Making use of an iMac G5 ALS

[GoldfishRT]

Hey fellow PowerPC owners/enthusiasts/cultists!

So, me being a bit adventurous and extremely (read: EXTREMELY) cheap I ended up purchasing an iMac G5 20", 2.0Ghz ALS for about fifty bucks - it's in nice shape. I want the run down on what I can do with this machine and how I can do it. Frankly a machine from 2005, barring software support, is plenty powerful for most of my needs, and this thing will be running as my daily driver until mid-next year.

So far, I've gotten myself a copy of Leopard, a 1TB Seagate HDD, and 2GB of ram to stick in it so hardware wise it's maxed out. I thought about going SSD but that seems a bit rich for such an old machine. What I want to know:

Best version of Microsoft Office to use on it - it needs to support the .docx format

WebBrowsing - Is there something available that isn't completely outdated and broken?

Is there a way to get Skype working? - Just need it for text chat

Netflix and YouTube - I know the former is probably a stretch, can these possibly handle h.264 @ 720p60? If it can't handle that codec but that resolution/framerate is possible what's the best way to convert my videos into something more manageable like mpeg2?

iTunes - Do these things support the store at all anymore? I just want access to my podcasts.

Games! - I've got a PS4 but I like to use my mouse and keyboards from time to time. I know Steam is out of the question but I vividly remember Quake IV coming out for PPC; will this thing chug through that? Also don't mind going through some old PPC gems not available today so I'm happy to hear some suggestions.

 

[Greene]

Office - I believe 2008 is the last stop for PPC and does support docx (I think). iWork 09 is Apple's last offering.

Web - Tenfourfox or aurora. Tenfourfox is my personal choice, but I run tiger.

Youtube - It could probably do 720p using quicktime enabler, but it wouldn't do as nicely as a modern intel mac. Even the nicer G5's have trouble with youtube.

Netflix - no.

 

[3349793]

Hey fellow PowerPC owners/enthusiasts/cultists!

So, me being a bit adventurous and extremely (read: EXTREMELY) cheap I ended up purchasing an iMac G5 20", 2.0Ghz ALS for about fifty bucks - it's in nice shape. I want the run down on what I can do with this machine and how I can do it. Frankly a machine from 2005, barring software support, is plenty powerful for most of my needs, and this thing will be running as my daily driver until mid-next year.

So far, I've gotten myself a copy of Leopard, a 1TB Seagate HDD, and 2GB of ram to stick in it so hardware wise it's maxed out. I thought about going SSD but that seems a bit rich for such an old machine. What I want to know:

Best version of Microsoft Office to use on it - it needs to support the .docx format

WebBrowsing - Is there something available that isn't completely outdated and broken?

Is there a way to get Skype working? - Just need it for text chat

Netflix and YouTube - I know the former is probably a stretch, can these possibly handle h.264 @ 720p60? If it can't handle that codec but that resolution/framerate is possible what's the best way to convert my videos into something more manageable like mpeg2?

iTunes - Do these things support the store at all anymore? I just want access to my podcasts.

Games! - I've got a PS4 but I like to use my mouse and keyboards from time to time. I know Steam is out of the question but I vividly remember Quake IV coming out for PPC; will this thing chug through that? Also don't mind going through some old PPC gems not available today so I'm happy to hear some suggestions.

On my Dual 2.5GHz PowerMac G5, I use Webkit as the web browser. Best one I've ever used on a PPC. You should give it a go as well.

Thanks

 

[Greene]

Yeah webkit or even safari would be a good option for online videos. There are a few older, lighter browsers which do better for cpu intensive web tasks, but I'm unsure how secure they are.

 

[GoldfishRT]

Thanks for the input guys. I'll definitely try TenFourFox and Webkit as well.

 

[Altemose]

1. Office 2008 offers full .docx support but a number of us use 2004 with the compatibility pack just fine! 2004 is a bit faster and lighter on resources, but 2008 will work great and has better compatibility.

2. TenFourFox with @eyoungren 's tweaks is by far the best web browsing experience. Leopard WebKit is another up to date browser that does a nice job!

3. You can get Skype 2.8 to work for text chat by spoofing the version number. Alternatively, you can try Skype for web in TenFourFox, but I personally have never tried it.

4. This is by far the most seamless way to use YouTube. Alternatively, you can use regular browser based YouTube in TenFourFox or try QuickTime Enabler. Netflix to my knowledge has zero support for these machines.

5. iTunes 10.6.3 under OS X Leopard still works great with the iTunes Store!

6. There are a number of titles for PowerPC in terms of gaming. Battlefield 1942, Minecraft, and AssaultCube are all some of my favorites.

DyNiForm's PowerPC Archive which is hosted by @gavinstubbs09 is the best place on the net to get free software for these PowerPC Macs!

 

[GoldfishRT]

1. Office 2008 offers full .docx support but a number of us use 2004 with the compatibility pack just fine! 2004 is a bit faster and lighter on resources, but 2008 will work great and has better compatibility.

Perfect!

3. You can get Skype 2.8 to work for text chat by spoofing the version number. Alternatively, you can try Skype for web in TenFourFox, but I personally have never tried it.

Any links to a good guide for this?

4. This is by far the most seamless way to use YouTube. Alternatively, you can use regular browser based YouTube in TenFourFox or try QuickTime Enabler. Netflix to my knowledge has zero support for these machines.

Excellent. Data caps keep me from using online Netflix much anyways so the SuperDrive will be serving it's duty

5. iTunes 10.6.3 under OS X Leopard still works great with the iTunes Store!

Nice to know that while feature wise it's being left behind it at least has basic functionality with the store. I doubt it but can it sync a modern iPhone?

6. There are a number of titles for PowerPC in terms of gaming. Battlefield 1942, Minecraft, and AssaultCube are all some of my favorites.

DyNiForm's PowerPC Archive which is hosted by @gavinstubbs09 is the best place on the net to get free software for these PowerPC Macs!

Awesome, super useful.

Thanks so much!

 

[Altemose]

Any links to a good guide for this?

This is the most recent guide to my knowledge by @gavinstubbs09!

Excellent. Data caps keep me from using online Netflix much anyways so the SuperDrive will be serving it's duty

VLC is a great tool to have on hand for all video content.

Nice to know that while feature wise it's being left behind it at least has basic functionality with the store. I doubt it but can it sync a modern iPhone?

iTunes 10.6.3 is capable of syncing pre-Lightning (30 pin connector) iOS devices running iOS 6 and prior.