iMac G5 PowerPc Help

[cerithomas]

Hi All!

This is my first post and first iMac so please go light on me as I have little knowledge so far

I recently purchased an iMac G5 1st gen running PowerPc I'm aware the later gens had intel installed so it is proving hard to find a Mac Tiger full upgrade disk that is compatible, currently I am running Panther osx 10.3.9 which operates well but I'm having difficulties viewing some websites and can't install up to date browsers to enable me to, or can I?

Basically until I upgrade to Tiger I belive I'm stuck when it comes to viewing certain websites? or am I wrong? at present I can't access hotmail, youtube and many elements of facebook are not functioning properly, am I correct in believing this is a problem I will have until I upgrade or is there some way of getting around this with my version?

Your help and advice is greatly appreciated,

Thanks,

Ceri.

 

[dXTC]

I recently purchased an iMac G5 1st gen running PowerPc I'm aware the later gens had intel installed so it is proving hard to find a Mac Tiger full upgrade disk that is compatible, currently I am running Panther osx 10.3.9 which operates well but I'm having difficulties viewing some websites and can't install up to date browsers to enable me to, or can I?

Basically until I upgrade to Tiger I belive I'm stuck when it comes to viewing certain websites? or am I wrong? at present I can't access hotmail, youtube and many elements of facebook are not functioning properly, am I correct in believing this is a problem I will have until I upgrade or is there some way of getting around this with my version?

I believe that what you're saying is correct. Most major websites have added functionality based on technology that wasn't present when Panther was still supported. Upgrade to Tiger. Or better yet, upgrade to Leopard if you can, and I believe iMac G5s can indeed go to Leopard (but not Snow Leopard). Upgrading to Leopard will allow you to install most of the latest software, including iTunes 10 (which opens the door to iOS 4.2 and tv 2).

There may be other browsers you can try, such as Firefox or Opera, but then again the latest Mac versions of these may require Tiger or Leopard at a minimum.

Again, I'd upgrade the OS to Leopard, or if that's not possible, Tiger, and install additional RAM if possible.

 

[cerithomas]

Thanks

Hi,

Yes exactly, you have hit the nail on the head and reconfirmed what I originally thought, as I have seen iMac G5's can got to Leopard but there are many full disks that are meant for intel based iMacs so finding one for PowerPc is proving hard I was just wondering more than anything if there was a way to get around this at all but it appears not as firefox and opera are hard to locate for my operating system and will still likely not function properly on the previously mentioned sites.

Thanks so much for your help, I will have to hunt a copy of leopard down that if for PowerPC's

Ceri.

 

[Knoodles]

Check Amazon UK. Amazon US has a few vendors still offering Leopard retail disc for $129. The retail price btw. Make sure you get a retail install disc and not one that is machine specific.

 

[Makosuke]

I'll just confirm that you're going to have a lot of trouble with anything earlier than 10.4, and 10.5 is much better given the choice (so long as you have at least 1GB of RAM, preferably 2GB, which your machine does support). None of the modern browsers support 10.3 until you go several versions back. Worse, in addition to not having support for more modern web technologies, these older browser releases are MUCH slower, particularly when it comes to Javascript, used heavily by just about any interactive website--unlike a lot of technology things, Javascript speed has improved exponentially in recent versions of all the major browsers, which makes even more of a difference on older computers than newer ones.

If memory serves, Firefox 2 is the best you're going to be able to do with 10.3.

I practically consider 10.4 (and .5) to be abandonware--Apple has left PPC users, especially those of older G4/G3 systems that won't even support 10.5, out in the cold by ceasing to offer any version of 10.4 or 10.5, even as some sort of "no support provided" download-only version or something. Really not a very nice move, if you ask me. I almost wonder if Apple is just expecting people to install off of a friend's copy or something, since there's no copy protection at all on the OS installer--I wouldn't be half surprised, though that's backhanded for those of us who like to do things legitimately.

The good news is that if you manage to find a copy of 10.5 somehow, you've got the latest version of Safari or Firefox available, which will result in a drastically faster browsing experience.