Help with iMac G5 10.5.8 PLEASE

[billyrobertcourty]

Hey guys I need your help here. I am new with Macs and i just bought that NICE iMac on kijiji for really cheap. I just upgraded my 10.4.11 version to Leopard 10.5.8. As i am reading forums, what i do understand is that i cannot upgrade my iMac further because it has a PowerPc processor. Now i cannot install google chrome, i can not even watch Youtube videos properly because they are actually playing frame by frame, so laggy. Whats the point of having this computer if it is just for browsing internet? How could Apple leave people that would have paid full price for this computer, with absolutely nothing really interesting to play with? I could have an old PC laptop with Windows 95 and still watch youtube properly. Can you guys give me advices or tips? Am i wrong? I was so happy about this new iMac but now i am not sure anymore. Could i install a Linux Distro that would at least let me watch Youtube properly? Could i replace the inside components with Intel (motherboard, chip, video card, etc.) ? Thanks for your help!
-Billy (new apple fan lol)

 

[eyoungren]

Hey guys I need your help here. I am new with Macs and i just bought that NICE iMac on kijiji for really cheap. I just upgraded my 10.4.11 version to Leopard 10.5.8. As i am reading forums, what i do understand is that i cannot upgrade my iMac further because it has a PowerPc processor.

Correct. PowerPC can only run 10.5.8 max, and some PowerPC Macs can only go as high as 10.4.11.

Now i cannot install google chrome,

Chrome requires a Mac with an Intel processor.

i can not even watch Youtube videos properly because they are actually playing frame by frame, so laggy.

There are some ways around this, but in general, today's modern requirements are beyond the capabilities of our PowerPC processors.

Whats the point of having this computer if it is just for browsing internet?

An excellent question, but one I thought might have been more beneficial before your purchase instead of after your purchase.

How could Apple leave people that would have paid full price for this computer, with absolutely nothing really interesting to play with?

Because when this computer was first sold it was capable of doing the job. Then technology advanced.

In late 2005, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would be making a transition from PowerPC chips to Intel chips. Apple did so in 2006. In 2008, Apple released Leopard, which still supported PowerPC but was never natively installed on any PowerPC Mac because by that point Apple was selling Intel Macs. A year later Snow Leopard was released and it only had support for Intel Macs, BUT Apple was nice enough to allow PowerPC apps to still run using Rosetta. In 2010, FOUR YEARS AFTER THE INTEL TRANSITION Apple finally killed PowerPC for good.
You are applying 2015 demands to a pre-2006 computer.

I could have an old PC laptop with Windows 95 and still watch youtube properly.

Sure. Because Microsoft sells operating systems. Apple sells hardware that happens to run operating systems.

Can you guys give me advices or tips? Am i wrong? I was so happy about this new iMac but now i am not sure anymore.

Optimize Leopard, use Safari or a PC for Youtube, accept that the Mac will be somewhat slower than more modern computers, accept that you may have to use older versions of apps. Be prepared to be creative in your solutions on how to get the most out of the Mac while working with what it has to offer.

Could i install a Linux Distro that would at least let me watch Youtube properly?

Yes. But many of those are buggy, don't support certain hardware components and are likely to drive your frustration level very high. You are upset that Apple abandoned PowerPC over six years ago. Imagine how upset you will be to find out how difficult it will be to get one of these distros installed, let alone functional.

Could i replace the inside components with Intel (motherboard, chip, video card, etc.) ? Thanks for your help!
-Billy (new apple fan lol)

Sure you could, as long as everything has all the right sizes, shapes and dimensions, fits the port openings exactly and has all the right mounting points.

I am sorry to say, but your expectation of Intel Mac performance from a 9+ year old Mac with a PowerPC chip is just not reasonable.

 

[billyrobertcourty]

Ok i understand. I did'nt knew about that before i buy it, unfortunately. I though that youtube and google chrome would work everywhere, i was wrong. Thanks a lot for your explanations! I wish at least i could use it as a guitar recording station. Beside Audicity, is there any other software that would work on my powerpc ? Is there any know website with all the existing powerpc app available for download? I found a couple, nothing really interesting. There still must have been a lot of softwares that where produced for this system? I heard they were the best in audio,studio recording. Thanks again for your help!

 

[eyoungren]

Ok i understand. I did'nt knew about that before i buy it, unfortunately. I though that youtube and google chrome would work everywhere, i was wrong. Thanks a lot for your explanations! I wish at least i could use it as a guitar recording station. Beside Audicity, is there any other software that would work on my powerpc ? Is there any know website with all the existing powerpc app available for download? I found a couple, nothing really interesting. There still must have been a lot of softwares that where produced for this system? I heard they were the best in audio,studio recording. Thanks again for your help!

There are at least two people in this specific forum I know of that use PowerPC Macs for audio/video editing, including music. They should be able to help and hopefully they will be along soon. They can tell you which apps are the one's to use and any tricks you may need to know.

Dronecatcher has even been able to get 1080p video to work well on his PowerMac G5.

Macintosh Garden is often recommended here. I recommend MacUpdate. MacUpdate still has many, many apps available for direct download for PowerPC Macs.

If there is anything specific you have a need for right away let us know and we'll see what we can find for you.

Here is a guide to optimizing Leopard:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-leopard-speed-improvements.1723868/

And this is the Secrets prefpane which lets you do a lot of the things the guide mentions.

 

[billyrobertcourty]

There are at least two people in this specific forum I know of that use PowerPC Macs for audio/video editing, including music. They should be able to help and hopefully they will be along soon. They can tell you which apps are the one's to use and any tricks you may need to know.

Dronecatcher has even been able to get 1080p video to work well on his PowerMac G5.

Macintosh Garden is often recommended here. I recommend MacUpdate. MacUpdate still has many, many apps available for direct download for PowerPC Macs.

If there is anything specific you have a need for right away let us know and we'll see what we can find for you.

Here is a guide to optimizing Leopard:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-leopard-speed-improvements.1723868/

And this is the Secrets prefpane which lets you do a lot of the things the guide mentions.

Okay! Great, i will try to get in touch with them here. Thanks for the MacUpdate and the guide too!!

 

[MacCubed]

I use ProTools 7, Logic 8 and GarageBand '09 for my music editing. The max version of Logic that you could run is 9.0.2 but it's hard to find. But upgrading the RAM and adding an SSD will boost performance. What iMac G5 do you have? Spec wise and whether or not it has an iSight camera

 

[Altemose]

Whats the point of having this computer if it is just for browsing internet?

Since you are running 10.5 Leopard, you are going to have two main browser choices on a PowerPC Mac. The first is Leopard WebKit, which is a more up to date version of Safari 5. The second option is TenFourFox, which is an up to date fork of Firefox by a developer named Cameron Kaiser. I personally prefer TenFourFox due to its overall security, reliability, stability, and customization options. eyoungren has created a thread of tweaks for TenFourFox, which greatly improve the speed and I compiled them into an easy installer. You can find them in the sub-forum here.

The old option used to be to use a tool like YouView or MacTubes, but unfortunately Google has made critical server changes which affected those applications. I believe YouView may still work, but I think the new (compatible) update strips out a lot of functionality due to these changes. MacTubes has not been updated recently and the developer actually pulled the downloads completely. For YouTube purposes, realistically you will not get above 360p on HTML 5. You maybe able to get QuickTime Enabler to work with TenFourFox, but I am not sure if that tool is even still supported.

How much did you pay for the iMac? We push our Macs to their limits and beyond, but using a PowerPC Mac in 2015 for today's web is not nearly as easy as it used to be. I would say 2012 was the last good year for full "daily driver" PPC usage where you could use it for every purpose. I am not trying to discourage you, but only pointing out the fact that if you are not willing to try workarounds and accept its age you may have to sell it and buy a bit more modern Intel Mac like a Mini.

 

[MacCubed]

For YouTube, install TenFourFox along with the add on QuickTime Enabler. There is a page on the TFF site that tells you what to do. To ensure compatibility install Perian also. I use QTE all the time on all my PPCs(It even works on my G3!) it's a great piece of software to have. What it does is open the HTML5 video in a QuickTime window. Another thing I almost forgot to mention, with out an AdBlocker, some videos won't load

 

[Altemose]

Bluhell Firewall is by far the best ad blocking tool around!

 

[MacCubed]

@eyoungren is on a liking spree

 

[eyoungren]

@eyoungren is on a liking spree

likebait

 

[Altemose]

For YouTube, install TenFourFox along with the add on QuickTime Enabler. There is a page on the TFF site that tells you what to do. To ensure compatibility install Perian also. I use QTE all the time on all my PPCs(It even works on my G3!) it's a great piece of software to have. What it does is open the HTML5 video in a QuickTime window. Another thing I almost forgot to mention, with out an AdBlocker, some videos won't load

Every time that I attempt to use QuickTime Enabler, it either will not find the video ID or it will tell me that it is not a video link. Any ideas or tips?

 

[Dronecatcher]

Hello Billy, can you let us know the specs of your iMac - any G5 iMac can do what I'm about to suggest but your amount of memory might be critical?

Firstly, I can reassure you all is not a loss, there's plenty your iMac can do and for making music you've hit gold
Garageband is a great piece of software and despite looking and feeling like a user friendly, dumbed down iApp, it is very useful. It has onboard virtual instruments, beats and loops etc but where it really excels is the guitar modeling - plug a guitar in (or any instrument) and you can apply a wealth of effects, processing and amp models etc. The line input on the iMac is great for this - you just might need to get the appropriate cable or adapter.

Logic is the more 'grown up' version of Garageband - you can actually use all the instruments, effects and loops from Garageband too, aswell and all the Logic ones.
Obviously, it's capabilities are far greater too being a more studio orientated package.

Also look up Propellerheads Reason, Renoise and Reaper - there's many others but it all depends on what your requirements are?

A good rule of thumb is to use software that the machine was designed for, from the time is was launched/in use - it's tempting to use the last software version that the machine is capable of running but often the results arent great - better to use software the machine has specs to cover easily.

For web browsing you have Safari and TenFourFox - those two choices spilt users on preference - this is my take.
For any security sensitive browsing, TFF is a must, for everything else I go Safari. You must download Webkit though - this is a 'overhaul' for Safari and is more updated for modern web. For viewing Youtube, I use the ClickToPlugin extension - this replaces any Flash content with an option menu to either, watch flash, watch FLV, watch/download mp4 or open in Quicktime. Doing this, it allows the browser to pass the video file into a more efficient player. It's best to update Quicktime and install Perian with this too.
TFF has Quicktime enabler which has similar but more limited options but I find it refuses to open too many videos.

I've had all the above apart from Garageband (which almost definitely would work but I've haven't installed it) running on G4 iBooks and Powerbooks, so your iMac can easily cope....and it goes without saying, when I last had a G5 iMac, it coped aswell

It will require some research and understanding but there's lots your iMac can do.
I might add, that my Dual G5 serves me for every task, so still in 2015, I don't need to 'switch' yet!
If you need any specific pointers, just ask.

 

[billyrobertcourty]

Since you are running 10.5 Leopard, you are going to have two main browser choices on a PowerPC Mac. The first is Leopard WebKit, which is a more up to date version of Safari 5. The second option is TenFourFox, which is an up to date fork of Firefox by a developer named Cameron Kaiser. I personally prefer TenFourFox due to its overall security, reliability, stability, and customization options. eyoungren has created a thread of tweaks for TenFourFox, which greatly improve the speed and I compiled them into an easy installer. You can find them in the sub-forum here.

The old option used to be to use a tool like YouView or MacTubes, but unfortunately Google has made critical server changes which affected those applications. I believe YouView may still work, but I think the new (compatible) update strips out a lot of functionality due to these changes. MacTubes has not been updated recently and the developer actually pulled the downloads completely. For YouTube purposes, realistically you will not get above 360p on HTML 5. You maybe able to get QuickTime Enabler to work with TenFourFox, but I am not sure if that tool is even still supported.

How much did you pay for the iMac? We push our Macs to their limits and beyond, but using a PowerPC Mac in 2015 for today's web is not nearly as easy as it used to be. I would say 2012 was the last good year for full "daily driver" PPC usage where you could use it for every purpose. I am not trying to discourage you, but only pointing out the fact that if you are not willing to try workarounds and accept its age you may have to sell it and buy a bit more modern Intel Mac like a Mini.

I paid 100$ CAD for my 2.1 ghz PPC iMac G5 20 inch with webcam in the screen

 

[billyrobertcourty]

Hello Billy, can you let us know the specs of your iMac - any G5 iMac can do what I'm about to suggest but your amount of memory might be critical?

Firstly, I can reassure you all is not a loss, there's plenty your iMac can do and for making music you've hit gold
Garageband is a great piece of software and despite looking and feeling like a user friendly, dumbed down iApp, it is very useful. It has onboard virtual instruments, beats and loops etc but where it really excels is the guitar modeling - plug a guitar in (or any instrument) and you can apply a wealth of effects, processing and amp models etc. The line input on the iMac is great for this - you just might need to get the appropriate cable or adapter.

Logic is the more 'grown up' version of Garageband - you can actually use all the instruments, effects and loops from Garageband too, aswell and all the Logic ones.
Obviously, it's capabilities are far greater too being a more studio orientated package.

Also look up Propellerheads Reason, Renoise and Reaper - there's many others but it all depends on what your requirements are?

A good rule of thumb is to use software that the machine was designed for, from the time is was launched/in use - it's tempting to use the last software version that the machine is capable of running but often the results arent great - better to use software the machine has specs to cover easily.

For web browsing you have Safari and TenFourFox - those two choices spilt users on preference - this is my take.
For any security sensitive browsing, TFF is a must, for everything else I go Safari. You must download Webkit though - this is a 'overhaul' for Safari and is more updated for modern web. For viewing Youtube, I use the ClickToPlugin extension - this replaces any Flash content with an option menu to either, watch flash, watch FLV, watch/download mp4 or open in Quicktime. Doing this, it allows the browser to pass the video file into a more efficient player. It's best to update Quicktime and install Perian with this too.
TFF has Quicktime enabler which has similar but more limited options but I find it refuses to open too many videos.

I've had all the above apart from Garageband (which almost definitely would work but I've haven't installed it) running on G4 iBooks and Powerbooks, so your iMac can easily cope....and it goes without saying, when I last had a G5 iMac, it coped aswell

It will require some research and understanding but there's lots your iMac can do.
I might add, that my Dual G5 serves me for every task, so still in 2015, I don't need to 'switch' yet!
If you need any specific pointers, just ask.

My iMac is a 2.1 ghz PowerPc with 1gb ram, 20inch screen with the webcam builtin. I just updated to the more i could, to 10.5.8 version.

 

[MacCubed]

Thats a great iMac G5 it was the last one Apple made! And you got it for a pretty good price!

 

[MacCubed]

Since youre on Leopard, you need to upgrade the RAM. Leopard uses a ton of RAM, its really easy to upgrade too, you just need a phillips screwdriver, unscrew the 2 screws that are on the bottom of the computer and remove the RAM and put the new in! Im pretty sure it can take 2 GB RAM

 

[Dronecatcher]

My iMac is a 2.1 ghz PowerPc with 1gb ram, 20inch screen with the webcam builtin. I just updated to the more i could, to 10.5.8 version.

That's the best iMac you could have bought However, 512Mb RAM is not enough to run Leopard comfortably and use music apps too - it'll work sure but the performance wont be doing the machine justice.
When you can, put more RAM in - even another 512Mb will make a difference.
If upgrading is not viable yet and using music apps is a priority, then going back to Tiger would be better until you increase the RAM.

 

[redheeler]

That's the best iMac you could have bought However, 512Mb RAM is not enough to run Leopard comfortably and use music apps too - it'll work sure but the performance wont be doing the machine justice.
When you can, put more RAM in - even another 512Mb will make a difference.
If upgrading is not viable yet and using music apps is a priority, then going back to Tiger would be better until you increase the RAM.

That post mentioned 1 GB, not 512 MB, which is enough for basic Leopard usage. However, I would still encourage maxing it out at 2.5 GB just to avoid slowdown.

 

[Dronecatcher]

That post mentioned 1 GB, not 512 MB, which is enough for basic Leopard usage. However, I would still encourage maxing it out at 2.5 GB just to avoid slowdown.

Unless I'm going gaga, the post originally stated 512Mb - OP edit? Or I read too fast

 

[Altemose]

My iMac is a 2.1 ghz PowerPc with 1gb ram, 20inch screen with the webcam builtin. I just updated to the more i could, to 10.5.8 version.

That is a good iMac for the price! As stated before, I recommend bumping the RAM to the full 2.5 GB.