Best of Apps for PPC

[MrPilot]

Reviving an old thread:

I would like to start out by saying that there's been some changes, mostly for the better, as to which apps to run on your powerpc.

Personally I'd like to get rid of the following:

* Perian (Explanation given on request)
* ALL BROWSERS but WebKit for leopard. r144371 current.
* MacTubes & YouView (Explanation given on request)

... And would like to add to the MUST have list:

* Webkit with clicktoflash extension
* XBMC with NAVI-X & YOUTUBE addons (watch millions of things online, among them project free tv)

 

[eyoungren]

Personally I'd like to get rid of the following:
* ALL BROWSERS but WebKit for leopard. r144371 current.

You can have my copy of Aurorafox and TenFourFox when my last Mac dies. Take it away now and I go to PC.

Some of us out there have a serious hate for Webkit (me).

 

[MrPilot]

You can have my copy of Aurorafox and TenFourFox when my last Mac dies. Take it away now and I go to PC.

Some of us out there have a serious hate for Webkit (me).

Oh really? Care to elaborate? Maybe I missed something with TFF and AF.

 

[eyoungren]

Oh really? Care to elaborate? Maybe I missed something with TFF and AF.

I will admit that Webkit is fast - when it works. And it's never really worked for me, but particularly Safari which is the one browser I hate the most.

Sunrise, Stainless, Demeter, Radon, Omniweb, Shira, Fluid, et al. Good browsers, but none of them have the functionality/expandability I am looking for.

Safari doesn't even have Speed Dial, while Opera was doing that years ago. Yes, Safari has Top Sites, but I don't want Safari picking things for me. I want Speed Dial and I don't want to have to set a speed dial home page that's on the web and not the browser to get it.

Yeah, Safari has addons now, but none of them (IMO) approach the state of plugins that I have with AF/T4Fx. In addition, I can apply a theme in AF/T4Fx. There are no themes for Webkit.

Userstyles? Stylish with AF/T4Fx. You have to use userscript with Webkit and it loads AFTER the page has already loaded.

AdBlockPlus, All In One Sidebar, Fast Dial, Visual Bookmarks, on and on. AF/T4Fx because it's Mozilla based has it all over wekbit in my opinion. I have no ads and a personalized experience on Facebook because of this.

Lastly, my main issue(s) with Safari. I can always count on it to load Google (my home page) slowly, get to a certain percentage of page loading and then hang and never complete. It consistently tells you the number of page items loaded and then changes it's mind and loads more. Then hangs on loading the item before the final one.

Don't get me started on Google images and Safari! Yes, I know some of this can be resolved with fixing caches and resetting and some other stuff. All of which I might do if Safari was even close to what AF/T4Fx can do with plugins. But it's not. So, I don't use it unless I have to.

So, there you go. All of this, just my personal opinion. Webkit and Safari work great for others and more power to them. It's just never worked for me.

 

[MrPilot]

I will admit that Webkit is fast - when it works. And it's never really worked for me, but particularly Safari which is the one browser I hate the most.

Sunrise, Stainless, Demeter, Radon, Omniweb, Shira, Fluid, et al. Good browsers, but none of them have the functionality/expandability I am looking for.

Safari doesn't even have Speed Dial, while Opera was doing that years ago. Yes, Safari has Top Sites, but I don't want Safari picking things for me. I want Speed Dial and I don't want to have to set a speed dial home page that's on the web and not the browser to get it.

Yeah, Safari has addons now, but none of them (IMO) approach the state of plugins that I have with AF/T4Fx. In addition, I can apply a theme in AF/T4Fx. There are no themes for Webkit.

Userstyles? Stylish with AF/T4Fx. You have to use userscript with Webkit and it loads AFTER the page has already loaded.

AdBlockPlus, All In One Sidebar, Fast Dial, Visual Bookmarks, on and on. AF/T4Fx because it's Mozilla based has it all over wekbit in my opinion. I have no ads and a personalized experience on Facebook because of this.

Lastly, my main issue(s) with Safari. I can always count on it to load Google (my home page) slowly, get to a certain percentage of page loading and then hang and never complete. It consistently tells you the number of page items loaded and then changes it's mind and loads more. Then hangs on loading the item before the final one.

Don't get me started on Google images and Safari! Yes, I know some of this can be resolved with fixing caches and resetting and some other stuff. All of which I might do if Safari was even close to what AF/T4Fx can do with plugins. But it's not. So, I don't use it unless I have to.

So, there you go. All of this, just my personal opinion. Webkit and Safari work great for others and more power to them. It's just never worked for me.

I had no idea about speed dial, sounds like a good tool!

I don't use it, however I do speed dials by pressing CMD+1-9 for the 9 most visited sites, or top sites as you rightfully called them.

There is also a site called safaridial or something like that... it allows for custom thumbnails for each dial. You can login secure with facebook, that way you use it on any computer.

All In One Sidebar seems like a great solution, but somehow I've evaded being flooded with windows.

Regarding the other browsers, I agree that all of them have shortcomings that unfortunately renders them unnecessary.

I like the Webkit theme, but I understand people wanted to customize their browsers, so that is something that will be missing in webkit.

You said that there are no safari extensions that can compete with the firefox ones... I beg to differ... among others you have youtube and facebook cleaner, clicktoflash is VERY handy for stagevu, videobull, youtube etc. and also the translate button. (though the last one might exist for FF also)

I seems to me that you don't care much for html5 placeholding for videos on the web. Also it seems as you dont mind the slower flash performance either.

I've been lucky that I havent had any issues with webkit so far, I've been able to do anything with

Anyway, I was curious as to how people used their browsers Care to take a screenshot of your themed browser?

 

[eyoungren]

I had no idea about speed dial, sounds like a good tool!

I don't use it, however I do speed dials by pressing CMD+1-9 for the 9 most visited sites, or top sites as you rightfully called them.

There is also a site called safaridial or something like that... it allows for custom thumbnails for each dial. You can login secure with facebook, that way you use it on any computer.

Yeah, I'm aware of Safari's top site dials. That works, but again, Safari decides what a top site is.

Fast Dial allows you to set any key combination you want for a speed dial shortcut. I have my main group which is CMD+1 through 0, a secondary group, CMD+OPTN+1 through 0 and so on. I can make as many groups as I'd like and Fast Dial has a "home page" where you can set thumbnails for each dial. You can include folders for the different groups inside there too.

All In One Sidebar seems like a great solution, but somehow I've evaded being flooded with windows.

AIOS allows me to keep a vertical strip of most used buttons as well as display stuff like addons and page info in a sidebar.. I'm also using a tab manager that allows me to place my tab bar on the bottom of the screen and another plug in that iconizes the tab so all I see is one small icon per tab. Makes the tabs short, which I prefer.

Regarding the other browsers, I agree that all of them have shortcomings that unfortunately renders them unnecessary.

I like the Webkit theme, but I understand people wanted to customize their browsers, so that is something that will be missing in webkit.

You said that there are no safari extensions that can compete with the firefox ones... I beg to differ... among others you have youtube and facebook cleaner, clicktoflash is VERY handy for stagevu, videobull, youtube etc. and also the translate button. (though the last one might exist for FF also)

I seems to me that you don't care much for html5 placeholding for videos on the web. Also it seems as you dont mind the slower flash performance either.

I've been lucky that I havent had any issues with webkit so far, I've been able to do anything with

Anyway, I was curious as to how people used their browsers Care to take a screenshot of your themed browser?

Well, it was just my opinion. Like I said, it works for others and what works for me is good for me.

I will post up some screenshots of my browser later tonight. I'm at work right now. I use Stylish a lot so Google, Facebook and some other sites are styled.

BTW, I have NoScript which I use as FlashBlock. I usually load up Camino if I want to view a Flash file. I've made speed concessions to get what I want in T4Fx/AF and Flash was one of those.

 

[eyoungren]

OK. Screenshots.

First off, I am using on my 1Ghz 17" PowerBook a modified dark UI. Secondly, I use T4FX/AF at full screen with only the bookmark and tab bar visible (and the AIOS bar on the right side). If it's not covered by fast dial, a simple CMD+L will bring up my address/searchbar. I also have a searchbar in the tab bar for searching whenever. CMD+Space is home (blekko.com) and SHIFT+space is Google. The theme is FT Deep Dark. I'm using the Linux version (you can force an install).

Google>Stylish with the FT Deep Dark Google theme, modified by me.
Facebook>Stylish with the Blacked Out - (Rounded Corners) NO ADS theme, modified by me.
Blekko>Stylish with the Muted Blekko theme, made black and modified by me.
Fast Dial showing my first group of dials.
Visual Bookmarks.

On Google, Blekko and Facebook I also use the ABP Element hider to eliminate any element on the page I don't care to see.

The woman in all the styles is of course Audrey Meadows, AKA Alica Kramdem. I'm a Honeymooners fan.

 

[MisterKeeks]

Reviving an old thread:

I would like to start out by saying that there's been some changes, mostly for the better, as to which apps to run on your powerpc.

Personally I'd like to get rid of the following:

* Perian (Explanation given on request)
* ALL BROWSERS but WebKit for leopard. r144371 current.
* MacTubes & YouView (Explanation given on request)

... And would like to add to the MUST have list:

* Webkit with clicktoflash extension
* XBMC with NAVI-X & YOUTUBE addons (watch millions of things online, among them project free tv)

Why no browsers/Mactubes?

 

[eyoungren]

Oh yeah…here's my Facebook wall.

 

[rjcalifornia]

I use several web browsers, but by far Aurorafox is the best for me. I use safari because it kinda behaves like IE9 and I need it when I build web apps and give cross browsers compatibility

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

* Perian (Explanation given on request)

Discontinued but as had anything that it plays that you don't need VLC for. Works fine on Tiger/Leopard PPC.

* ALL BROWSERS but WebKit for leopard. r144371 current.

TenFourFox 20 is currently the most up to date browser on PPC, the latest Webkit builds aren't even running on 10.6.

* MacTubes & YouView (Explanation given on request)

Requested. Mactubes 3.1.6 works 95% of the time for me, perfectly, the issue only ever comes up with flash-only stuff (I uninstalled Flash.)

----------

Oh really? Care to elaborate? Maybe I missed something with TFF and AF.

Seems that way

 

[MrPilot]

@eyoungren :

Thanks for your post, I can clearly see why you would go with that configuration, as it's quite customized! Of course we all have our preferences, and black isn't my fav.... however I must confess your FB page looks slim, and quite stylish indeed! Thanks for those screenshots!

----------

Why no browsers/Mactubes?

Well, for me having a single browser that can do all is important to me. I like it when things just work. I have that setup on my MBP and also on this PBG4.

Webkits extensions allows me to use clicktoflash so that a lot of the webpages have the place holder change from flash to html5. Big boost in performance!

To answer the second Q; I have to say that I prefer the way youtube handles the site. I mean I have monetized it and therefor I must use the real thing.
Mactube can download youtube videos, but that's something you can also do with clicktoflash. Works perfect for me. Therefor I dont see the reason to have to use yet another app.

Now things might change if nobody hacks flash further to 11.7 and onwards.
Btw, best youtube performance is from within XBMC. Youtube HD, check!

----------

Discontinued but as had anything that it plays that you don't need VLC for. Works fine on Tiger/Leopard PPC.


TenFourFox 20 is currently the most up to date browser on PPC, the latest Webkit builds aren't even running on 10.6.


Requested. Mactubes 3.1.6 works 95% of the time for me, perfectly, the issue only ever comes up with flash-only stuff (I uninstalled Flash.)

----------


Seems that way

1. Perian has been a pain for me... very poor performance on HD stuff.

2. Is TFF 20 a fast and sleek browser for html5 and flash videos online? JAva? etc?
I know very little about it, I had a version and deleted it because of sluggish performance. Mind I'm running a powerbook 15" DLHR- 1.67Mhz
Are there any advantages by running TFF20 that I might not be aware of?

3. Mactubes is an app that is replaced by me using clicktoflash. It allows for download, html5 conversion, and most of all... works outside of youtube's domain.

cheers!

 

[ihuman:D]

Does anyone have any games? I usually play TS1 on my iMac G4 and SC4 on my Powerbook G4.

 

[MrPilot]

Does anyone have any games? I usually play TS1 on my iMac G4 and SC4 on my Powerbook G4.

I have battlefield 1942 that I sometimes use online

Age of Empires 3 with expansion and gameranger for online play

Warcraft 3 I believe it is... has a 3D engine and nice graphics.

I love the old XCOM UFO enemy unknown... it works well with DOSBOX

If you can run OS9 I suppose "the summoner" is quite good RPG. I actually made my own wineskin version of that awesome game for intel mac (OSX)

btw, what is TS1 ?

 

[ihuman:D]

I have battlefield 1942 that I sometimes use online

Age of Empires 3 with expansion and gameranger for online play

Warcraft 3 I believe it is... has a 3D engine and nice graphics.

I love the old XCOM UFO enemy unknown... it works well with DOSBOX

If you can run OS9 I suppose "the summoner" is quite good RPG. I actually made my own wineskin version of that awesome game for intel mac (OSX)

btw, what is TS1 ?

TS1: The Sims 1
SC4: SimCity 4

Age of Empires looks good. I've been meaning to get Civilisation as well.

 

[MrPilot]

TS1: The Sims 1
SC4: SimCity 4

Age of Empires looks good. I've been meaning to get Civilisation as well.

In fact age of empires 3 was the only game i was playing on my MBP before buying this powerbook.

It's fun for years

 

[eyoungren]

2. Is TFF 20 a fast and sleek browser for html5 and flash videos online? JAva? etc?
I know very little about it, I had a version and deleted it because of sluggish performance. Mind I'm running a powerbook 15" DLHR- 1.67Mhz
Are there any advantages by running TFF20 that I might not be aware of?

Technically, the latest is now T4Fx 21. The stable version is 17. I'm waiting now for Aurorafox 21. They seem to be stuck on 20 so for now I am using T4Fx 21.

Anyway, plugins are disabled in T4Fx and that would include Flash. You can turn it on though. It's a simple edit change in about:config. T4Fx and AF have the advantage of routine and regular security updates. They are the only browsers that are maintained. Except perhaps for Radon, but Radon does not undergo regular updates.

One of the advantages to T4Fx is customization. As you noted with my screenshots, it's highly personalized for me. But you can also edit settings that enhance performance. I have a series of settings that improved performance for me on a 1Ghz 17" PowerBook with a failed external cache. Because of that cache my PB is not as fast as it should be but the tweaking I have done in the config file has enabled me to get good performance while still having all the plugins I use.

Modifying things this was isn't something you can do with Webkit.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

1. Perian has been a pain for me... very poor performance on HD stuff.

Perian/Quicktime... that's why you use VLC for that. I dunno, maybe Perian *is* vestigial now.

2. Is TFF 20 a fast and sleek browser for html5 and flash videos online? JAva? etc?

No PPC Mac short or maybe a quad G5 will run Flash, which had been discontined for PPC since version 10, "smooth" beyond about 480p resolution. Mactubes is a piece of software which works well for youtube, though the site itself will serve up HTML5 video and I've played that from youtube perfectly using Mactubes.

 

[MisterKeeks]

Perian/Quicktime... that's why you use VLC for that. I dunno, maybe Perian *is* vestigial now.
No PPC Mac short or maybe a quad G5 will run Flash, which had been discontined for PPC since version 10, "smooth" beyond about 480p resolution. Mactubes is a piece of software which works well for youtube, though the site itself will serve up HTML5 video and I've played that from youtube perfectly using Mactubes.

I just tried 720p Youtube on my Dual 2.7- it hurt, but it worked smoothly.

 

[Chedier]

MrPilot i REALLY need your help to play online BF1942

I have battlefield 1942 that I sometimes use online

Age of Empires 3 with expansion and gameranger for online play

Warcraft 3 I believe it is... has a 3D engine and nice graphics.

I love the old XCOM UFO enemy unknown... it works well with DOSBOX

If you can run OS9 I suppose "the summoner" is quite good RPG. I actually made my own wineskin version of that awesome game for intel mac (OSX)

btw, what is TS1 ?

Hi MRPILOT, so... i really need your help man.

I have the same powerbook g4 15'' and i still running Battlefield 1942 w/ 1.61d patch of 2004. Can you explain me, pleaaase man, i just want to know what can i do to play online the BF in 2013? Because the server list is empty for me all the time running this 1.61d old patch.

Please man, i really need your help hahaha

My email: joaopaulochedier@gmail.com

Thank you!!!

 

[roadbloc]

TenFourFox
Office 2004 (with the XML converter)
Perian
iTunes 9


...that's about all I use on my PPC macs.

 

[MrPilot]

Hi MRPILOT, so... i really need your help man.

I have the same powerbook g4 15'' and i still running Battlefield 1942 w/ 1.61d patch of 2004. Can you explain me, pleaaase man, i just want to know what can i do to play online the BF in 2013? Because the server list is empty for me all the time running this 1.61d old patch.

Please man, i really need your help hahaha

My email: joaopaulochedier@gmail.com

Thank you!!!

I haven't tried playing bf1942 since 6 months When did this error occur?

 

[wobegong]

All the apps on my PM G5...

Adobe AcrobatPro 9
Adobe CS4
Amnesia (Surprisingly up to date game!)
Aperture 2
Battlefield 1942
Bevy (App launcher)
Capture Me (Screen Capture)
Carbon Copy Cloner
Civilisation IV
CleanMyMac
Doom3
Dropbox
Evernote
Fluid
iLife 09
Google Earth
Halo
Handbrake
iStat Menus
Jumpcut
Knights of the Old Republic
MacTubes
MS Office 2008
Quake 4
Skype
SMART Reporter
Split & Concat
Spotify
TenFourBird
TenFourFox
Times
Toast 10 Titanium
Transmission
Turbo.264
Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament 2004
VLC
Webkit
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Yahoo Messenger
Yahoo Widgets

Fruux I use to sync all my contacts/calendars between this mac (use a Thunderbord/TenFourBird plugins SoGo and Lightning to talk to Fruux) and my phones/laptops/work PC

TimeMachine for backups to an external USB drive

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

An optimised TenFourFox is a must

iWork '09 is still PPC native, not sure about the status of OpenOffice and Co. though.

Bean word processor is actually very capable, and still Universal Binary.

iLife '09 >

Messenger 7.0.4 (In my opinion better than the new 8, looks atrocious)

aMSN as an alternative, very good.

Surprisingly Google Earth is Universal Binary too

For games, my personal favourites, Return to Castle Wolfenstien, Battlefield 1942 and Command & Conquer Generals

Generally, one to two versions behind the most up to date propriety software (i.e Office, Final Cut Studio, iLife, Logic Pro) are PowerPC native or Universal Binary.

Though software is rapidly drying up

I used to love playing Assault Cube on my PowerPC Macs, but now the stupid developers did an update that changed like 5 little details--ending the support for PowerPC. It was the best game for old Macs that many other people played.

----------

Just to add to the first list someone made, YouView is a great application. I haven't used MacTubes, but I hear that's a good one too. YouView is a fast, stand-alone application that lets you browse for and watch YouTube videos without the need of Flash. You were once able to even log into your account and comment on videos, but that all changed when Google screwed up YouTube with Google Minus.

 

[weckart]

Has anyone tried Roccat browser? I came across it today and despite the social networking integration (ugh!) it seemed quite nippy and better at adblocking than the usual add-ons manage on TFF or Safari/WK.

That is, until I tried to open an link in another tab. I gave me the spinning wheel of doom in the tab. Eventually, you can kill the tab and carry on browsing as if nothing had happened until you try to open a link in another tab. Opening links in a new window works but takes a little while.

Interesting to find a UB browser still being developed with an iOS counterpart.