redheeler
macrumors G3
I’ve seen several big figures pop up, become regulars, and then disappear on here. Wow the time has flown!
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Doq
macrumors 6502a
For me it's just because of the architecture. I think Intel is boring and has been since Core 2, especially in the Mac space. Apple got interesting again with Apple Silicon after being boring since the Retina MacBooks Pros.
Non-x86 computing platforms are just so interesting and I wish I could phase out all of my x86 hardware without it costing an arm and a leg and a kidney. Even POWER7 is still multiple hundreds of dollars used, barebones, for an architecture from 2010. God I hope RISC-V succeeds enough to be viable.
If Core 2 was so good why isn't there a Core 3.
wait... (pcworld.com)
I'd like to think so as well, but two years of war and silence.....maybe he volunteered for the front and is there, or maybe he fled the Ukraine. God he annoyed the crap out of me sometimes, but I will be the first one to cheer if he posts about how terrible it is that he can't watch youtube on his ibook G3 in 2023 a browser like he did back in 2008.
I keep watching for Zelenskyy to declare war on Google...then we'd know Macbookprodude made good...
mectojic
macrumors 65816
Times did change fast…
Two things really caused me lose interest in PPC Macs:
1) Realising that Early Intel Macs can do most things better
2) Getting extremely busy with work, and losing all the time I had to tinker 🙁
However, my interest in the design aesthetic still remains, so my PowerPC collection continues to grow. I still use vintage accessories that only have PPC drivers, like my USB 1.1 webcam, so the PPC Macs still get used for those things too.
But the days where I really wanted to daily drive PowerPC are gone. Too much fiddling and setting up compared to the payoff (in my case, more productivity is the end goal).
Two things really caused me lose interest in PPC Macs:
1) Realising that Early Intel Macs can do most things better
2) Getting extremely busy with work, and losing all the time I had to tinker 🙁
However, my interest in the design aesthetic still remains, so my PowerPC collection continues to grow. I still use vintage accessories that only have PPC drivers, like my USB 1.1 webcam, so the PPC Macs still get used for those things too.
But the days where I really wanted to daily drive PowerPC are gone. Too much fiddling and setting up compared to the payoff (in my case, more productivity is the end goal).
swamprock
macrumors 65816
To your first point- Modern Debian Linux on a White/Black Macbook is pure bliss. In my experience, the 2006-2008 machines run far faster than their final supported OS X releases, and you get all of the convenience of a modern OS to boot. The 2006 and early 2007 machines require a little fiddling to install Linux (the installer disc image needs to be modified to simulate a BIOS boot, and you have to use a DVD to do the install), but man, do they smoke, even using XFCE as a WM. They have sticky trackpad issues with libinput, but that's easily fixed by simply installing synaptics and rebooting.
I totally concur with your second point, although I like to boot up my G4 Mini that's stuffed inside a Cube shell and running OS 9.2.2, and do some game programming for my home-built arcade cabinet from time to time (under Virtual PC). I've installed Debian on one of my TiBooks recently, but it's currently dormant, awaiting whether certain issues will be ironed out. I keep an eye on the Debian Ports mailing list for updates.
Currently, for vintage tinkering, I love to play around with my jailbroken 1st Gen iPad and make it as useful as possible, but that's for another forum.
mectojic
macrumors 65816
I love the 1st Gen iPad! iOS 5 rules! But when it comes to reading PDFs, the iPad 2 really is insanely faster; then that speed plateaus again with the iPad 3 because of the Retina Display. I don't have an iPad 4 but would love one that runs iOS 6, that would be insanely fast.
I haven't messed with Linux much, just because I'm so used to OSX. SSDs and Snow Leopard work really well for me on Early Intel, and I'm happy with that. I tried Lubuntu but didn't care much for it.
swamprock
macrumors 65816
There's a version of iBooks that someone fixed, that actually runs on an JB'd ios 5.1.1, and it's not too bad with regards to speed and reading PDFs. There's also a list of speed optimizations out there that give the iPad 1 a bit of a boost. iPad 2 is definitely faster (and I have one as well), but there's something about the original. I also have an iPad 4, but you can only downgrade it as far as iOS 8. Shame, but it's not bad at all. Better than iOS 10 for sure.
There are many distros of Linux, but I've settled on Debian as my one and only go-to. I've built up a wealth of experience with it over the years (on Intel and PowerPC), it's rock solid, and so beautifully customizable. That's not to say that I don't have my OSX machines, though. Snow Leopard is definitely a great one for that machines that I referenced in my OP, and one of my 2008s runs it for my iPad 1 hacking.
mectojic
macrumors 65816
I think I got that iBooks, yeah it's not bad. Otherwise I use Goodreader, which I bought back in the day and have now gotten the ipa for again.
The iPad 1 is classic, it's a shame they got rid of it so soon. Flat edges with a rounded back, it was awesome. When I got my iPad 3, I was constantly struggling to pick it up when it was flat on a desk...
PowerPCFan
macrumors 6502
PowerPCFan
macrumors 6502
Because it’s so fun, even from a 12 year old’s perspective that wasn’t even alive when these computers came out. The young folks like me get to see what computers used to be like, and the old guys get nostalgia and flashbacks of their iMac G3 family computer in the home office. Doesn’t matter if you think they’re useless pieces of junky tech. Because they actually aren’t, considering the fact that I can watch YouTube at 720p on my g5. Not sure if you’ve tried tinkering with retro tech, but it‘s a very addicting, fun, expensive hobby to get into.
PowerPCFan
macrumors 6502
eyoungren
macrumors Nehalem
My son will be 20 soon. He's in his third year of college for IT. My daughter is three years older than you and in 10th grade. So, while my son was around when these Macs were produced, my daughter was not.
My son had an iBook G3 when he was 5 (2008) and my daughter eventually ended up with an iBook G4 (2014 I think). Both are far more into PCs nows, mainly because that was/is the platform necessary to know in school/college. Mostly now my daughter is on her phone after killing her second PC with pink lemonade.
Both both have some experience with PowerPC only because current models when they were kids were not affordable.
za9ra22
macrumors 65816
People seem to forget that these old computers can still do all the things that they could do when they were new, which means that for a great deal of things, they are exactly as useful as they were then, when being used in businesses and homes. Put a copy of Office 4.2.1 on a PowerBook 180, with a few other applications thrown in too for example, and you have a very handy business management system. Not just that, but thanks to modern-day feature creep, even at 30 years old, it won't run much slower than a current production system running Windows 11 or whatever-macOS-it-is-today.
Sure, the older systems, including my favorites such as the 68k Macs, can't do 'the internet', but not everything and not everyone needs that to get a job of work done.
There are also many of us who find older systems with their more simple operating systems are actually a lot more productive.
PowerPCFan
macrumors 6502
Exactly, they never get slower, but any computer starts to feel slower as the years go by because you're trying to do modern tasks. If a G5 could run Doom in 2005, it can in 2023 too.
PowerPCFan
macrumors 6502
The first computer I ever used was (technically a kids' smartwatch, but that doesn't count) a 2015 iMac when I was around 4 years old. I would open Photo Booth and use the webcam to take pictures of myself holding bread. Please don't ask why, because I don't know. I still used that 2015 Mac every day up until 2022 when I fully modded a 2007 Mac Pro to fit a mATX PC Motherboard. Now I use this computer, a custom-built Windows PC with a dual monitor setup. Still waiting on my GPU for gaming, but it works great! Looking on the used market lately for maybe an M1 MacBook Air with a cracked screen or something that I could try and fix up for cheap. I have an iPhone SE 2nd gen, iPad 9th gen, and Apple Watch series 3, so I'd like to complete my mini-ecosystem.
But back to what I was saying before, PowerPC was capable in 2008 and 2014 when you gave your kids iBooks, and they're still capable of simple tasks to this day.
eyoungren
macrumors Nehalem
We had an iPhone 3GS in the house for some time, my sister's old phone. I have my daughter's old pictures from that phone. I think she was probably four or five. Lots of screenshots from the paint app she used to use, but most of them were her following the cat around and getting in his business.
I hate that I predicted my own future here. Unfortunately revisiting this because I have had another early intel MBP (A1260) bite the dust last night. That's 2 dead in 6 months. I tried to keep this last one alive using advice such as this, but nope, still died. I think the only way you can actually have one for any length of time is to find one with a the revised GPU, full stop.
"Get to the point already", I hear you. The point is those same-body-style-as-powerbook early MBPs are so unreliable it's such a shame, because they are so nice. But guess what....all my iBook and Powerbook G4s? They still work.
Viva la PPC.
za9ra22
macrumors 65816
I have two early-Intel MBP models, a 15 and a 17, and they run so hot that it is just a matter of time before they fail. Of course they were never intended to last this long anyway, but it is a shame not to be able to use them regularly for fear that each time might be the last.
The preceding G4s have proven far more reliable - certainly the 15 and 17 inch models run pretty warm too, but not that bad!
Sure they're obsolete, but I use mine to run old programs that I cannot run on my newer Macs as I've found that it's just easier to load the program on my Powerbook G4 that try to get an emulator running it on my MacBook Pro.
I guess that's like saying that "old books are obsolete, you should only read new books..."
🙂
Exactly this. I recall years ago when I used to frequent a small book store in the town that I lived the lady there had an old (even back then) Apple IIGS in her little back office running all of the software for her bookstore. Seemed to work great for what she needed it for and no one said "Hey lady, what's wrong with you...don't you know you need to **** can that old piece of crap and upgrade!!!" She seemed happy using it for what she needed. Hell when I was a kid for YEARS my family used a Commodore 64 for our business to store and print off thousands (!!!) of mailing labels for our customer mailers with an old dot matrix printer and it never let us down.
😀
eyoungren
macrumors Nehalem
The father of an ex friend of mine was a chiropractor and he and his wife used to have an Apple IIc for their office. I say was because it's been over 25 years since I've been in that office and my ex-friend's dad was probably in his mid to late 50s back then. It worked for them.
I'm of two minds when I type this, because of past experience. On the one hand, I recognize the validity of the point you're making and as a PowerPC Mac user myself I agree with it. On the other hand, I spent my teen years in bum**** rural America nowhere and dealt with all the BS of small town America mentality.
In my ex-friend's case, this IIc was still being used when I left the area in 2000. But I'm not sure if that was a 'it works for us' mentality, or a 'we hate technology' mentality. My ex-friend was at least honest in being a Luddite and refusing to embrace new tech and so I suspect the latter. He joined his dad as a chiropractor and they were still refusing to accept insurance coverage in 2000 (cash/check only).
I'm of the mind that rejecting old tech because it's old and new tech because it's new shouldn't be. Thankfully, most of us here have a balance between old and new.
TheShortTimer
macrumors 68040
Precisely. If it works for you then why do you need to justify its ongoing usage to other people? There was a time when we used to celebrate value for money and products that are built to last. Anyone who feels the need to deride others in this regard - and I've experienced it a lot - is basically an unpaid enforcer on behalf of the corporate world's forced obsolescence agenda and that's really sad when you reflect on what that implies.
Only in the past few years did the U.S. military decide to retire its 1970s computer system that received nuclear launch codes from the POTUS via 8" floppies. I'd loved to have seen the reactions when they were presented to the more recent occupants of the White House during tests. 🤣
It was widely reported in 2014 that George R.R. Martin writes everything on WordStar 4.0 using a PC running a DOS environment.
I'd love to see someone suggest to Martin that he ought to upgrade. It probably wouldn't end well. 😀
As many of you know, I'm an avid user of computers that are over 40 years old and should any visitor chide me on that, the front door will be shown to them. 😉
bkmoore773
macrumors member
If it hasn't been said, early Intel cannot run classic MacOS. There are workarounds such as SheepShaver, but imho. not as good as real hardware. Some of us are getting up there in the years, and actually own licenses to lots of PPC macintosh software that (a) we don't need to upgrade because it works, or (b) we don't believe in software subscriptions, or (c) both a and b. Especially when PPC hardware is basically e-waste so can be had for next to nothing.