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New apps for PowerPC

N

Nova77

Guest
Original poster
May 12, 2011
337
1
Hi, I just thought ppc users could share their hard to find apps. Some apps are still universal binary up to this day, but they are becoming hard to find. Post anything useful: audio apps, video apps, web browsing apps, utilities, games.......

Here are some I think any PPC user should have:

Web browser: Tenfourfox 5
Youtube playback : Mactubes 3.0.8
DIVX, AVI, etc : VLC
HD playback: CorePlayer
MSN-like: Adium

Note: Those who say a G4 or G5 is too old and real slow, please get out of here. Let's face it, problems you get on a PPC are not a matter of power but of compatibility
 
Nova77 said:
Hi, I just thought ppc users could share their hard to find apps. Some apps are still universal binary up to this day, but they are becoming hard to find. Post anything useful: audio apps, video apps, web browsing apps, utilities, games.......

Here are some I think any PPC user should have:

Web browser: Tenfourfox 5
Youtube playback : Mactubes 3.0.8
DIVX, AVI, etc : VLC
HD playback: CorePlayer
MSN-like: Adium

Note: Those who say a G4 or G5 is too old and real slow, please get out of here. Let's face it, problems you get on a PPC are not a matter of power but of compatibility
Click to expand...

Where can I download CorePlayer? Google hasn't helped me.
 
Nova77 said:
Note: Those who say a G4 or G5 is too old and real slow, please get out of here. Let's face it, problems you get on a PPC are not a matter of power but of compatibility
Click to expand...

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

This truly is laughable. The lack of power of my PowerBook G4 cost me a night of sleep once when I was in college. I had to edit and export a video that I shot, all in 1080p. It edited decently, but it was still slow. When it came time to export, it took 3 hours to export a video 7 minutes long. My MacBook that I have now (which would have been about a year old at the time) can do the same video in about 1/3 of the time.

No compatibility issue there, as the software was running perfectly.

I have a lot of respect for the PPC Macs, and my wife is currently quite satisfied with my PBG4. They have aged very well. But to say that the problems you get on PPC Macs are not related to power but to compatibility is simply not true or accurate. YOU may be content with a PPC Mac, but that doesn't mean it fulfills the needs of others.
 
iThinkergoiMac said:
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

This truly is laughable. The lack of power of my PowerBook G4 cost me a night of sleep once when I was in college. I had to edit and export a video that I shot, all in 1080p. It edited decently, but it was still slow. When it came time to export, it took 3 hours to export a video 7 minutes long. My MacBook that I have now (which would have been about a year old at the time) can do the same video in about 1/3 of the time.

No compatibility issue there, as the software was running perfectly.

I have a lot of respect for the PPC Macs, and my wife is currently quite satisfied with my PBG4. They have aged very well. But to say that the problems you get on PPC Macs are not related to power but to compatibility is simply not true or accurate. YOU may be content with a PPC Mac, but that doesn't mean it fulfills the needs of others.
Click to expand...

This thread is for those using PPC macs that want to get new apps. Whats wrong with getting new apps? A PPC is not good for you? OK. Then don't look at this post.
 
Nova77 said:
This thread is for those using PPC macs that want to get new apps.
Click to expand...

I use a PPC Mac (or at least support one so my wife can continue to use it) and am thus always interested in getting new apps for it to improve its functionality and life. Thus this thread, according to you, is for me.

You brought up the subject of speed never being an issue and compatibility always being the issue. If you didn't want that to be a part of this thread, why did you bring it up?

Whats wrong with getting new apps?
Click to expand...

Absolutely nothing, and I think it's awesome that people are continuing to provide some support to a platform that Apple has completely dropped! And, if you read my post, you'll see I actually did not comment on whether or not it was a good thing that PPC users are still getting new apps.

A PPC is not good for you? OK. Then don't look at this post.
Click to expand...

You missed the entire point of my post. My point was that you made a claim about PPC Macs that was totally unfounded and erroneous. You also seemed to miss all that I said about PPC Macs at the end. I still love my wife's PowerBook and am continually impressed with how well it runs for its age.
 
iThinkergoiMac seems to want to make this thread all about him and his own experiences as if they speak for all of us.

Other great and still developed PowerPC apps:

Max (great audio ripper)
Camino PowerPC builds
Alarm Clock (the name explains it)
Omniweb (another great browser)
WeatherDock (best weather app ever on the Mac)
The Unarchiver (opens virtually every compressed file format that has ever existed)
X-Chat Aqua (solid IRC client)
iTunes
 
zen.state said:
iThinkergoiMac seems to want to make this thread all about him and his own experiences as if they speak for all of us.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry I ever posted in this thread.

That is far from what I'm trying to do. To say that the only problems that can be encountered on a PPC Mac are compatibility related is simply not true. I was simply pointing that out. I have not anywhere here (or ever) said or implied that PPC Macs are bad or shouldn't be used. I think they're great, though slow for what I want to do.

I have not condemned PPC Macs yet some in this thread are acting as if I have. I'm simply pointing out the error of a statement, a rather large one I might add.
 
MPEG Streamclip is another great PPC media converting app, it can also convert a video file into audio file which is really handy IMO. I find it works great on a G4.
 
I don't really know.

I do use PS CS4 on my MDD when my MBP is crunching something else, though. I know CS4 isn't exactly new, but it still gets the job done, albeit slowly.
 
As for good PPC apps, one of my favorites is NicePlayer. It does a good job playing videos, and it uses the GPU to accelerate playback if said GPU accelerates Core Video/Animation. My PBG4 in my sig can play back 720p video without a hitch. Combined with Perian and Flip4Mac, it'll play pretty much anything.

It's a good way to get HD playback on a PPC Mac without shelling out for CorePlayer.
 
iThinkergoiMac said:
I use a PPC Mac (or at least support one so my wife can continue to use it) and am thus always interested in getting new apps for it to improve its functionality and life. Thus this thread, according to you, is for me.

You brought up the subject of speed never being an issue and compatibility always being the issue. If you didn't want that to be a part of this thread, why did you bring it up?



Absolutely nothing, and I think it's awesome that people are continuing to provide some support to a platform that Apple has completely dropped! And, if you read my post, you'll see I actually did not comment on whether or not it was a good thing that PPC users are still getting new apps.



You missed the entire point of my post. My point was that you made a claim about PPC Macs that was totally unfounded and erroneous. You also seemed to miss all that I said about PPC Macs at the end. I still love my wife's PowerBook and am continually impressed with how well it runs for its age.
Click to expand...

Dude... I did not say "power is NEVER an issue"... You should get the main idea, which is : keep away people that say PPC macs are too slow to use. When I say power is not an issue, I mean it is not an issue when it comes to "is this a viable computer?" --> yes. Yeah right my sentence was not so precise, but man, why such a big post... When I say power is not an issue, it is ********** true if you keep in mind what a PPC IS.... a computer that kicks ass as a consumer product, and is still viable as an audio workstation or photoshop editing machine. I took for granted readers would actually know what a PPC is, and so understand my statement about compatibility being the main issue.

Do you try to edit HD video on a mac mini without separate GPU?... NO.. Because it's not made for that (well now it is becoming more arguable, but anyways, you get the idea). PPC macs do not lack any power for 99% of everydays tasks, unless you do 1080p video edit and stuff. I'd never do pro video these days on a PPC mac, well unless its a G5 quad....

Hope this clarifies it all and we can get back to getting apps. Cause thats all that matters, really. Peace!

P.S.: Should have added "compatibility AND optimisation is the main issue over power". When you see most apps don't use the graphics card at all, or don't have even the smallest altivec support.... I can say that without a doubt, we will never see the full power of an old G4 unleashed, because coders have become lazy and rely on bigger machines to compensate their lack of optimisation. Even the lowest G4 has the potential to do some amazing things we will never see it do. However, some apps help. Tried Tenfourfox 5 on an old 533mhz G4, and its 2X faster than firefox 3. On my G4 MDD, TFF5 is actually as fast as on my dad's macbookpro 2009. So, yeah, apps have something to do with speed more than "raw ghz power"... that is the point.
 
Last edited:
The key to code for G4 and G5 chips performing well is based on how well the altivec code is written. Some one that really knows what they're doing can increase performance by up to 6x. Seriously..
 
Hey, this thread is pretty useful. I just upgraded to a 2011 MBP, but my 2004 iMac G5 17" still works perfectly fine (well, OK, mostly fine.) Going to clean it up and install some of these apps - isn't it always the truth, once you upgrade you start treating your old machines better?

(I also find it hilarious that my brother, who excoriated us for spending so much money on Macs, has ditched his $700 Toshiba laptop for the aforementioned G5. Heh heh.)
 
zen.state said:
iThinkergoiMac seems to want to make this thread all about him and his own experiences as if they speak for all of us.

Other great and still developed PowerPC apps:

Max (great audio ripper)
Camino PowerPC builds
Alarm Clock (the name explains it)
Omniweb (another great browser)
WeatherDock (best weather app ever on the Mac)
The Unarchiver (opens virtually every compressed file format that has ever existed)
X-Chat Aqua (solid IRC client)
iTunes
Click to expand...



thank you for Max and Weather dock, two really good apps.

as far as Powerpc macs being useful. If you are willing to tweak your machine a little they are still very useful. I love my powerbook g4 15" would i love a macbook? sure, but this is what i have and whoever was talking about doing video editing on a g4, i mean come on please get real.

I still prefer Leopard, Safari (occasionally tenfourfox/camino, but safari works best for my needs) to windows 7!!!

One last thing, Apple hasnt abandoned the PPC. yesterday i updated OS X, itunes and Safari... so i think its unfair to say they have completely forgotten about us. Unfortunately most if not all new apps will not be ppc compatible, but it has been a long time since they switched to intel.
 
Nova77 said:
Note: Those who say a G4 or G5 is too old and real slow, please get out of here. Let's face it, problems you get on a PPC are not a matter of power but of compatibility
Click to expand...

HAHAHA
it's so funny.

i still use ibook g3 clamshell and imac g4 sunflower.
watch movies .avi .dat .flv use mpeg streamclip.app
surf on internet G3 and G4 use firefox

i think when Mac were used PowerPC is truly different with PC,,,
but now?
correct me if i wrong

Badrottie said:
We all powerPC must admit all apps for powerPC are dead now! Our future is finished.
Click to expand...

oh yah??
future is mystery, nobody all unknow what happen!
:apple:
 
.... How this post has become a catfight (PPC users vs Intel users) is very disapointing...

If you swear by Intel and don't like PPC, I urge you to get out.

If you are a frustrated PPC user, this is not the place to fight either.



Do I need to repeat it so ppl get what this thread is???

SHARE SOME APPS....
SHARE SOME APPS....
SHARE SOME APPS....
SHARE SOME APPS....
SHARE SOME APPS....
SHARE SOME APPS....
SHARE SOME APPS....
SHARE SOME APPS....
 
this thread has been useful to me (weather app and max) i would like to share with you guys some of the apps i use:

I have perian set up for quicktime, and i have a video app optimized for g4 but honestly I use the last power pc VLC and it works great.

I have Office 2004, i know 2008 will work with ppc, but word 2004 is pretty powerful (enough for my needs) and it is zippy on my powerbook.

I also use the 2004 version of Photoshop again it runs quickly and i am not doing professional work (amateur photographer, so i use it to touch up photos and to add effects or alter lighting).

I use the last version of Transmission for powerpc to download bit torrents and it works great. I mostly download videos which i play with VLC without a problem unless they are really hi def (see below)

I have Skype and a little cam which i used quite a bit to talk to my parents when I was living (until recently) in another state. It worked like a charm.

I have ten four fox, camino, opera and Safari installed. I really like safari, especially since I enabled developer mode, this way i pretend i am an iPad and many sites will display videos in quicktime instead of shockwave.

Ive used adium but i only use yahoo for messenging these days, so i have yahoo messenger installed and it works great.

I use Visual Hub to convert videos. I have had to use a couple times to render 1080p or 720p videos down to play properly on my powerbook.

Finally I use Ifreemem because I have only 1gb of memory and if i use the laptop for hours it frees the memory in 2 minutes and makes it run like it just booted.



Thats all i can think of at the moment, but my little powerbook is way better than a pc laptop for my needs and I only had around 200 bucks to work with when I bought it earlier this year. I paid 165 and the only upgrades i have had to do have been in software. I planned on upgrading the ram and hd but I really see little need. I don't get the arguments here. If anything i find it amazing that an almost 10 year old product is still doing what most people do these days on their new laptops. When I bring it to the laundry mat or other places with wifi i always get people saying "wow cool laptop" it looks like a macbook and it does anything you would expect a modern laptop to do what more could i hope for at this price?
 
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