Inaugural Winter PowerPC Challenge! January 1-7, 2017

[1042686]

Last day on the G5. Tomorrow I'll switch back to my Quicksilver G4. Everything I've said so far. Nothing is lacking for me. Today's uses:

Web browsing TFF+BHF
Slack ppcmacs Web chat.
Played some tunes w/ itunes.
Streamed some Mogwai with Spotify.
Moved some files with Drop box.

That was about it. Did everything I needed it to. I agree that I get everything I need between the PMG5 and my iphone6. Except a robot. I could totally use a robot that takes down christmas lights and washes my cars without me needing to be in them.

 

[Gamer9430]

So i got the battery for my Ti yesterday... I let it charge over night only to discover it wasn't working. So I decided to try some troubleshooting, and after a PRAM and PMU reset, it's taking a charge! And my god, the power of the 1GHz with L3 is AMAZING! It's so fast now that it's not downclocking to 667MHz and disabling the L3. Too bad I don't have classes tomorrow or Friday, but I'll be using it anyway!

Also, still using the G5 with no issues 😀

 

[bobesch]

Checking my 4 mail accounts,various chat thingies WhatsApp Messenger,iMessages,Linkedin,eBay just to have instant notifications which can trigger me , using my iPhone for that.

It would be great to have something like 1keyboard to make text-input to the iPhone with the iBooks/Powerbooks keyboard.

Screen estate , I have a 20" Cinema Display but my 27" Thunderbolt Display is my "TV" is just across my sofa
and it has speakers in the screen . [...] Miss the option to divert sound to the screen and also a bigger screen for the PB, any suggestions for the sound ?

That "APPLE MINI-DVI to DVI ADAPTER" is obviously hard to find. Most offers are for the VGA-adapter.
Sound out - I guess only with a long 3.5 Klinke.

Still haven't worked out/looked at [...] nor my Canon LIDE scanner

The latest CanoScanLide to have support for PPC/Leopard is the 210. Works fine.

General consensus so far, PB + iPhone get the job done .

+1 🙂

 

[ApplesDotCom101]

well i might as well give a update.

YESTERDAY:

i found out that you can't watch YouTube videos that are uploaded on the day you are trying to watch them?

the G4 won't boot at all for some weird reason. today it booted fine?

TODAY:

I've had no issues with the G4 or the G5 so far. the G4 is just playing ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) and i am typing and watching YouTube on the G5. 🙂

 

[pochopsp]

YESTERDAY:

i found out that you can't watch YouTube videos that are uploaded on the day you are trying to watch them?

That's because YouTube takes a bit of time to convert the video in webm format to let you see it with the html5 player. Just use PPC Media Center and you will be able to watch your YouTube videos in every moment 😉

 

[ZacharyFurgeson]

Let the record show I made it to 7:15pm 1/4/17. Even with a top of the line G5 Quad I couldn't do it. Good luck to the rest of you on your week. Signing out!

 

[bobesch]

I'll be honest with you guys, after this challenge is over I'm probably leaving the PPC era. This week thus far has been brutal, and I waste my time on projects that someone supersedes within the next 24 hours, or all the copycats of my Archive. Just not worth my time anymore.

Hold on! You've done such a great job on PPCs. But sometimes is time to shift down a gear and relax.
When I've got my first PPC my first source how to start had been the PPC-Archive!
Today I've been at PPC-Again - after a long time - and had to notice, that a lot of stuff and ideas, I had been searching for (and finally found a solution after longtime browsing), had been already there and I didn't recognize the value that time.
Today I had a look at your blog and found that gem about Win-Fundamentals.
That was really great!
Now there are only 4 files left (WinFundamentals, RDC6.1-hotfix, LancomAdvancedVPN-Client and VirtualPC7) and voila, the slickest RDP-Client for my purpose is ready.
Thank you, and thanks to all the other folks here at MR PPC-Forum, for all your inspiring help!

 

[Gamer9430]

And just like that, everything goes south. In a first for Newertech, my battery nearly caught on fire. Thankfully, unlike cheap Chinese batteries, this battery had a safety mechanism that prevented any more current from going into the cells. There are now two brown lines on the battery from what likely was a burning cell that may or may not have caught on fire internally. Also unlike Chinese batteries, Newertech (owned by OWC/MacSales.com) has amazing customer support. Before it was even taking a charge, the service guy told me how to get it working, which did indeed get it working. After it failed, I contacted them again and immediately the guy knew it needed to be replaced. He asked for some pictures, which I provided. He also bumped me to free 2-day shipping so I can get another ASAP. So really great customer support, and usually reputable and great products. This was an oddity and certainly won't deter me from buying any more of their products 😀

 

[1042686]

Hold on! You've done such a great job on PPCs. But sometimes is time to shift down a gear and relax.
When I've got my first PPC my first source how to start had been the PPC-Archive!
Today I've been at PPC-Again - after a long time - and had to notice, that a lot of stuff and ideas, I had been searching for (and finally found a solution after longtime browsing), had been already there and I didn't recognize the value that time.
Today I had a look at your blog and found that gem about Win-Fundamentals.
That was really great!
Now there are only 4 files left (WinFundamentals, RDC6.1-hotfix, LancomAdvancedVPN-Client and VirtualPC7) and voila, the slickest RDP-Client for my purpose is ready.
Thank you, and thanks to all the other folks here at MR PPC-Forum, for all your inspiring help!

Yeah, so you think someone dicked ya over. It's important to realize the breadth & scope of your positive impact on the users here. If someone did you wrong, screw em, but don't leave the community. The PPC folks value your contribution & you are obviously a valued part of the PPC community. If you leave, assh*le wins & we're left with what? Glitchy script & sticky fingers McGee? I'd much rather enjoy your company, knowledge & wait for you to finish what you started. We're patient. We understand that quality & functionality takes time & that being first often doesn't mean you win.

Conversely, if you're honestly just tired & ready to move on, then do what you need to. I understand that too. Just don't give up. Don't let manipulative people push you around or sour your outlook on the community. Remember that the community respects you for your contributions regardless. No one can take that away from you.

 

[SkyBell]

Been mostly using my PowerBook for the last two days, due to how I STILL haven't replaced the horribly noisy fan in my eMac. (At least I actually bought it finally, now just to find the time to make the fix) No real issues to speak of - using XBMC to watch media, TenFourFox for browsing, Songbird for music and PPC Media Center for YouTube. The only thing that bothers me is the PowerBook's notoriously spotty wi-fi reception - I have no wired option available, and two bars is the best I can get from my bedroom. 🙁 But overall, this "challenge" has been a breeze 😀

Sometime in the next few days, I'm going to have to set up an account with a financing company I recently purchased a vehicle through. I plan to try this on my eMac, and that will be the true test of PPC relevancy in 2017 for me.

 

[Lastic]

Day 5 on the morning train commute



bobesch

I got the Apple mini Displayport to DVI adapter but how to get the sound input to the Thunderbolt Display ?

I have a CanoScan Lide100 but haven't found a driver yet that works for it to be recognised with ImageCapture.

 

[bobesch]

Day 5 on the morning train commute

View attachment 681841
bobesch
I got the Apple mini Displayport to DVI adapter but how to get the sound input to the Thunderbolt Display ?
I have a CanoScan Lide100 but haven't found a driver yet that works for it to be recognised with ImageCapture.

Ah, sorry, about sound-in and Thunderbold Display I have no idea. Probably there is no solution since everything is meant to run through that Thunderbolt-cable.
As for the CanoScanLide 100 go to the US-support-site. They offer drivers down to Puma/OSX-Server
https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/...canoscan-series/canoscan-lide-100?tab=drivers

 

[durika175]

Day ... i dont know what day is it..
I left my laptop on my bed today after hard work in school class..
I came from shower and my 5yr cousin was jumping on bed and close enough to iBook..
After he left i opened my laptop and what i found ? a cracked screen, broken keyboard.... Oh god... I like kids but.. Why ? 😎
Later on i told his mom he broke iBook and she said.. Thats your fault.. You shouldn't leave your laptop alone.. 😵 I'm so mad because i must order a new screen for it .. :/ Whatever.. Best week in my entire life 😀
Also i forgot..
My iBook G4 passed todays hardcore test..
Battery lasts 5h 45 minutes.. and it can play 720p video in full screen and PowerPoint presentation worked fine.. Today was really tough day..
I hope, my DATA is fine, because i don't use dropbox and all these stuff
Writing from iBook G3 Snow 800MHz 10.4.. painfully slow but... i cant cheat !

 

[bobesch]

Day 5 of the challenge. Used two Powerbook G4 (12" 1.5GHz / 15" 1.67GHz DLSD) together with my iPhone 6s
[with few exceptions: MacBookPro for (1) Netflix and Amazon-Video, (2) for Batch-Scanning/OCR with DEVONthink, (3) for running my Office-Software with Win7pro in a VirtualMachine with Fusion8]
So most of the time the PowerBooks are my main machines and the 12" PB plus iPhone are my only companions on the go.

These are the best thing I encountered during the last five days of the challenge:
- for the first time I could make the combination of VirtualPC7 / WinXPpro-SP3 / LancomAdvancedVPNclient / MS RemoteDesktop Client work to connect with my Office-Server (Win2008Server). Even better: yesterday I found a much smoother way for this purpose when I read Gavins PPC-Blog about "Windows-Foundation" - a kind of ultra-slim XP-fork with SP2 that need much less recources for the use with VirtualPC7. Many thanks for that hint!!! 🙂 - The search for a working RemoteDesktop-Clint 6.1, which was necessary to connect to the server, then had been a bit tricky, since the MS download-pages are down
- I also found a way to move my fotos from the iPhone to the PowerBook with the help of "iFiles"-App for iOS. So I can now import Fotos out of the CameraRoll into iPhoto or swap video-clips to the Powerbook for editing in iMovieHD (v.5).
- Files of all sort can also be moved between Powerbook and Cloud by the use of iFiles and the AFP-Connection between iPhone and PPC. So I can both access Dropbox (Cho's Client), OneDrive (Client within the MS Office 2008-installation) and webDAV directly with the PowerBook and through the iPhone. Outlook.com does work decent through the browser interface, but I don't really need it, except for the reason of collaborative working on a document (which didn't ever happen yet). GoogleDocs through brower interface really suck on the G4 books, but I don't need it anyway.
- for meetings and on the go I can use my iPhones mobile Hotspot, like Lastic described before, an I can take/store fotos or voice-notes directly to the PowerBook through "iFiles'" AFP-connection.
- I found out, that I can view all my DEVONthink databases created on the intel-MacBookPro also on the PowerBook (all my Journals went into DEVONthink to make them searchable PDFs), since the databases have backwards-compatibility.
- the Powerbook is my main and only device for sending batch-faxes (with PageSender-FaxCenter), since the option to send fax isn't possible anymore with the intel machines - at least very unconvenient. Therefor I got a miniG4 to use it as a fax-server in my office.
- there's full IMAP-email-access through the Powerbooks Mail-App and I have no restrictions concerning email.
- browsing the web is a bit slow, but I can cope. Only video-streaming (Netflix/Amazon) doesn't work - but for this option I'm happy to cheat with the iPhone.
- YouTube video works for me with Webkit and ClickToPlugin: 360p for streaming, 360p/720p for downloads and watching the clips later with CorePlayer. For 360p clips a simple spacebar-click opens the "preview" without even starting a video-player, but that doesn't work for 720p files which require CorePlayer.
- Music-streaming through the local network and iTunes in the Cloud? Yes, thats possible. But Apple-Music doesn't work and therefore is another cheat with my iPhone.
- watching/rcording TV is possible with eyeTV and my current DVBT-Tuner-stick, but the DVBT-service will end in march 2017. Fortunately there's still the option to use the "elgato Sat-Tuner DVS-S/S2 with CI". I hope it will work, when the Satellite dish has been attached. Got 2 of those Tuners off the bay to keep the option of recording.
- Office 2008 is fine if it comes to OpenXML but most of the time I prefer to work with Office2004 and no XML-files. So files fit my Office 2000 at work too. I can't stand the ribbon of newer Office-versions!
- Scanning would be possible both with my ScanSnap1500 and the CanoScanLide200. OCR througt DEVONthing. Speed is a hassle, but OCR doesn't run after each scan with blocking the next scan - instead of that, OCR with DEVONthink can be performed later after the scanning has been finished and can also be done during nightime, when the Powerbook is idle.

Thinks that do not work:
- Video Streaming of Netflix/Amazon/iTunes-content
- iCloud and the latest iWorks-Apps
- AppleMusic
But it's good to know most of that stuff can be accomplished with the iPhone.

So challenge passed for all my needs ( ...as long as that little cheating device is close by 😉 )

 

[durika175]

I dont know how.. but my PowerBook G4 867MHz is faster than my iBook G4 1.33GHz 🙂 Probably Level 3 cache is making difference 😀 That PowerBook had issue with ram slots.. currently is working fine 🙂

 

[mmphosis]

Web browsing TFF+BHF

What is BHF?

 

[1042686]

What is BHF?

Blue hell Firewall

 

[durika175]

Okay guys, im moving to Powerbook G4 Titanium 867MHz.. Because my iBook G4 is broken and i should pick parts sooner than Monday but the seller isn't at Home..
Well my experience with Ti Book is great.. I installed leopard on it and works fine.. No issues at all.. Even Faster than my iBook G4 1.33GHz..
I had one issue currently with fans in PowerBook because fan on the left side is so noisy (probably bearings) 🙁
I hope i can finish this challenge successfully... Peace

 

[iModFrenzy]

Today has been rough. Many many problems. I'm trying to fight with it, so we shall see!

Biggest pain by far - the web. Everything is terribly slow, many glitches, I dunno. And TFF has 16GB of ram it could use but with 5 tabs open the G5 is using less than 2GB in total. This machine is the best PowerPC someone could own, if I'm having a disappointing experience with a Quad, I'm wondering how you G4 guys are doing!

My biggest thing was trying to make YouTube videos play under VLC. I found one firefox extension however it doesn't work due to some https:// issue. Even trying to open the YouTube video URL in VLC also gave me issues. QuickTime Enabler does not work worth a s*** either. "Not a video" error. If there was one thing that would keep me satisfied during this week is YouTube. I give up, I'll come back to this tomorrow possibly.

Internet is also a huge issue, the G5 isn't using it's full potential (the TX rate is 54Mbps like it should be), and I did a speedtest on my MBA then my G5, and the results are below. Trust me I'm bummed too!

My post is long, I've been working on it for hours! Worth a read if you're interested in my story for the day.

https://powerpccentre.wordpress.com/2017/01/02/ppcc-2017-day-1-configuring-the-g5-quad/

https://mrgeckosmedia.com/applications/info/YouView

It has the occasional error when loading a video but it's the best/easiest solution I've had on PPC(I never really figured out how to set up WebKit for YouTube). I set the quality to 480p and I watch it happily on my PowerBook G4 12in. 🙂

 

[flyrod]

Lots of good info in this thread; thanks guys!

 

[Orizence]

Im going to have to do this challenge another day, after getting sick since Tuesday, I haven't actually ben able to use my G5 much as I've been stuck in bed; therefore Ive been using my MBA.

 

[Altemose]

How does the Fluid app work? I'm looking for just the messaging aspect, not the content of Facebook. There's this nice desktop application that allows for one to send and receive Facebook messages (not affiliated with Facebook or Facebook's Messenger), and it's nice to have... on Intel machines. I'm hoping something like it could be done on PPC machines.

Essentially, as eyoungren has beat me to it, Fluid takes a URL and builds a single page browser around it. Therefore, you are essentially running a stripped down copy of WebKit underneath with only basic navigation within that page. TenFourFoxBox uses the same technology, but is built on the Firefox foundation vs. WebKit.

Good tip, although I've done that when installing. It's things like Google Docs and my online banking (rightly) picking up the Safari 6 identifier from the browser string...

There are methods to spoof the identifiers, but generally speaking TenFourFox is going to be more secure then a WebKit derivative on PPC.

YouTube videos also seem to work fairly decent on the PowerBook G4 and the MDD, so long as it loads a little before starting the video, without much stutter.

Are you just running regular YouTube in the browser?

I had one issue currently with fans in PowerBook because fan on the left side is so noisy (probably bearings) 🙁
I hope i can finish this challenge successfully... Peace

I have had great success with removing the fan assembly, then removing the fan itself and using a medicine dropper to put about 10 drops of 91%+ isopropyll alcohol in the fan. Then insert the fan and rotate it by hand for a good minute or so. Let it dry for about 10-15 minutes and add 3 drops of plain mineral oil. You can get it at the drug store as a laxative and the plain mineral oil works as a great lubricant and generally fixes fan noise. Furthermore, it will not damage the fan assembly. Do not purchase a mineral oil with any additive, or else you run the risk of your fan crapping out. (Haha! Get it?)

It has the occasional error when loading a video but it's the best/easiest solution I've had on PPC(I never really figured out how to set up WebKit for YouTube). I set the quality to 480p and I watch it happily on my PowerBook G4 12in. 🙂

I thought YouView and MacTubes were broken when Google changed the YouTube API and they never fixed it. Glad to hear it is working again!

Im going to have to do this challenge another day, after getting sick since Tuesday, I haven't actually ben able to use my G5 much as I've been stuck in bed; therefore Ive been using my MBA.

Therefore, you must purchase a PowerBook G4 or iBook at once...

 

[durika175]

You can get it at the drug store

😀 I found i my garage exact same fan and i replaced it and its fine 🙂 But thanks for explanation..
Currently everything works fine, but i hate freaking USB 1.1.. Painfully slooooow..

 

[Hrududu]

First check-in of the week for me. Reality of it is this has been more "business as usual" than a challenge aside from staying away from Intel powered laptops. There has been one exception, the 2007 iMac at the bowling alley has stayed put as the jukebox system. The reality of having to unload my counter and re-connect everything to a G5 was relly just more work that it would be worth for 7 days. I just keep a TiBook at the counter for my internet amusement, so the iMac is just doing music. Aside from that, its been the 12" and 17" PowerBooks at the house, extra TiBook use at the bowling center, and my usual setup of the QC G5 at the office.

 

[Orizence]

Therefore, you must purchase a PowerBook G4 or iBook at once...

I would buy a new charger for my G4 but unfortunately I dont get paid until next Sunday and I have a tournament in a different town I need to save my money for. After that I will purchase a charger and I will use my PPC machines for work, personal, and school use.

Im currently shocked about how much old PPC machines are going for up here in Canada...