G4 iMac as Kitchen Applican - Siri / voice control?

[cosmichobo]

G'day,

5 day lockdown here in Victoria, AU, so I've started taking stock of my Apple gear that needs to go on eBay.

C2D iMac
iBook Clamshell
Pismo (maybe)
G5 tower parts
G4 Mac Mini
G4 iMac (lamp)

Problem is I can't bring myself to get rid of the lampshade mac. I sorely wanted to get one in 2004 for myself, but ended up with an eMac because it was about $1000 cheaper. But, in 2006 I picked one up second hand for my parents as their first computer. They used it until 2013, when I then gave it to my son to use. Then last year he needed a laptop for high school, so it is now sitting on my bookcase staring at me every day. I told my wife I'd sell it, but - it's so iconic...

This morning I read @SkippyThorson 's idea to use the lamp iMac in the kitchen:

If it's the iMac G4 all-in-one, I would put that bad boy in the kitchen in a heartbeat. Sit it in the corner of your counter space, and use it for the ultimate kitchen technology hub. Keep all your recipes on it, your future shopping lists of things you'll need, a wide array of great cooking applications, and especially, use it to browse FoodNetwork.com, to watch and cook along with your favorite chefs, shows, and recipes.

Trust me, if you want a handy tool in the kitchen, and you really enjoy food and cooking, you could find a computer to be your best and favorite Sous-Chef. I just picked up a second G4 to put in my office at work, and over the Christmas break, I'll be thrilled to take it home and do this for myself.

The 15" screen is more than enough for me, for a use like this, plus, the smaller it is, the less room it takes up. I find that to be just the right size. Not huge, but a perfectly decent size. The way my kitchen is set up, the dome would sit in a corner of the counter top, and then, arcing the arm / tilting the screen up would let it sit at a perfect height / angle to fit under my hanging cabinets. I'd recommend that you keep in mind to not place it under a hanging can-opener, coffee maker, or anything with the potential to drip.

This idea really grabbed me, cos I am always whipping out my iPhone when cooking, and also when doing dishes I sit my phone on the window-sill with either Plex or YouTube playing - but the iMac would be a much better option for both!

As suggested in the rest of his post, I do have a slim Alu keyboard that I could use instead of the big white/clear one that it came with - although it's the wireless model, and I don't have a bluetooth card.

I am guessing there is no way in hell that Siri would work on the G4... but - did Leopard have voice control options? I vaguely recall early OS X having an updated version of the old Mac voice control (aka "Casper") (??) but if it is a thing - is it viable to control Safari?

Cheers

cosmic

 

[eyoungren]

G'day,

5 day lockdown here in Victoria, AU, so I've started taking stock of my Apple gear that needs to go on eBay.

C2D iMac
iBook Clamshell
Pismo (maybe)
G5 tower parts
G4 Mac Mini
G4 iMac (lamp)

Problem is I can't bring myself to get rid of the lampshade mac. I sorely wanted to get one in 2004 for myself, but ended up with an eMac because it was about $1000 cheaper. But, in 2006 I picked one up second hand for my parents as their first computer. They used it until 2013, when I then gave it to my son to use. Then last year he needed a laptop for high school, so it is now sitting on my bookcase staring at me every day. I told my wife I'd sell it, but - it's so iconic...

This morning I read @SkippyThorson 's idea to use the lamp iMac in the kitchen:



This idea really grabbed me, cos I am always whipping out my iPhone when cooking, and also when doing dishes I sit my phone on the window-sill with either Plex or YouTube playing - but the iMac would be a much better option for both!

As suggested in the rest of his post, I do have a slim Alu keyboard that I could use instead of the big white/clear one that it came with - although it's the wireless model, and I don't have a bluetooth card.

I am guessing there is no way in hell that Siri would work on the G4... but - did Leopard have voice control options? I vaguely recall early OS X having an updated version of the old Mac voice control (aka "Casper") (??) but if it is a thing - is it viable to control Safari?

Cheers

cosmic

I would really think this one over.

No SIRI. Every Mac since 1984 has come with voices and if you turn it on, the Mac will talk to you and you can choose the voice/speech you want. But that's generally in response to you using the keyboard and mouse. In other words, the voice will tell you the contents of a folder, speak the time (at the hour or when you click for it), etc. But none of it responds to voice.

For that you'd need something that has a mic. Then software that runs on PowerPC that can interpret your voice and then control the Mac. Probably something like that exists - but it's not SIRI and it's not stock Apple.

The other thing is…"browse FoodNetwork and watch and cook along…". I'm not sure how long ago this was posted, but it's 2021 now and video streaming over the internet to a G4 is long done. All it's going to do is cause your iMac to peg 100% CPU (if it even works) and you'll get a very, very slow flipbook of pictures.

With all the work people have done here, yes, it's possible to view video over the web, mainly YT, but if FoodNetwork has any sort of modern website (and since they are a major cable channel they have to) this just isn't going to fly.

Everything else, you could get away with using stock apps like TextEdit and Stickies. There has to be tons of older recipe software out there though.

 

[Project Alice]

I would really think this one over.

No SIRI. Every Mac since 1984 has come with voices and if you turn it on, the Mac will talk to you and you can choose the voice/speech you want. But that's generally in response to you using the keyboard and mouse. In other words, the voice will tell you the contents of a folder, speak the time (at the hour or when you click for it), etc. But none of it responds to voice.

For that you'd need something that has a mic. Then software that runs on PowerPC that can interpret your voice and then control the Mac. Probably something like that exists - but it's not SIRI and it's not stock Apple.

The other thing is…"browse FoodNetwork and watch and cook along…". I'm not sure how long ago this was posted, but it's 2021 now and video streaming over the internet to a G4 is long done. All it's going to do is cause your iMac to peg 100% CPU (if it even works) and you'll get a very, very slow flipbook of pictures.

With all the work people have done here, yes, it's possible to view video over the web, mainly YT, but if FoodNetwork has any sort of modern website (and since they are a major cable channel they have to) this just isn't going to fly.

Everything else, you could get away with using stock apps like TextEdit and Stickies. There has to be tons of older recipe software out there though.

Yeah I’d have to mostly agree. Depending on the iMac. I don’t have many problems with most modern sites in TFF on faster G4s, but anything under 1GHz is just a pain.

 

[cosmichobo]

Thanks for the replies!

I would really think this one over.

No SIRI. Every Mac since 1984 has come with voices and if you turn it on, the Mac will talk to you and you can choose the voice/speech you want. But that's generally in response to you using the keyboard and mouse. In other words, the voice will tell you the contents of a folder, speak the time (at the hour or when you click for it), etc. But none of it responds to voice.

For that you'd need something that has a mic. Then software that runs on PowerPC that can interpret your voice and then control the Mac. Probably something like that exists - but it's not SIRI and it's not stock Apple.

The other thing is…"browse FoodNetwork and watch and cook along…". I'm not sure how long ago this was posted, but it's 2021 now and video streaming over the internet to a G4 is long done. All it's going to do is cause your iMac to peg 100% CPU (if it even works) and you'll get a very, very slow flipbook of pictures.

With all the work people have done here, yes, it's possible to view video over the web, mainly YT, but if FoodNetwork has any sort of modern website (and since they are a major cable channel they have to) this just isn't going to fly.

Everything else, you could get away with using stock apps like TextEdit and Stickies. There has to be tons of older recipe software out there though.

Welcome to MacTalker on the Macintosh. The Macintosh is one of the world's most used computers. To hear more information about MacTalker click on the help button.

I remember that well! Hearing my computer talk. But, the best part was when Apple introduced Plaintalk in 1993 on their AV Macs. Loved talking to my Quadra 840av, even though I needed to adopt a South Californian accent, and admittedly at that point it wasn't terribly useful. But, PlainTalk was definitely included in later OS's as an optional extra, as I used voice recognition on my TAM (System 7.6.1 to System 8.6?) and I think on my eMac too.

Reading a bit on Wiki... it seems PlainTalk was included in PPC era Mac OS X, including operating menus, so - there may be some possibilities... And - something that surprised me - the iMac has a built in mic! (At least, according to both Wiki and Apple's own specs page.)

With regard to "FoodNetwork" - I don't actually know what that is But playing online video is certainly something I'd desire - not for cooking, but when I'm doing the dishes. I guess as a fall-back, I could just copy over some of my media files - assuming it can handle the resolution... (I could try out Plex, but I know that my G4 Cube with 1.5Ghz Sonnet card couldn't hack it...) (Oh - and I'm pretty sure it has the SuperDrive, so DVDs may be an option, although I struggle to be bothered using a DVD on my main tv these days...)

Yeah I’d have to mostly agree. Depending on the iMac. I don’t have many problems with most modern sites in TFF on faster G4s, but anything under 1GHz is just a pain.

It is the 1.25Ghz 17" model. I'd have to fire it up to get any more info. But, that's probably not a bad idea in general if I'm serious here.

 

[Project Alice]

Thanks for the replies!



Welcome to MacTalker on the Macintosh. The Macintosh is one of the world's most used computers. To hear more information about MacTalker click on the help button.

I remember that well! Hearing my computer talk. But, the best part was when Apple introduced Plaintalk in 1993 on their AV Macs. Loved talking to my Quadra 840av, even though I needed to adopt a South Californian accent, and admittedly at that point it wasn't terribly useful. But, PlainTalk was definitely included in later OS's as an optional extra, as I used voice recognition on my TAM (System 7.6.1 to System 8.6?) and I think on my eMac too.

Reading a bit on Wiki... it seems PlainTalk was included in PPC era Mac OS X, including operating menus, so - there may be some possibilities... And - something that surprised me - the iMac has a built in mic! (At least, according to both Wiki and Apple's own specs page.)

With regard to "FoodNetwork" - I don't actually know what that is But playing online video is certainly something I'd desire - not for cooking, but when I'm doing the dishes. I guess as a fall-back, I could just copy over some of my media files - assuming it can handle the resolution... (I could try out Plex, but I know that my G4 Cube with 1.5Ghz Sonnet card couldn't hack it...) (Oh - and I'm pretty sure it has the SuperDrive, so DVDs may be an option, although I struggle to be bothered using a DVD on my main tv these days...)



It is the 1.25Ghz 17" model. I'd have to fire it up to get any more info. But, that's probably not a bad idea in general if I'm serious here.

It’s definitely doable but it’ll require a bit of work and patience. There’s many YouTube threads on here.

That iMac should be able to play most h.264 video files, 1080 will be a pain. If VLC doesn’t do it coreplayer will.

As a side note, I use my 17” 1GHz iMac G4 as a bedroom TV. There is an actual TV in there, but if I’m trying to sleep it gets kind of annoying and intrusive. The iMac is much smaller and I can change the brightness and color tone so it isn’t as bad.
I got an EyeTV 200, an HDMI to composite AV adapter and plugged my Roku into it. Works great and the Pro speakers sound better than most TVs. That’s one way to get modern things playing on a PPC mac lol.

 

[cosmichobo]

I think I'll have to have a go at this. For a little while I had the 24" iMac C2D on the bench in my kitchen while I was testing it, intending to sell it. I ended up using it a bit with Netflix and YouTube, but it was just too big. At least the iMac lamp has the moveable screen - especially if I can get it going without needing much by way of keyboard/mouse...

I have pro speakers, though one of them crackles. Also have 1 or 2 USB tv dongles... not sure if they work. Another job... (On top of digging out my soldering iron, and fixing up the cable for my Harmon Kardon Sound Sticks for my Cube.)