes ect...so.

another option would be to install mac 9.2 (upgraded to max 9.2.2)...it will fly on your Ti...lots of older software at places like macgardens,and you can run web browser Classilla.

Classilla will make your Ti feel like new...even intense web pages like yahoo will be handled np.

The only downside i originally had with running mac 9.2 was no scroll wheel (a must for web browsing) this was ended by me finding a nice free software program (usb-overdrive-14.hqx)

Trust me,once you put mac os 9.2 on your Ti you will wonder why you even ever ran osx on it!

If you need any help or that scroll program i can upload ect...or if you need 9.2.2 i can help you out ;-)

http://www.floodgap.com/software/classilla/

picture.php
 

Hrududu

macrumors 68020
Jul 25, 2008
2,299
627
Central US
Panther was IMO the best version of Mac OS X to date. It was so fast and light that older G3 systems caught a new wind after upgrading from Jaguar. I loved the simplicity and how fast it booted. The first time I ran Tiger I felt really let down by the performance. I think by that time Apple was starting to focus more on getting Mac OS ready for Intel chips and let the performance on PPC slide quite a bit and Tiger really needed a LOT more RAM than Panther. Of course now Tiger is really about as old as you can go for any sort of internet experience, but for a long time Panther was my OS choice for anything with a G3 in it. Its also as good as it gets in Mac OS X if you've got less than 512MB of RAM.
 

Ariii

macrumors 6502a
Jan 26, 2012
681
8
Chicago
Panther'll probably be all I need. iCab used to crash upon Googling until I changed it's identity to Lynx, except no full version of FaceBook :(. Also, it's a bit of a drag not to have OS 9 until Tiger. I'm debating whether to get an iMac G3 or a TiBook, and Tiger is the only one that supports MuseScore, by the way. Tiger is very modern, and like MacOS 9, it doesn't have much software support right now, but it had software support at least at some time, which is enough for a lot of people. That wasn't really the case for any version of OS X until Tiger, though I personally would've liked it if that was the case for Panther.
 

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,055
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
My iMac G3 is stuck in Panther because it doesn't support Tiger, unless you XPostFacto it in. Safari works alright for me on it, I've had more nightmares with it on Intel to be honest, LOL.
 

pro2010

macrumors newbie
Oct 17, 2008
17
0
I bought an iMac G4 on Friday... Didn't even survive a day with Panther! My story goes: Erase Panther, try to install Tiger, DVD drive broke, use CDs, disc 2 corrupt which left me with an iMac with no OS. Install 10.3, software update doesn't work. Panic. Try to DL iTunes 8.6.. Requires Tiger. Try to figure out how to get Leopard without a DVD drive.

Target Disc mode... Used my MBP as a dvd drive for my iMac.
Never used Panther, bought the iMac solely for music and Panther doesn't support the remote app.
 

boardhead

macrumors newbie
Oct 3, 2007
5
0
I'm still using my PowerBook G4 with 10.3.9. The proliferation of javascript on websites now has made Safari unstable. If you disable javascript you can still use Google with Safari 1.3.2, but sites like youtube just don't work. I've tried a number of other browsers (Firefox, Opera, iCab), but they all have problems. Opera will sometimes work with sites that crash Safari, but I haven't had anyy luck with Firefox or iCab.
 

Lil Chillbil

macrumors 65816
Jan 30, 2012
1,322
98
California
I'm still using my PowerBook G4 with 10.3.9. The proliferation of javascript on websites now has made Safari unstable. If you disable javascript you can still use Google with Safari 1.3.2, but sites like youtube just don't work. I've tried a number of other browsers (Firefox, Opera, iCab), but they all have problems. Opera will sometimes work with sites that crash Safari, but I haven't had anyy luck with Firefox or iCab.

Why did you reserect such an old thread :confused:
 

Imixmuan

Suspended
Dec 18, 2010
526
424
So, what you are saying is...

...time to move on up to Tiger (where you will have tenfourfox, tenfourkit, omniweb and much newer camino), or take the plunge and go for mintPPC.

http://www.mintppc.org

Lubuntu PPC 12.04 might be worth a go (I am on it now at 500mhz G4 and its totally usable), but on portables it can be a problematic install. Seems much more stable and fast on tower hardware, particularly G3's and early G4's.
 

avantisprod

macrumors newbie
Sep 6, 2014
1
0
10.3.9 indispensable

I am still running 10.3.9 on a powermac G4 as an essential component of my active, moneymaking protools TDM system. If I go one level higher, I trash 30K worth of hardware and software, not to mention all the labor and troubleshooting required for integration of all the components.

avantisprod


I'm still using my PowerBook G4 with 10.3.9. The proliferation of javascript on websites now has made Safari unstable. If you disable javascript you can still use Google with Safari 1.3.2, but sites like youtube just don't work. I've tried a number of other browsers (Firefox, Opera, iCab), but they all have problems. Opera will sometimes work with sites that crash Safari, but I haven't had anyy luck with Firefox or iCab.
 
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