Hi, I'm new. I have a 450Mhz G4 Cube with 1.5GB of RAM and Tiger. Is there anyway to make it faster on the internet? Like actually usable?
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450Mhz Cube on the Internet?
- Thread starter WirelessFidelity
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Connection:
1) LAN (fastest) 2)Wireless-Ethernet-Adapter 3)Edimax Mini-UBS WLAN stick (slowest/only Panther/Tiger)
Browser/OS:
- Classilla (os9 or Tiger/Classic)
- TenFourFox/TenFourFoxBox (Tiger)
Email:
- Classilla (os9 or Tiger/Classic)
- Mail-Client (native/Tiger)
Use add blocking, manage javascript and/or use a mobile device user agent to present your web browser as a mobile phone.
TenFourFox brings security and compatibilty but is very slow running at 450Mhz - Safari, TenFourKit, Camino and Omniweb are faster but are so out of date they won't render all websites correctly.
Internet sharing from another Mac via Firewire is also viable in OS X and is fastest I/O option available in a stock Cube.
OK. Other than the 6200, what is my best option for upgrading to a GPU with more power?
I’m wondering if using the RAM disk (200MB or more) would help here.
Does the RAM disk improve browsing speed or just browser launch times?
The 5500 256MB is OK. Basically, a die-shrunk 5200 with a 128-bit memory bus. Supports Core Image (just) and just as good in games. Mine wakes from sleep fine, unlike my XFX 6200, both flashed by myself using the strangedogs roms.
Try Camino (7400 G4 build) - it runs quite well on my 550MHz G4 Pismo, so may be OK on your Cube. Unfortunately, a CPU upgrade would be the best thing for your Cube, but they’re getting rare. Either way, for web browsing you’d be better off with something much faster, like a Raspberry Pi.
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WebKit is definitely one of the better PPC browsers - pretty compatible and quite quick. Certainly better than TTF performance-wise, in my experience (though all my machines are G4s, rather than G5s). I doubt a RAM disk would speed up browsing - it needs CPU primarily. WebKit runs well on GHz-level machines with L3 cache.
In the case of these slower Macs, maybe improved launch speed will create a perception of performance improvement. TFF on my Pismo G3 400 feels painfully unusable simply because it takes over a minute to fully launch. So if the RAM disk cuts that down to 15 - 20 seconds, it makes it a more usable choice.
Even the TFF author commented on how the app must load 70MB+ of resources into memory on launch. So maybe running off a RAM disk will make this a non-issue for certain slower Macs.
Even the TFF author commented on how the app must load 70MB+ of resources into memory on launch. So maybe running off a RAM disk will make this a non-issue for certain slower Macs.
mode11, I found that in https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/video-boost-for-g4-cube.1863640/ they found that a utility called NMS fixed the sleeping issues.
Using it solely as a cache disk it improves page load speeds because essentially images and such are already in ram.
So, yeah it does simply because the processor can process the data faster.
There is an option with Esperance to move Safari's cache to the ram disk, but I don't know if that would affect other WK browsers or not.
But I do have a 100mb ram disk on my 17" PB for TenFourFox's cache.
The best result would be as I am doing now, which is placing the application, the cache and the profile on the ram disk. But you need more ram than a G4 can provide for that - unless you're willing to sacrifice half your ram on a 2GB capable Mac.
Not looking for credit, just verifying the usefulness of NMS in case you're thinking of trying it.
Hi jbarley, the NMS utility you linked to sounds very interesting. Before I take my Cube apart and put the 6200 back in (FX5500 currently), could you answer a few questions?
My issue was that everything worked great, but when the Mac went to sleep on it's own accord or by choosing Sleep from the Apple menu, it would not wake up. The base and GPU fans span up and there appeared to be life (internal LEDs lit), but the screen was black. I tried remoting in and got no joy there either. Does this sound exactly like the problem with sleep you were having, or were you dealing with a different issue (e.g. the Cube wouldn't go to sleep)?
Were you running an XFX 6200? If so, did you flash the ROM yourself, or buy pre-modded? If you flashed it yourself, were you using the 'generic' ROM on the Strangedogs forum?
The NMS utility appears to be used for forcing a Mac to go to sleep that would otherwise stay awake (somewhat the reverse of my problem). Have I misunderstood the use of the app? Or is it the case that the app sleeps the Mac more thoroughly than usual, and that this has the side-effect of enabling it to wake up reliably?
Sorry for all the questions; I've been hoping for a solution to the 6200 issue and want to check the fine print before getting my hopes up. Thanks!
How hard is the installation of the 6200 in my Cube? How do I tape pins 3 and 11? Do I need a base fan or a GPU fan?
OK, sure; I expect all this was a while ago anyway, so probably difficult to remember specifics. May I ask if the issue you had though concerned waking up from sleep?
They are not hard to install. You do need to tape pins 3 and 11. I suggest searching with a search engine to locate how to do that. A base fan is strongly recommended.
I am a high school student, I don't have much money, and I see that the AGP model of the 6200 is 30-40 dollars. Me being the cheapskate I am, are there any cheaper options? My two main needs are Quartz Extreme, and dual monitor support.
EDIT: I found this, would it work in my Cube? Is there a difference between it and the XFX model? Can I use the XFX roms on it?
That card may work, but it looks to be too big for a Cube. The 6200 is the best upgrade, but a GeForce 2MX would work as well. They don't natively support dual displays, but you can flash the GeForce 2MX TwinView ROM onto it. Just note that they run very warm and can sometimes overheat in a Cube.