Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Dronecatcher

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 17, 2014
5,290
7,948
Lincolnshire, UK
If so can you try installing mps-youtube to find out if it works?
I don't have a spare Mac to install Lubuntu on but I tried a live disk with my 12" Powerbook - mps-youtube installed, opened but throws up errors as soon as it searches.

Be interested to know how efficient this command line player is.
 
It indeed does not work. Probably due to being outdated (2016). I just installed 16.04, and installed the updates, etc. While the updated kernel is new (oct 2018), some packages are still quite old. Best bet would be to install the development packages and recompile things you want that are old.

Cheers.

EDIT: Oh, and XaPHER's build of Arctic Fox works perfectly on here as well. :)
 
It indeed does not work. Probably due to being outdated (2016). I just installed 16.04, and installed the updates, etc. While the updated kernel is new (oct 2018), some packages are still quite old. Best bet would be to install the development packages and recompile things you want that are old.

Cheers.

EDIT: Oh, and XaPHER's build of Arctic Fox works perfectly on here as well. :)

Thanks for letting me know. That's a shame - would've been interesting to try out.
 
Eventually i'll get around to rebuilding some things. When that happens i'll give mps-youtube a go.

Here's a screen of my fresh install on my mac mini g4. :)

Cheers
minig4-lubuntu.png
 
I'd love to install Lubunto (or other Linux distro) with ease onto a G4 mini- or other G4, the key word being ease. Wonder whether that may ever be possible? I'm ready to get my hands a little soiled, but struggling through pages of terminal commands would frighten me to hell.
I live in hope. Wicknix and others, keep up the great work!
 
  • Like
Reactions: wicknix
I would love to install it on my PowerMac G4/G5 too, but I always have problems with the GPU. PowerMac G5 has Geforce 6600, my PowerMac G4 has Geforce 4 MX.
 
Web browsing. That's the number 1 reason. Midori and arctic fox make browsing on this old machine almost enjoyable. Newer software, even if some is dated (2015/2016) is still more current than what tiger or leopard has. The ability to rebuild outdated software to make it current is also another benefit. Smaller size of applications vs .app saves LOADS of space. Those are my reasons. :)

Cheers
 
Web browsing. That's the number 1 reason. Midori and arctic fox make browsing on this old machine almost enjoyable. Newer software, even if some is dated (2015/2016) is still more current than what tiger or leopard has. The ability to rebuild outdated software to make it current is also another benefit. Smaller size of applications vs .app saves LOADS of space. Those are my reasons. :)

Cheers

Is it also possible to run a newer version of VLC and play YouTube videos in VLC? That's something that can't be done in OS X.
 
Web browsing. That's the number 1 reason. Midori and arctic fox make browsing on this old machine almost enjoyable.

Does that mean they are processing javascript faster then?
[doublepost=1540820995][/doublepost]
Is it also possible to run a newer version of VLC and play YouTube videos in VLC? That's something that can't be done in OS X.

But you don't need to - there's so many ways to play Youtube in OSX now :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: G4fanboy
I can view YouTube fine via arctic fox in 360p, and I'm rebuilding mplayer and smtube for a second option.

I doubt JavaScript is processed faster than say TFF because they optimized it, but with that said, they feel faster imo.

There also wasn't any command line voodoo to get this installed and running. Lubuntu has a graphical installer. Other than using apt to install the Wi-Fi drivers and setting one command in yaboot everything else can be done using a gui app.

Cheers
 
There also wasn't any command line voodoo to get this installed and running. Lubuntu has a graphical installer. Other than using apt to install the Wi-Fi drivers and setting one command in yaboot everything else can be done using a gui app

Yes, Lubuntu is probably the easiest distro to install for PPC. I put 18.04 on an AMD64 3200+ at the weekend - really flies on it :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: wicknix
I find that Openbox is probably the fastest graphical WM for PPC linux, but that takes some elbow grease to get up and running. If I could wrap my head around (and had time for) putting together a small distro to make it easy for others to install, I would jump on it. Other than having to set radeon.agpmode to -1, the video acceleration issues have all been eradicated with the radeon and nvidia firmware in the Ports distro of sid. Unfortunately, G5 support in sid is still VERY spotty.

Coreplayer is the secret sauce for OS X and video consumption on PowerPC these days. The huge advantage that it has over linux is >360p video on G4, at the very least. Mplayer and 480p webm video works great as well, while the downloads of such videos error out on me using youtube-dl under linux. I haven't yet tested 480p webm on linux (by moving such videos over), but my machines are packed away for my impending move back home (which is any day now).

As @wicknix stated, browsing on a fast WM in PPC linux is a real joy. Midori is great for everything but videos (and secure browsing, as it's 3 years out of date. Videos have a blue hue issue), and Arctic Fox takes up the slack nicely with a mild performance hit on heavy pages. Once those pages load though, AF rocks.

I'm also running sid on my black Macbook 4,1, and it just smokes. Definitely worth a look on older Macbooks.
[doublepost=1540828350][/doublepost]
Had some time to spend with this g4 mini today, and got it set up the way i want (minus rebuilding a few things, like smtube). I hate to admit it, but OS X will not be put back on this machine. ;)

Cheers.

View attachment 799123

I put OS 9 on mine using an image from macos9lives.com. Works great, especially with MacMAME and other emulators :)
[doublepost=1540828661][/doublepost]
I'd love to install Lubunto (or other Linux distro) with ease onto a G4 mini- or other G4, the key word being ease. Wonder whether that may ever be possible? I'm ready to get my hands a little soiled, but struggling through pages of terminal commands would frighten me to hell.
I live in hope. Wicknix and others, keep up the great work!

The majority of commands that you would have to use to install linux without a graphical install would involve apt (or apt-get, or aptitude, if you prefer those). It's more of a need to know WHAT you have to/WHAT you want to install. My sid HOW-TO thread is a simple guide on how to do so, but is for those who don't mind getting their hands a little dirty. I am also available to help in any way that I can :)
[doublepost=1540828802][/doublepost]
I would love to install it on my PowerMac G4/G5 too, but I always have problems with the GPU. PowerMac G5 has Geforce 6600, my PowerMac G4 has Geforce 4 MX.

Debian Ports sid has taken care of the GPU issues with the newest firmware. Most cards will have no issue, and have full acceleration out of the box. Really OLD cards (like the Rage 128) aren't really supported anymore, though. Ubuntu Mate 16.04 on my dual core 2.0 G5 runs great, and that has a Geforce 6600, so they've done some work with Nvidia cards as well.
 
Last edited:
I find that Openbox is probably the fastest graphical WM for PPC linux, but that takes some elbow grease to get up and running. If I could wrap my head around (and had time for) putting together a small distro to make it easy for others to install, I would jump on it. Other than having to set radeon.agpmode to -1, the video acceleration issues have all been eradicated with the radeon and nvidia firmware in the Ports distro of sid. Unfortunately, G5 support in sid is still VERY spotty.

Coreplayer is the secret sauce for OS X and video consumption on PowerPC these days. The huge advantage that it has over linux is >360p video on G4, at the very least. Mplayer and 480p webm video works great as well, while the downloads of such videos error out on me using youtube-dl under linux. I haven't yet tested 480p webm on linux (by moving such videos over), but my machines are packed away for my impending move back home (which is any day now).

As @wicknix stated, browsing on a fast WM in PPC linux is a real joy. Midori is great for everything but videos (and secure browsing, as it's 3 years out of date. Videos have a blue hue issue), and Arctic Fox takes up the slack nicely with a mild performance hit on heavy pages. Once those pages load though, AF rocks.

I'm also running sid on my black Macbook 4,1, and it just smokes. Definitely worth a look on older Macbooks.
[doublepost=1540828350][/doublepost]

I put OS 9 on mine using an image from macos9lives.com. Works great, especially with MacMAME and other emulators :)
[doublepost=1540828661][/doublepost]

The majority of commands that you would have to use to install linux without a graphical install would involve apt (or apt-get, or aptitude, if you prefer those). It's more of a need to know WHAT you have to/WHAT you want to install. My sid HOW-TO thread is a simple guide on how to do so, but is for those who don't mind getting their hands a little dirty. I am also available to help in any way that I can :)
[doublepost=1540828802][/doublepost]

Debian Ports sid has taken care of the GPU issues with the newest firmware. Most cards will have no issue, and have full acceleration out of the box. Really OLD cards (like the Rage 128) aren't really supported anymore, though. Ubuntu Mate 16.04 on my dual core 2.0 G5 runs great, and that has a Geforce 6600, so they've done some work with Nvidia cards as well.

Thanks a lot for this. Going to try this in the weekend. I hope it works on my G5 Quad too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: swamprock
@Dronecatcher : Using this guide i got an updated mps-youtube, and i'm using the mpv player bundled with 16.04. No rebuilding mplayer needed. :)
https://www.ostechnix.com/mps-youtube-commandline-youtube-player-downloader/
(i used the pip3 installer method, and installed youtube_dl via pip3 as well)
360p-480p works the best and doesn't kill the cpu. Average 50-70% cpu. 720p is somewhat doable at 90-100% cpu. 1080p plays, but is not watchable. Video lags badly behind the audio.

Cheers.

mps-youtube-mpv-g4.png
 
Last edited:
Using this guide i got an updated mps-youtube, and i'm using the mpv player bundled with 16.04.
Great work! So installing pip3 is the key? I'll give it a go on the AMD64 installation I did as mps-youtube failed with the same errors on that too. Shame it's chewing up so much CPU - as SMTube typically uses no more than 40% I'd hoped a command line interface would've been lower.
EDIT: I see you've got Midori and another app open, looks like mps is using under 40% :)
 
Last edited:
Working brilliantly on my AMD64 :)

Have you tried "set video_format 3gp" to set what CPU use is? On my PC it less than 10% and 22% when set to 360P mp4.

How easy would it be to cook this for OSX...is that even possible?
 
  • Like
Reactions: wicknix
Yeah I didn't close out other apps I had open. Good catch on seeing it on my conky display.

Hmm, pip3 is python3 based. Might be available via macports?

Cheers
 
I decided to give this a shot, and installation was smooth as butter. I'm assuming you already have Python3 with pip, but I installed it previously from Tigerbrew. I'd assume its also available from macports.
  1. Ensure mplayer is in your $PATH. (Restart your terminal session after adding it if not)
  2. pip3 install mps-youtube
  3. pip3 install youtube-dl (Python 3 didn't automatically pick up my youtube-dl version already in use)
  4. Start mpsyt
  5. set search_music false
  6. set show_video true
  7. set player mplayer
I haven't figured out how to specify options for mplayer yet, but if we do that, this would be a completely viable alternative to SMTube, though I'm not sure how much additional benefit it provides. I'm not sure how much CPU it takes to keep SMTube open in the background, but this would almost certainly be less, and it actually displays the timestamp you're at in the video in real time, which is helpful for me, since I usually watch longer videos, and pausing never works out well per my post in another thread.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.