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iBook on Tiger 10.4.11

VirtuallyInsane

VirtuallyInsane

macrumors 6502
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Nov 16, 2018
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What can you still do on an iBook 12" with 256GB RAM from 2004?

Which programs still run on it? (Aside from stock programs and browsers that aren't Interwebs because that seizes the system up) in 2023?

I'm putting Core Player on it, and it has Audacity too. iMovie doesn't like working either, lol. I can write fine in Microsoft Word. I'm going to try TenFourFox on this too.

I want to get the most out of this because I am enjoying this PowerPC so far, and I like the form factor.
 
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I was going to type a joke stating one can only read "the life of pi" on an Ibook wit tiger
but you seem like you haver a dilemma we face with our Mountain Lion MacBooks now.

there really is not a lot of options for any 2000 decade software unless you had that then.
there is a lot of older threads here that have PPC quests in this decade.

ad for answering your question, I have files in Claris Works that Libra office can read
now to get liner office on Tiger......
sorry I trashed those programs and data from 2001-2007 in 2011.

there is a forum :"what have don with a power PPC" here you probably know about.
that can help as well.

good luck and have fun with the iBook!
 
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VirtuallyInsane said:
What can you still do on an iBook 12" with 256GB RAM from 2004?
Click to expand...
TenFourFox is even more demanding than InterWebPPC. A low resource browser is Links2 - it can even run inside Terminal if you can live with text only!

If you so wished you could watch 360P Youtube with Safari 4 or OneWindowBrowser going to https://iternoni.com and passing the video through to PPCMC7/FFPlay.

Coreplayer will let you watch 720P movies but a lot of apps will struggle with 256Mb RAM - you really need that extra stick in there.
 
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Dronecatcher said:
TenFourFox is even more demanding than InterWebPPC. A low resource browser is Links2 - it can even run inside Terminal if you can live with text only!

If you so wished you could watch 360P Youtube with Safari 4 or OneWindowBrowser going to http://iternoni.com and passing the video through to PPCMC7/FFPlay.

Coreplayer will let you watch 720P movies but a lot of apps will struggle with 256Mb RAM - you really need that extra stick in there.
Click to expand...

How do you work Links2 in the Terminal? Does it come with a set of commands? And itermoni isn't working (the link). I didn't know that Safari 4 still worked.

Yes, I know. I am trying to find a good price for the RAM. :p

MBAir2010 said:
I was going to type a joke stating one can only read "the life of pi" on an Ibook wit tiger
but you seem like you haver a dilemma we face with our Mountain Lion MacBooks now.

there really is not a lot of options for any 2000 decade software unless you had that then.
there is a lot of older threads here that have PPC quests in this decade.

ad for answering your question, I have files in Claris Works that Libra office can read
now to get liner office on Tiger......
sorry I trashed those programs and data from 2001-2007 in 2011.

there is a forum :"what have don with a power PPC" here you probably know about.
that can help as well.

good luck and have fun with the iBook!
Click to expand...

I only have the software that the previous owner installed onto it. Yeah, I get that there are not a lot of options and I am alright with that. Thanks for your help and maybe I should check that thread more often lol. I should check those things out somewhere here and watch YT videos.
 
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MBAir2010 said:
I am impressed you have a MacBook Air M1 and still use an iBook!
2 decades ago I had a powerbookG4 12" I took everywhere!
Click to expand...

Yeah, and if I didn't buy it for a good price, I'd still be using my MBA 11-inch from 2014, or else the MBP from 2006 as my main portable device. The iBook is great for distraction-free writing, listening to music, and watching (some SD) videos. I am just trying to get more software and general usage out of it to make it the best it can be.
 
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VirtuallyInsane said:
What can you still do on an iBook 12" with 256GB RAM from 2004?
Click to expand...
Since it doesn't have any RAM, not much :D Joking aside, as said you really need to have as much RAM as the machine can take (1.25 GB) for it to be fun. OS X loves RAM, and so do Firefox and its derivatives.

VirtuallyInsane said:
Which programs still run on it? (Aside from stock programs and browsers that aren't Interwebs because that seizes the system up) in 2023?
Click to expand...
The Tiger Thread
 
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TheShortTimer said:
It took me years to realise just how much RAM Firefox requires in order to work properly.
Click to expand...
I opened a fresh copy of Firefox 108 and loaded just this forum. Result with NoScript, uBlock Origin and a dark mode add-on:

FFRAM.png
 
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MacProFCP said:
1. Keeps papers from blowing away in the wind.
2. Used to raise the level of an M2 MBA on a low table.
Click to expand...

Firth-world problems.

MacProFCP said:
3. Thrown against a wall while to let off some steam.
Click to expand...

Do this only while AppleCare is still active. Otherwise, it’s no fun.

MacProFCP said:
4. Take apart and see what 20 y/o tech was like.
Click to expand...

Do this with all tech.

MacProFCP said:
5. Tie to a bundle of balloons to keep from flying away. (Only works with battery in place.)
6. Leave in a car in public area while secretly filming who will steal it.
Click to expand...

More firnd-world problems.

MacProFCP said:
7. Let a scammer log in and waste his time trying to “show you” the problems.
Click to expand...

That is — if a scammer approaches you. (When does a scammer try to approach any of you?)

MacProFCP said:
8. Prank call for Apple Tech Support.
Click to expand...

More funny in 2003 than in 2023: everyone hates using phones now thanks to compressed sound quality.


MacProFCP said:
9. Send to Museum of National Artifacts.
Click to expand...

Already been done.

MacProFCP said:
10. Sell to someone on eBay who will then try to use it. There are forums on MacRumors you can link in the sale posting.
Click to expand...

The last suggestion is the first and only cogent one.

MacProFCP said:
(All in good fun…right?)
Click to expand...

Right! 🥱

TheShortTimer said:
This wouldn't happen to be you, would it?

Click to expand...

As mentioned at some point on here in the past, I’ve been known to walk into an Apple Store with my key lime iBook, on battery only, to use the wifi — disregarding customer service reps when asking whether I needed any help (no thanks, this is a flex) or when marvelling how “such a relic is still working” — as late as 2012. I just needed a hotspot. :)

Of course, it’s been many years since I’ve done that, as I doubt anything earlier than 802.11n — if even that — could even try connect to their guest wifi these days. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that their baseline these days is 802.11ac and up.
 
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VirtuallyInsane said:
Update: Ordered 1GB of RAM and am excited! It's coming tomorrow, apparently. If this works, I will be so darn happy.
Click to expand...

You’re basically more than quadrupling your memory. It will make an appreciable difference for even the most basic activities.

Once you’ve grown accustomed to better RAM, aim for swapping the HDD for an SSD solution. These days, doing so is very affordable. Once more, be amazed at the new life faster storage delivers. :)
 
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B S Magnet said:
You’re basically more than quadrupling your memory. It will make an appreciable difference for even the most basic activities.

Once you’ve grown accustomed to better RAM, aim for swapping the HDD for an SSD solution. These days, doing so is very affordable. Once more, be amazed at the new life faster storage delivers. :)
Click to expand...

Yes, definitely. I'll expand in the future. Would it run a 100GB SSD, or is that overkill? I know it's almost 20 years old.
 
VirtuallyInsane said:
Yes, definitely. I'll expand in the future. Would it run a 100GB SSD, or is that overkill? I know it's almost 20 years old.
Click to expand...

Not really overkill, no, given how cheap m.2 SATA and mSATA SSDs are nowadays. You may never end up using it all, but that’s generally a good thing. Your system, whether HDD or SSD, will always need a portion for virtual memory and swapping, and if you later choose to add other OSes to your system in other partitions, such as Linux, you’ll have the space for that, too.

All of my PowerPC Macs run on SSDs. Even the oldest of the lot, my 2000 iBook G3/466, runs a 128GB mSATA (via SATA-to-IDE adapter). I have both Tiger and Debian sid on it, and there’s still ample room left over.
 
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B S Magnet said:
Not really overkill, no, given how cheap m.2 SATA and mSATA SSDs are nowadays. You may never end up using it all, but that’s generally a good thing. Your system, whether HDD or SSD, will always need a portion for virtual memory and swapping, and if you later choose to add other OSes to your system in other partitions, such as Linux, you’ll have the space for that, too.

All of my PowerPC Macs run on SSDs. Even the oldest of the lot, my 2000 iBook G3/466, runs a 128GB mSATA (via SATA-to-IDE adapter). I have both Tiger and Debian sid on it, and there’s still ample room left over.
Click to expand...
128GB sounds reasonable, given how much I will use this system. And yeah, I might try some dual booting with Linux in the future. At the moment, I'll use the 30GB until I need to expand it. It doesn't have a lot on it at the moment.

Amethyst1 said:
It ain't, and the iBook G4 can handle vastly larger drives (2 TB at the minimum).
Click to expand...

Woah, 2TB? That's a lot. I haven't even used 1TB in the three years I've had my iMac. 2TB is hardcore.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
I opened a fresh copy of Firefox 108 and loaded just this forum. Result with NoScript, uBlock Origin and a dark mode add-on:

View attachment 2141480
Click to expand...
It wasn't a problem until the Quantum updates, where FF started to adopt Chromium's sandbox-ish process model (try saying that three times fast). With every tab, extension, graphics renderer, whatever now in its own process, the content is now allowed to stretch out and take more resources. Not fun for low-memory machines, and up until those Quantum updates was one of the key reasons why people would recommend Firefox over the newest Chromium flavour (after "it's not Google!" of course).

It's also where the Chrome RAM jokes originate. :p
 
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Doq said:
Not fun for low-memory machines, and up until those Quantum updates was one of the key reasons why people would recommend Firefox over the newest Chromium flavour (after "it's not Google!" of course).
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was my situation. I always favoured Firefox over Google Chrome for this very reason.

Nowadays the other factor which you mentioned has seen it retain its position as my #1 browser.
 
Dump OS X and put OpenBSD on it. I tried that a couple years ago and you could get some surprisingly up to date software to run. Latest version of OpenBSD still supports macppc which is kinda nuts to be honest.
 
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