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MS Windows

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 2, 2012
20
0
Alright...today at work we were throwing away old PowerPC Macs. About 80 eMac's went, along with some G4 iMac's. Most of the G4 iMac's we were ditching had dinky little 800Mhz processors, but I was able to snag one with a 1Ghz CPU and 1GB of RAM. So I took it home, and installed Mac OS 10.4 (unfortunately these won't run 9.2) onto its hard disk.

But here's the problem...I've got no idea what to do with it! I've already got over 15 computers, including 7 Macs (now I'm up to 8 with the "new" iMac). I've got a laptop running Windows 7, two desktops running Windows 2000, a desktop running Windows 3.1, two Macs running Mac OS 9.2 (a 266Mhz Power Macintosh G3 and an G3 iMac), a Power Mac 7100/66 I use for transferring files, along with three SE's. I already use the iMac G3 for music. Does anybody have an idea for something I can do with this G4?
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
Is this a 15" or a 17"? I remember I forced 9.2.2 onto my 1Ghz 17" iMac G4. It seemed to run just fine, but it was a bit of trouble to get it onto there. The 15" 1Ghz may be able to run 9.2.2, but it's highly unlikely.
 

LOLZpersonok

macrumors 6502a
Aug 10, 2012
724
18
Calgary, Canada
You could use it as a collectible. Or basic Internet Browsing. Or a bedroom computer. Or give it to someone. There is a lot of uses you could have for it!
 

Ariii

macrumors 6502a
Jan 26, 2012
681
9
Chicago
Alright...today at work we were throwing away old PowerPC Macs. About 80 eMac's went, along with some G4 iMac's. Most of the G4 iMac's we were ditching had dinky little 800Mhz processors, but I was able to snag one with a 1Ghz CPU and 1GB of RAM. So I took it home, and installed Mac OS 10.4 (unfortunately these won't run 9.2) onto its hard disk.

But here's the problem...I've got no idea what to do with it! I've already got over 15 computers, including 7 Macs (now I'm up to 8 with the "new" iMac). I've got a laptop running Windows 7, two desktops running Windows 2000, a desktop running Windows 3.1, two Macs running Mac OS 9.2 (a 266Mhz Power Macintosh G3 and an G3 iMac), a Power Mac 7100/66 I use for transferring files, along with three SE's. I already use the iMac G3 for music. Does anybody have an idea for something I can do with this G4?

Your workplace is throwing them away :eek:? You should get some of them to sell one eBay, you could make like $500 that way. You could use the iMac as an emulator for old NES/Genesis/etc. games, it usually runs them without lag. Also, you can use it as a folding machine.
 

92WardSenatorFE

macrumors regular
Dec 29, 2008
145
0
USA
I've seen these computers make good "photo frames". Download a bunch of family (or whatever) photos to the hard drive, set it as the screensaver and play it during get-togethers.

If you have a guest room in your house, you could always set the machine up for guests to use. If you upgrade the RAM and OS to Tiger/Leopard, they still do a pretty decent job with web browsing.
 

MS Windows

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 2, 2012
20
0
Your workplace is throwing them away :eek:? You should get some of them to sell one eBay, you could make like $500 that way. You could use the iMac as an emulator for old NES/Genesis/etc. games, it usually runs them without lag. Also, you can use it as a folding machine.

Oh, I've made thousands already just selling RAM out of computers we throw out at work. I've found that I make more money quicker just selling RAM rather than the whole machine with the way shipping is.

----------

I've seen these computers make good "photo frames". Download a bunch of family (or whatever) photos to the hard drive, set it as the screensaver and play it during get-togethers.

If you have a guest room in your house, you could always set the machine up for guests to use. If you upgrade the RAM and OS to Tiger/Leopard, they still do a pretty decent job with web browsing.

That "photo frame" sounds like a neat idea! Since the rest of my PC's and Mac's all have CRT monitors, I could load my photos onto this and run a slide show of them. Maybe that's what I'll do with it!
 

Imixmuan

Suspended
Dec 18, 2010
526
424
MintPPC is the answer

None of your machines appear to run tux. While there are others, MintPPC is the best distro on the PPC. Even an 800 mhz imac will fly with tux, though I would caution that video driver issues seem to be quite common with imacs, G4's and G5's. Check out mintppc.org, browse the forums and see if you want to take the plunge.

Or, you can find someone in your area who has no computer (yes, they exist), but would like to do basic tasks like word processing, spreadsheets, email, surf the world wide web with tenfourfox, aurorafox or leopard webkit, or maybe watch some youtube videos with mactubes or viewtube.

You know, just the basics.
 
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