Daily PPC users- Anything you can't do?

[iModFrenzy]

I see many people here use PPCs for daily things. School, work,etc

Which made me curious, what happens when your PPC can't handle a website in school? can't do a certain project? being that it's your main computer.

It amazes me how people use them today, I'd use mine everyday if i was able to browse on it nicely(every website is heavy these day). As a type writer, Photoshop machine, old gaming machine and more, it's a great machine(those are the main things I do)

To PowerBook Users, do you ever have the fans rev up in the middle of class? I've always been worried about drawing attention with the noise haha.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Agreed that Internet browsing is the toughest mountain for the PPCs. Although there are browsers like TenFourFox which slightly soften the blow, using it as a daily driver would just be too frustrating for me. Websites are far too resource and content heavy these days. As everything's Internet oriented, it really hurts the usability and longevity of PPC.

Otherwise they're still great machines and look way better than most new Windows laptops.

 

[8692574]

Use my iMac daily, not really much I can't do ..... apart from updating it

 

[elf69]

Main reason I do nt use the ibook g4 is due to web limitations.

We use web based system for work and it just cannot do it anymore.
Sadly.

If only there was a browser that would work there would be hundreds/thousands more power PCs running!

 

[8692574]

Main reason I do nt use the ibook g4 is due to web limitations.

We use web based system for work and it just cannot do it anymore.
Sadly.

If only there was a browser that would work there would be hundreds/thousands more power PCs running!

Have you tried http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/ ? but yeah i know... web is not optimized nowadays...

 

[elf69]

I have tenfourfox and it is great and covers most web stuff.

We use web invoicing and job sheets for our clients.

need flash 10.2 and few other bits, can only get 10.1 flash.
Yes there is a hack i think to trick sites.

I love the ibook and it is quite thick bit thick but it still looks modernish compared to some of the windows crap out there.
Plus it still works, we see laptops of only 18 months dead or very nearly!

 

[eyoungren]

Optimized TenFourFox with BluHell Firewall, uMatrix and User Agent Switcher covers a lot of sins.

That said. I cannot do Flash based things. I cannot do Google Music (it broke two years ago). I cannot use Air Server with my iPad Air 2 other than for audio and I cannot sync anything with my iPhone or iPad. Using iTunes for internet radio is becoming dodgy and it takes up a lot of resources and you never know if Apple has cut you off or not - again. Snowtape is a good alternative but you have to add the radio channels manually because it's an older version and doesn't connect to their servers anymore.

Dropbox is becoming tenuous. Czo has managed to keep it working but we have overstayed our welcome by a year and a half so far.

I cannot do Google Drive. I cannot do Box Sync. I cannot do XtraFinder. Yahoo changed it's weather APIs which broke my main Geeklet for my desktop. I do not even attempt to view modern movies through Quicktime. Although there is a workaround that @Dronecatcher posted a while back that helps a lot.

The last time I used Skype it was audio only. Don't know if that's changed or not. Adium has not been updated for PowerPC in a long time. Still works, but I don't get the same experience using Slack with it that I get on the net. That's because I have to use an older protocol.

Facebook is problematic, but I'm not using it anywhere near as much as I used to so it kind of balances out. In general I've stopped using Google Maps. It still works, but it's slow and my iPad is faster.

At the moment, I can't think of anything else.

 

[AmazingHenry]

Websites are very heavy these days, and TenFourFox is just too slow for me on my 1.33GHz iBook. It's OK for a laptop, but certainly not as a main computer. TenFourFox is only good for G5 systems and possibly a very fast G4. But smartphones and mobile devices are helping. Using a mobile website is a much better experience on a PowerPC Mac, and mobile sites aren't going away anytime soon. Someday, even the mobile websites will probably get slow for a PPCs, but that day isn't here yet! Other than web browsing on the G3 and G4 systems, there isn't really much I can't do. Using the Archive or the Leopard Market, I can download just about any program I need.

Which made me curious, what happens when your PPC can't handle a website in school? can't do a certain project? being that it's your main computer.

I've never found something my G5 can't do besides running newer software, and the old software is always fine for me. But that's just me, I'm sure some people have had those problems before.

 

[3349793]

The thing is that most of the time I use my MacBook. Whether that's browsing the internet, or school work, or even playing The Sims.

I love my iMac G5, though. I play The Sims 2 on it, or make house plans on Google Sketchup (as a hobby, I will be studying Architecture in University). It handles shadows okay-ish.

 

[eyoungren]

TenFourFox is only good for G5 systems and possibly a very fast G4.

I really wish you would stop repeating this.

YOUR personal experience with T4Fx on the devices you own is not everyone's reality!

I have been using T4Fx on different G4's for years. The base, unmodified install is indeed slow. Which is why I optimized it. I have suggested optimizing it to you more than once. I have yet to hear you comment whether you have tried it or not. And if you haven't tried it then you cannot keep repeating this trope without me calling you out on it.

There are plenty of people on MR who have tried the optimizations on G4s and hell, even G3s and have been happy to find it works for them. For whatever reason you keep wanting to assert this opinion as fact however. It flies in the face of my own experience and the experience of those members.

T4Fx has it's faults. I do not claim it to be a panacea for everything that doesn't work on the web. But it works well on G4s despite your claims to the contrary.

Hell, Cameron Kaiser, the guy who created it uses it on G4's running Tiger ALL THE TIME! Is Cameron Kaiser wrong? Should he stop making versions for the G4 and the G3 because you don't believe those systems are powerful enough to run T4Fx?

Please!!!

PS. For reference…I have run T4Fx on iBook G3s with less than 500mhz processors and less than 768mb ram. I ran it on a Titanium PowerBook G4/400mhz with 1GB ram on Leopard for years. I currently use it on a 17" PowerBook G4 1Ghz running Leopard with 2GB ram.

 

[AmazingHenry]

I really wish you would stop repeating this.

YOUR personal experience with T4Fx on the devices you own is not everyone's reality!

I have been using T4Fx on different G4's for years. The base, unmodified install is indeed slow. Which is why I optimized it. I have suggested optimizing it to you more than once. I have yet to hear you comment whether you have tried it or not. And if you haven't tried it then you cannot keep repeating this trope without me calling you out on it.

There are plenty of people on MR who have tried the optimizations on G4s and hell, even G3s and have been happy to find it works for them. For whatever reason you keep wanting to assert this opinion as fact however. It flies in the face of my own experience and the experience of those members.

T4Fx has it's faults. I do not claim it to be a panacea for everything that doesn't work on the web. But it works well on G4s despite your claims to the contrary.

Hell, Cameron Kaiser, the guy who created it uses it on G4's running Tiger ALL THE TIME! Is Cameron Kaiser wrong? Should he stop making versions for the G4 and the G3 because you don't believe those systems are powerful enough to run T4Fx?

Please!!!

PS. For reference…I have run T4Fx on iBook G3s with less than 500mhz processors and less than 768mb ram. I ran it on a Titanium PowerBook G4/400mhz with 1GB ram on Leopard for years. I currently use it on a 17" PowerBook G4 1Ghz running Leopard with 2GB ram.

Sorry, you're probably right. I have tested TenFourFox on many Macs, including ones I have owned in the past, and on both Tiger and Leopard (on the machines that support Leopard), and the result is the same every time. I don't get how everybody could get a different result. But you must be right, and I'm sorry I keep repeating it.

PS.
I have tried optimizing it, but the performance isn't that much better.

 

[eyoungren]

Sorry, you're probably right. I have tested TenFourFox on many Macs, including ones I have owned in the past, and on both Tiger and Leopard (on the machines that support Leopard), and the result is the same every time. I don't get how everybody could get a different result. But you must be right, and I'm sorry I keep repeating it.

PS.
I have tried optimizing it, but the performance isn't that much better.

If you are seeing the same results on every machine you install it on then that would suggest to me that there may be an issue with your install.

@Dronecatcher was put off by Leopard when he first started posting here because he had a botched install. Once he reinstalled properly things worked much smoother for him. I am not suggesting that you install Leopard, far from it. Use what works for you and I know your preference is Tiger. That's fine. I'm just thinking maybe it's something with the install.

Are you using retail install disks or it it usually TDM or some gray model specific disk?

Waaaay back I had a Tiger install on my old TiBook. When I got my first 17" PB I cloned the HD from the TiBook to the AlBook. What I did not realize at the time was that I was missing certain components that the AlBook had as features because they weren't present on my TiBook.

When I went to install Leopard the first time I had retail disks and all of a sudden my 17" PowerBook's backlit keyboard starts working, the ambient light sensors start working, etc.

Just a thought here. There has to be some common denominator with your situation as this isn't the common experience (T4Fx) with other users. I'm not saying that everyone else is experiencing blazing speeds and you aren't. Just that slow is relative.

I should also mention that the optimizations I so frequently refer to are not designed to give T4Fx the speed of Safari or Stainless or any other fast browser. T4Fx doesn't work that way. It's impossible to push this midsize sedan into NASCAR territory. Not ever going to happen. But the optimization is designed to load pages as fast as possible, display them as fast as possible and then drop the CPU thrashing as soon as possible. A lot of the slowness encountered is because the CPU is pegged at 90-100% processing pages. That's always been my focus. Because that's when fans kick in and things really slow down.

 

[AmazingHenry]

If you are seeing the same results on every machine you install it on then that would suggest to me that there may be an issue with your install.

@Dronecatcher was put off by Leopard when he first started posting here because he had a botched install. Once he reinstalled properly things worked much smoother for him. I am not suggesting that you install Leopard, far from it. Use what works for you and I know your preference is Tiger. That's fine. I'm just thinking maybe it's something with the install.

Are you using retail install disks or it it usually TDM or some gray model specific disk?

Waaaay back I had a Tiger install on my old TiBook. When I got my first 17" PB I cloned the HD from the TiBook to the AlBook. What I did not realize at the time was that I was missing certain components that the AlBook had as features because they weren't present on my TiBook.

When I went to install Leopard the first time I had retail disks and all of a sudden my 17" PowerBook's backlit keyboard starts working, the ambient light sensors start working, etc.

Just a thought here. There has to be some common denominator with your situation as this isn't the common experience (T4Fx) with other users. I'm not saying that everyone else is experiencing blazing speeds and you aren't. Just that slow is relative.

I should also mention that the optimizations I so frequently refer to are not designed to give T4Fx the speed of Safari or Stainless or any other fast browser. T4Fx doesn't work that way. It's impossible to push this midsize sedan into NASCAR territory. Not ever going to happen. But the optimization is designed to load pages as fast as possible, display them as fast as possible and then drop the CPU thrashing as soon as possible. A lot of the slowness encountered is because the CPU is pegged at 90-100% processing pages. That's always been my focus. Because that's when fans kick in and things really slow down.

At the moment I'm trying to switch to OS X Tiger, but before today I was running Leopard on all of my Leopard-capable Macs. For Tiger, I use iBook G4 install discs. I install Tiger on computers by putting them in target disk mode, and then installing Tiger from the iBook. It works great. For Leopard, I have a retail disc, not a gray one.
Now, this thread is getting off-topic, so let's wrap this up and get back to the topic!

 

[gavinstubbs09]

Yes, iMessage lol

 

[eyoungren]

Yes, iMessage lol

LOL!

Jailbreak iPhone, install RemoteMessages.

Create FoxBox or Fluid app using IP address/port of RemoteMessages.

Done!

 

[iModFrenzy]

LOL!

Jailbreak iPhone, install RemoteMessages.

Create FoxBox or Fluid app using IP address/port of RemoteMessages.

Done!

All this time, I could have done that with my jailbreak. Too late now being I am on 10.1 beta 2

Moving back on topic, I decided to give T4F another go. Many people said T4F 45 was faster than compared to 38. It seems a bit faster, also combined with the uMatrix addon its smooth and usable. I also have Adblock installed as well.

My only wish is MacRumors wasn't so slow, while typing this post, every letter is delayed by a second or two.

 

[tevion5]

Even on my fastest PPC Macs, I must admit that I seriously struggle to get 60FPS in Overwatch.

In all seriousness however, my Quad and Quicksilver are rather comfortable performing all basic tasks like work processing, image editing, web browsing and light gaming. The G5 even handles modern audio production without a hitch.

 

[MacCubed]

LOL!

Jailbreak iPhone, install RemoteMessages.

Create FoxBox or Fluid app using IP address/port of RemoteMessages.

Done!

Ha, I did that with my iPhone 5 a while back, I sent a few messages to the then iMessage chat saying "Test from the DLSD!" @LightBulbFun was a bit confused!

 

[flyrod]

My only wish is MacRumors wasn't so slow, while typing this post, every letter is delayed by a second or two.

This should not be happening. I'm on a powerbook and macrumors works fine for me in TFF. You could open activity monitor and see if you have something else running that's sucking memory/cpu?

 

[eyoungren]

All this time, I could have done that with my jailbreak. Too late now being I am on 10.1 beta 2

Moving back on topic, I decided to give T4F another go. Many people said T4F 45 was faster than compared to 38. It seems a bit faster, also combined with the uMatrix addon its smooth and usable. I also have Adblock installed as well.

My only wish is MacRumors wasn't so slow, while typing this post, every letter is delayed by a second or two.

Two things.

1. Use BluHell Firewall instead of AdBlock (or AdBlock Plus). Both AdBlock and AdBlock Plus have a memory leak that has not been fixed. BHF does the same thing as those two and you don't have to configure anything. There's only one site I've never seen it work on and that was Facebook.

2. For MacRumors, I would bet you have the Rich Text Editor on. If you can see a small bar in the Quick Reply box that has buttons for "Bold", "Italic", etc then you have the RTF editor on. The problem wih it being on is that it's Javascript that runs in the background constantly. That causes T4Fx to constant process that JS which pegs the CPU and causes the slowness you describe. Turn off the RTF editor. It means learning to apply bolding and italics and other formattin using tags, but that's better than the constant slowdown.

Neither of the two issues above are T4Fx's fault.

Hope that helps!

 

[MacCubed]

My only wish is MacRumors wasn't so slow, while typing this post, every letter is delayed by a second or two.

Make sure you have the Rich Text Editor turned off, click on you username in the top right corner, and then click preferences, and then untick "Use Rich Text editor" or something like that

 

[eyoungren]

This should not be happening. I'm on a powerbook and macrumors works fine for me in TFF. You could open activity monitor and see if you have something else running that's sucking memory/cpu?

It's the Rich Text Editor. Needs to be turn off as the Javascript is constantly being processed in the background by the browser.

 

[MacCubed]

Two things.

1. Use BluHell Firewall instead of AdBlock (or AdBlock Plus). Both AdBlock and AdBlock Plus have a memory leak that has not been fixed. BHF does the same thing as those two and you don't have to configure anything. There's only one site I've never seen it work on and that was Facebook.

2. For MacRumors, I would bet you have the Rich Text Editor on. If you can see a small bar in the Quick Reply box that has buttons for "Bold", "Italic", etc then you have the RTF editor on. The problem wih it being on is that it's Javascript that runs in the background constantly. That causes T4Fx to constant process that JS which pegs the CPU and causes the slowness you describe. Turn off the RTF editor. It means learning to apply bolding and italics and other formattin using tags, but that's better than the constant slowdown.

Neither of the two issues above are T4Fx's fault.

Hope that helps!

Quick thing, would a modded HOSTS file work better than AdBlock or BluHell?

 

[eyoungren]

Quick thing, would a modded HOSTS file work better than AdBlock or BluHell?

You could do that. Just redirect them to 127.0.0.1

You'd have to know which sites to add by URL and add them in by hand though. Which would require some way to determine what's being loaded from a site from where.

 

[MacCubed]

You could do that. Just redirect them to 127.0.0.1

You'd have to know which sites to add by URL and add them in by hand though. Which would require some way to determine what's being loaded from a site from where.

There is a few HOSTS files that work on the internet, in fact, I am using one right now on my MBP. I have the same one on my iPhone and iPad and it works great.