Upcoming PowerPC Challenge? Some new ideas

[Kliee]

Back a couple years, there was those PowerPC challenges organized semiannually.
As I remember, the first of its kind was held from the first to the seventh of January.

As the new year approaches, I was wondering if such a challenge was in preparation.

I also have some ideas, that I wish to submit to the forum.

I'm not a regular poster but a very regular reader and user of PowerPC macs. At the moment, at least 50% of my time on a computer is spent on a PowerPC machine.
And even though such machines are really limited for some basic tasks of today's world, overcoming those limitations would be really easy for a week, so much for the challenge.

Thus I propose 2 things:

1) The organization of the 2019 PowerPC challenge in early January, can be 1 to 7 or any other one week period during January

2) The creation of several categories


For this number 2, my idea is as follow:
For some people, there is nothing uncommon using a PowerPC Mac daily. For others, using one past the few nostalgia minutes once in a while will be a daunting task.
The former should, thus, add to their challenge.

The rest of the rules would be the usual "outside of (paid) work, try to use only a PowerPC machine for a week".

I propose those categories, which can be changed, altered, simplified or discarded if you think that is a bad idea.

- Basic: Just use a PowerPC Mac with Leopard or Tiger
- Medium: Mac OS 9, 10.3 and 10.2 fall here
- Hard mode: 10.1 and 10.0, pre Mac OS 9 OSs
- Expert: X Public Beta
- Expert(foolish)+: X Developer preview build 3 and 4
- Expert(foolish)++: X Developer preview build 1 and 2

Obviously, going back to earlier versions also means going back to earlier machines, with even more limitations.
However, I think that starting the year dealing with an old machine and dodgy software might increase productivity and help us all spend a bit more time away from our keyboards, and close to our loved ones. It will also bring a bit of diversity and variety in everyone's experiences, leading to a wider array of anecdotes, advises and tales on our dear old macs.

Awaiting your comments and suggestions!

 

[bobesch]

Would be great to have a just os9/PPC challenge!
(Naah - I wouldn't be able to use only os9 for a whole week, since I need "other" machines for work. But as a proof of concept to find out, which daily stuff can still be done on os9 ...)
So my vote is for the "Hard mode"

My basics (thanks to the help coming from so many PPC-forum members):
- early OS X to make use of "MS Open XML Converter" for docx/xlsx/pptx-files
- VirtualPC/WinXPFundamentals for RDP-Connections with my WinServer
- VNCthingy for ScreenSharing
- Transmit for FTP
- Goliath for WebDAV
- Classilla for Web and IMAP-email
Would be great to expand the limits of os9!

 

[Kliee]

I was thinking about that as well actually. A Mac OS 9 challenge would be really interesting, if only because most of people in previous challenges seemed to assume "PowerPC + early OS X".

There is so much software available for classic Mac OSs, a challenge would blow the dust on treasures I'm convinced!

I don't know if my hard mode is actually that hard, since 10.0 and 10.1 basically run OS9 programs. Maybe Hard mode should be Mac OS pre-9 and the public Beta

Which would give:

- Basic: Just use a PowerPC Mac with Leopard or Tiger
- Medium: Mac OS 9 and earlier 10s fall here
- Hard mode: pre Mac OS 9 OSs, Max OS X Public Beta
- Expert(foolish): X Developer preview build 3 and 4
- Expert(foolish)+: X Developer preview build 1 and 2

 

[Project Alice]

I would participate, in "Basic". Except for work I have to use the Windows 7 Dells there. At home, I spend a lot of time on a PowerBook G4 and sawtooth G4. I don't have anything with less than Tiger installed and I rarely even boot into that. I also have a fully functional PowerBook G3 and B&W G3 that I suppose are capable of running 8.6, but generally if it runs on 9, it'll run on that too.

 

[Slix]

I like the idea of extra challenge for those that are already adept at using PowerPC Macs for a week or more regularly.

I'd probably dabble in a few harder tiers if we plan a week, and maybe this time actually make a video of my happenings on an older FireWire Camcorder and iSight camera like I wanted to before! Vlog classic iMovie style.

Whatever week in January works fine for me!

 

[Macbookprodude]

Here is a good one.. Try running Windows 10 on it.

 

[Project Alice]

Here is a good one.. Try running Windows 10 on it.

I could if Qemu works well enough. tbh I've thought about seeing if I can get High Sierra to work in qemu on a G5 just to post it to the facebook LEM group lol

 

[nglevin]

It's more in the stupid Mac tricks category than a real PPC challenge, but I'd love to see Mac OS 9 under QEMU on Mac OS X 10.5.

 

[bobesch]

It's more in the stupid Mac tricks category than a real PPC challenge, but I'd love to see Mac OS 9 under QEMU on Mac OS X 10.5.

There ist "SheepShaver" to emulate os9 on Leopard(PPC) or later OSX (intel) and it's not in the stupid Mac tricks category, since there's a bunch of nice software for os9.

 

[nglevin]

I was thinking in the spirit of sick Windows tricks.

QEMU has made some strides past the aging BeOS-based SheepShaver recently, especially in emulating beige G3s and Sawtooth G4s. It's the foundation of ClassicHasClass's Making Your Talos II into a Power Mac series, where he even goes into the different emulation modes of POWER9 and how they have evolved since the PowerPC G4/G5.

Where I call it "stupid" and not "sick" is that it's essentially recreating Classic Mode.

 

[Lastic]

Here is a good one.. Try running Windows 10 on it.

I've tried running Win10 using qemu but it's unusable slow .

But since there is Windows 10 on ARM nowadays , maybe qemu-arm does a faster job at emulating than ppc -> x86.

 

[Macbookprodude]

I could if Qemu works well enough. tbh I've thought about seeing if I can get High Sierra to work in qemu on a G5 just to post it to the facebook LEM group lol

Go for it.. I am sure it will be cool to see Windows 10 on a G5

 

[Amethyst1]

I don't know if my hard mode is actually that hard, since 10.0 and 10.1 basically run OS9 programs.

If you impose a restriction to applications native to 10.0 and 10.1, i.e. no Classic ones, it'll become "appropriately hard". That would basically rule out browsing the web, though.
[doublepost=1546094995][/doublepost]

I've tried running Win10 using qemu but it's unusable slow .

But since there is Windows 10 on ARM nowadays , maybe qemu-arm does a faster job at emulating than ppc -> x86.

I have run the full Windows 10 Pro for ARM in QEMU on a Core i5-4200U (same CPU as in a 2013 MBA). Unusably slow, so I dread to think what it would be like on a PPC host.

 

[Kliee]

Happy to see this thread catching steam!

As for the date, what about the week in between January and February? Which would be from the 28th to 3rd if you start your weeks on Mondays. That leaves one month of preparation and build up!

If you impose a restriction to applications native to 10.0 and 10.1, i.e. no Classic ones, it'll become "appropriately hard". That would basically rule out browsing the web, though.
[doublepost=1546094995][/doublepost]

Well, that's what I was thinking at first but then, isn't it an artificial restriction that would not have been encountered during legit 10.0 and 10.1 days? Especially since those challenges are about what is fully possible to do with a given setup. However the idea is interesting, maybe in a category of its own .

As for browsing the web, I think one just have to be creative. I'd be curious if a modern version of Lynx could be installed on 10.3 and lower for instance.

I also realized that I haven't included other OSs such as MorphOS or Linux. This could be in a completely independent category, what do you think?

As a side question, has anyone tried to make the Kodiak mp3 player works on a 10.0 or higher release?

 

[2984839]

I'll do it, but as usual, I'll be running OpenBSD. I'd suggest a different category for non-OS X participants.

 

[Lastic]

Boredom between Christmas and NewYear led me to look for Windows 10 Lite editions and try to install those.

Booted on a Dual-Core G5 , qemu 2.2.0 , x86_64 , 1300Mb RAM due to not being able to assign more , smp 2 .
Takes 13 minutes to login screen , after a total of 30 minutes desktop is loaded and functional but CPU pegged at 100% .



I'm guessing using

1. more RAM but that needs a better QEMU, those running Linux PPC might be able to do so
2. disable verbose boot which I enabled just to know what was happening watching the circle of dots dancing around
3. using a different emulated CPU
4. further disable unnecessary services eating CPU

Specs for Windows 10 Lite are , 1 GB RAM , minimum 11G diskspace (for the install) and a Pentium ? processor

Anyhow, here is a GZipped TAR of my image, user : uz3r , password : uz3r for those who want it, have a lot of patience and preferably a G5 with enough RAM, an SSD and Linux PPC installed with QEMU > 2.2.0

<EDIT Link was removed>

Happy NewYear upfront everybody, I'll delete this in a week or so since my free DropBox is now full

 

[filmbuff]

I travel for work, 4-5 days at a time. I normally take a 13” MBP with me, but I’m thinking if trying a trip with only my G4 iBook. The size of it would actually fit perfectly in my bag which is why I’m considering it.

It almost feels like cheating though since I would still have my phone which I need for work.

 

[Lastic]

Boredom between Christmas and NewYear led me to look for Windows 10 Lite editions and try to install those.

Booted on a Dual-Core G5 , qemu 2.2.0 , x86_64 , 1300Mb RAM due to not being able to assign more , smp 2 .
Takes 13 minutes to login screen , after a total of 30 minutes desktop is loaded and functional but CPU pegged at 100% .

View attachment 813380

I'm guessing using

1. more RAM but that needs a better QEMU, those running Linux PPC might be able to do so
2. disable verbose boot which I enabled just to know what was happening watching the circle of dots dancing around
3. using a different emulated CPU
4. further disable unnecessary services eating CPU

Specs for Windows 10 Lite are , 1 GB RAM , minimum 11G diskspace (for the install) and a Pentium ? processor

Anyhow, here is a GZipped TAR of my image, user : uz3r , password : uz3r for those who want it, have a lot of patience and preferably a G5 with enough RAM, an SSD and Linux PPC installed with QEMU > 2.2.0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b91kprkwxq2zct9/win10v4.tar.gz?dl=0

Happy NewYear upfront everybody, I'll delete this in a week or so since my free DropBox is now full

I will delete the image now, if anybody still needs it , PM me and I'll sent it.

 

[Kliee]

Ok, I'll create a "finalized" PowerPC challenge thread.

I propose the following category:

Basic: Original hardware on 10.4 and 10.5
Advanced: Original hardware on 10.3>= and 9.x
Power: Original hardware, Kodiak or 8.x>=
Crazy: Original hardware Mac OS X Developper Beta (any)

Alternative: Original hardware on non Apple systems (MorphOS, Linux...)

Hello from afar: VM anything

Date: From Sat. Feb. 2 at 12pm (your time) to Sat. Feb. 9 at 11:59 am (your time)