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Windows on a PMG5?

KeegM480

KeegM480

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2013
780
31
Nashville, TN
Hello everyone,
I really need to get Windows XP or 7 working on my PMG5, my MacBook Pro is in for its second repair and I need a reliable computer (so ironically I turn to an older one), I have a Windows 7 disk, When I tired running bootcamp, my Mac said bootcamp isn't compatible,

what is? I'm ok with running an application that runs Windows 7, just need to be able to do C++ Programming.

Thanks!

Oh, I am running 10.5.8 and I have to use Windows unless there is a way to run Microsoft Visual Studio, I have 80+ GB to use.

EDIT: Trying to see if anyone has any other ideas? Would love to see if there are any ways you guys can think of that I could run XP or Windows 7 on this. Just for a backup machine, maybe I would use it. Who knows. I have my specs in the signature :)
 
Last edited:
eyoungren

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
KeegM480 said:
Hello everyone,
I really need to get Windows 7 working on my PMG5, my MacBook Pro is in for its second repair and I need a reliable computer (so ironically I turn to an older one), I have a Windows 7 disk, When I tired running bootcamp, my Mac said bootcamp isn't compatible,

what is? I'm ok with running an application that runs Windows 7, just need to be able to do C++ Programming.

Thanks!

Oh, I am running 10.5.8 and I have to use Windows unless there is a way to run Microsoft Visual Studio, I have 80+ GB to use.
Click to expand...
You need Virtual PC 7. There was also a patch to make it run on the G5, so you'll need to download that as well. Finding VPC may be a bit hard. First because there is a Windows product called VPC 7 allowing you to run virtual instances and two because it was the last version and didn't sell many copies.

Note that there seem to be lots of copies of Virtual PC 6, but those are G4 only. They may run on a G5 but probably not well.

Should you get VPC 7, update it and are ready to go you will need to know the following. Win 7 and 8 do not use BIOS. However, VPC 7 does have a minimal BIOS and it will be this you need to access in order to turn on the switch that is necessary to allow an install of Win 7 or 8 (ACPI).

Lastly, please note that this is emulation. VPC 7 with Win XP and all the eye candy turned off on a G5 is DOG slow! I installed Win 7 at one point and it took HOURS and is completely unusable.

Bootcamp is only for Intel Macs. Windows cannot run natively on a PowerPC Mac because they do not have an Intel chip or chipset. So, emulation is the best you can do.

There is also a freeware, opensource emulator called Q if interested. But I have NEVER been able to get it to work with Win XP, let alone 7 or 8.
 
KeegM480

KeegM480

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2013
780
31
Nashville, TN
eyoungren said:
You need Virtual PC 7. There was also a patch to make it run on the G5, so you'll need to download that as well. Finding VPC may be a bit hard. First because there is a Windows product called VPC 7 allowing you to run virtual instances and two because it was the last version and didn't sell many copies.

Note that there seem to be lots of copies of Virtual PC 6, but those are G4 only. They may run on a G5 but probably not well.

Should you get VPC 7, update it and are ready to go you will need to know the following. Win 7 and 8 do not use BIOS. However, VPC 7 does have a minimal BIOS and it will be this you need to access in order to turn on the switch that is necessary to allow an install of Win 7 or 8.

Lastly, please note that this is emulation. VPC 7 with Win XP and all the eye candy turned off on a G5 is DOG slow! I installed Win 7 at one point and it took HOURS and is completely unusable.

Bootcamp is only for Intel Macs. Windows cannot run natively on a PowerPC Mac because they do not have an Intel chip or chipset. So, emulation is the best you can do.

There is also a freeware, opensource emulator called Q if interested. But I have NEVER been able to get it to work with Win XP, let alone 7 or 8.
Click to expand...

hmmm... maybe I will just use a borrowed PC until I get the MacBook Pro back haha, doesnt sound like fun to do that.. especially when I dont have the antenna yet for my G5.
 
eyoungren

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
KeegM480 said:
hmmm... maybe I will just use a borrowed PC until I get the MacBook Pro back haha, doesnt sound like fun to do that.. especially when I dont have the antenna yet for my G5.
Click to expand...
Well, it's doable with XP at least. We got VPC 7 with Office 2004 back in 2007 or so. But I could never justify using that much resources on the G5 for no real use (I didn't have a use for it).

Because it's emulation, it's just slow. And it shares off your network connection so you are essentially splitting your speed in half if you use it for any network stuff.
 
KeegM480

KeegM480

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2013
780
31
Nashville, TN
eyoungren said:
Well, it's doable with XP at least. We got VPC 7 with Office 2004 back in 2007 or so. But I could never justify using that much resources on the G5 for no real use (I didn't have a use for it).

Because it's emulation, it's just slow. And it shares off your network connection so you are essentially splitting your speed in half if you use it for any network stuff.
Click to expand...

Due to no antenna, I have between 0 bps and 25 mbps haha
 
KeegM480

KeegM480

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2013
780
31
Nashville, TN
Jessica Lares said:
Ah, see, that's why you have to do it yourself. ;) My dad does all our wiring, and we set up the cables so they went to my room and my brothers. Only our laptops and devices use wifi.
Click to expand...

Haha yeah, had it done back when I knew nothing about networking/wiring. I need to get some pliers and move the router/modem into my room, I would love a direct connection to my PowerMac & Xbox 360, nobody else in my house uses the router, they all use the wifi
 
Anonymous Freak

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Dec 12, 2002
5,561
1,252
Cascadia
KeegM480 said:
Any new ideas?
Click to expand...

You mean for running Windows on a G5?

The old version of Virtual PC for Mac is your best bet - by far the best supported emulation software for OS X on PowerPC. (Hah! Microsoft's Australia site still has a page up about it!)

There is also the open source emulators QEMU that will run Windows XP as well:
Q-emulator is an OS X-native port.
 
ybz90

ybz90

macrumors 6502a
Jul 10, 2009
609
2
Could you just borrow a computer from someone else? Honestly, Virtual PC was such a disgusting, slow mess back when I last used it that I can't imagine you being able to get any work done on it today.

Or perhaps just buy some cheap throwaway laptop to use in the interim. It's just not worth it to pay for VPC7 at this point.
 
rjcalifornia

rjcalifornia

macrumors 6502a
Oct 4, 2012
668
7
El Salvador
Anonymous Freak said:
You mean for running Windows on a G5?

The old version of Virtual PC for Mac is your best bet - by far the best supported emulation software for OS X on PowerPC. (Hah! Microsoft's Australia site still has a page up about it!)

There is also the open source emulators QEMU that will run Windows XP as well:
Q-emulator is an OS X-native port.
Click to expand...

There's a very very informative video on Youtube called "Windows On Power PC" . It shows how to install it with Virtual PC 7, and has a gift.
 
KeegM480

KeegM480

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2013
780
31
Nashville, TN
brand said:
If you were to unplug the router I can guarantee you that they would no longer have Internet meaning that they do in fact use the router.
Click to expand...

Fixed this issue by moving my desk by an area I can plug the router and modem into my Mac's
 
eyoungren

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
Probably irrelevant now, but here's a thought anyway. At home I have a wired router. Got it back in 2004 and it's been solid. But it's wired only. Back in 2009 I started bringing in PowerBooks that had Airport so this started to get inconvenient.

So, I bought a wireless router thinking I'd hook it up to the wired router, turn NAT/DHCP off on the wireless router and just use it as a WAP. Once I figured out that I had to assign the wireless router a static IP address OUTSIDE of my subnet (192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.200) and turned off the router capabilities it worked perfect. The first wireless router I had was a piece of junk so it's out in the garage now, but the Linksys WRT54GL I replaced it with works very well. I have seamless integration with both my wired and wireless devices while my wired router still controls all of the routing. And I have a backup router if my wired router ever fails (doubtful).

I bring that up because if your router is in one spot and you can run one cable to an area you could do something similar and then use wireless to connect to the rest of your network through this slaved router.
 
Anonymous Freak

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Dec 12, 2002
5,561
1,252
Cascadia
eyoungren said:
I bring that up because if your router is in one spot and you can run one cable to an area you could do something similar and then use wireless to connect to the rest of your network through this slaved router.
Click to expand...

That's what I do in my house. The AirPort Extreme (802.11n) routers have much better antennas than the computers, and I have multiple computers clustered on each end of my house.

So I have one AirPort router right next to my cable modem, sharing the connection wirelessly, plus wired to three devices right there (network printer, VOIP system, small home server.) Then I have a second AirPort router in my home office, "feeding" four other machines on Ethernet, bridging them wirelessly to the main AirPort router.
 
T

tampasteve

macrumors 6502
May 30, 2013
268
0
Tampa, Florida, North American Sector, Earth, Fron
For what it is worth, I did an install of VPC 7 with XP Pro on my dual 2.0 PMG5 last week. The install was straightforward and quite fast, faster than an install of XP Pro on my dual core Dell Vostro. It seems to work quite well from what i have tried so far. Amazon has unused disks for cheap (bundled with XP Pro it is cheaper than ordering XP disks alone), I ordered two. If you need Windows on a PPC Mac, this is a good, cheap, option.
 
chrfr

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,520
7,043
tampasteve said:
For what it is worth, I did an install of VPC 7 with XP Pro on my dual 2.0 PMG5 last week. The install was straightforward and quite fast, faster than an install of XP Pro on my dual core Dell Vostro.
Click to expand...

If this is true, something is wrong with your Dell.
 
jrsx

jrsx

macrumors 65816
Nov 2, 2013
1,057
18
Tacoma, Washington
I don't know if the OP has something to try out but here's this. Hope it works!

EDIT: Heck! it works! check out my testing screenshots!
 

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KeegM480

KeegM480

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2013
780
31
Nashville, TN
jrsx said:
I don't know if the OP has something to try out but here's this. Hope it works!

EDIT: Heck! it works! check out my testing screenshots!
Click to expand...

Does it run at decent speeds? I will be running on a Dual 2GHz with 2GB of RAM, would that be enough? It would only be used for C++
 
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