For a while I've been thinking about posting something to this nature to test the useability (and the owners) of PPC Macs. I thought us here on the PPC section of MacRumors could start using only PPC Macs for a certain amount of time. Each time someone finishes their turn, they could nominate someone else to take on the challenge. Post ideas below, I'm open to critics/new ideas! I need help deciding on the time frame, so help would be appreciated!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
New Challenge?
- Thread starter MacCubed
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Uhm
just a note here.
I'd participate in this, except for the fact that the only Macs I've ever used or owned have been PowerPC Macs since 2001.
I do have an MBP now, but I've only had it for the last two weeks.
So, essentially I have taken your PowerPC challenge non-stop 24/7 for the last 14 years.
And that includes work. We've only had the MP here at work for the last year. Prior to that everything was done on the G4 and the G5.
Adobe CS4, QuarkXPress 8, Acrobat 9 Pro, Suitcase Fusion 2.
Ad design, layout, Classifieds, Legals, pagination, processing photos, etc. Two newspapers a week, plus any monthlies and quarterlies.
All done for years on PowerPC. Still done daily on my coworker's G5.
Not trying to be rude (forgive me if I sound rude) but it's not really a challenge when you live it daily.
I'd participate in this, except for the fact that the only Macs I've ever used or owned have been PowerPC Macs since 2001.
I do have an MBP now, but I've only had it for the last two weeks.
So, essentially I have taken your PowerPC challenge non-stop 24/7 for the last 14 years.
And that includes work. We've only had the MP here at work for the last year. Prior to that everything was done on the G4 and the G5.
Adobe CS4, QuarkXPress 8, Acrobat 9 Pro, Suitcase Fusion 2.
Ad design, layout, Classifieds, Legals, pagination, processing photos, etc. Two newspapers a week, plus any monthlies and quarterlies.
All done for years on PowerPC. Still done daily on my coworker's G5.
Not trying to be rude (forgive me if I sound rude) but it's not really a challenge when you live it daily.
Uhm just a note here.
I'd participate in this, except for the fact that the only Macs I've ever used or owned have been PowerPC Macs since 2001.
I do have an MBP now, but I've only had it for the last two weeks.
So, essentially I have taken your PowerPC challenge non-stop 24/7 for the last 14 years.
And that includes work. We've only had the MP here at work for the last year. Prior to that everything was done on the G4 and the G5.
Adobe CS4, QuarkXPress 8, Acrobat 9 Pro, Suitcase Fusion 2.
Ad design, layout, Classifieds, Legals, pagination, processing photos, etc. Two newspapers a week, plus any monthlies and quarterlies.
All done for years on PowerPC. Still done daily on my coworker's G5.
Not trying to be rude (forgive me if I sound rude) but it's not really a challenge when you live it daily.
Haha it's fine you don't sound rude, I was aiming toward the people who have PPC Macs as their secondary machines. I really love PPC Macs and have been using mine more and more over the past few months.
Once my thesis is finished(I should be submitting it tonight), I'm more than happy to take the challenge on.
I'll do at least a week-let's say from Friday May 8 from 12:00AM to Friday, May 16 at 11:59PM(EDT). Depending on how things are going, I may extend it further.
I'll most likely be primarily using a 15" DLSD during that time, but will also likely use a couple of G4 desktops. I'll likely be out of work most of next week(going on vacation mid-week), but when I'm there I'll use a 2.0DC G5. The fact that I'll be traveling will make the Powerbook my main computer for most of the period.
Depending on how things go, I may even extend it beyond next Friday.
I'll do at least a week-let's say from Friday May 8 from 12:00AM to Friday, May 16 at 11:59PM(EDT). Depending on how things are going, I may extend it further.
I'll most likely be primarily using a 15" DLSD during that time, but will also likely use a couple of G4 desktops. I'll likely be out of work most of next week(going on vacation mid-week), but when I'm there I'll use a 2.0DC G5. The fact that I'll be traveling will make the Powerbook my main computer for most of the period.
Depending on how things go, I may even extend it beyond next Friday.
The vintage Mac scene came up with RetroChallenge a few years ago (like, 2002 or 2003.) I personally hosted and curated it at least once.
In its original incarnation, the challenge was to use something "ten years old" but that was quickly abandoned once Power Macintosh 6100s, 7100s, and 8100s were less than ten years old. Mind, this was back in the day when most of us were actually still using Mac OS 9 and IE4/5 as our main browsing systems, so even doing RetroChallenge on a good '040 with a big disk and a lot of RAM (like more than 24 or so megs) was really pretty boring.
These days, RetroChallenge has switched over to a new format, focusing on doing interesting things with old technology, rather than the "endurance" challenge.
And, it's probably for the best, because endurance challenges aren't really that interesting at this point, if you're Paul Miller it can essentially totally destroy you, and to be perfectly honest, computing hasn't changed quite enough since the days of a machine like a fast G4 or just about any G5 that those systems would really be challenging to use.
Heck, my Windows 10 Tech Preview system has been a ThinkPad R61, which might actually be one of the few Core2Duo systems from 2007-2009 that i own that is actually slower than most G5s -- it's got a 1.8GHz single-core Celeron (Merom) with 4 gigs of RAM and a (new) 500GB/5400RPM hard disk, and for the most part, I'd describe it as "fine" -- it tests my patience and I'm not about to process my photos on it (compared with the 2.5GHz Core2Duo I use for that task) but that may even change as Windows 10 stabilizes a bit.
So, the idea of an endurance challenge on a late PPC Mac(1) is honestly pretty boring. It was somewhat poorly conceived idea when we first started doing it with 68k Macs, because at the time, a large majority of the site was already using 68k Macs in a primary or extremely heavy secondary role, and because it happened over the summer when less work happened, it meant that everybody was essentially given a free pass to have an excuse to turn off their modern computers and play Oregon Trail(2).
(1)Especially given that a fair number of people in this subforum choose them as their only or main computers (or most frequently used computers) specifically because they don't change or because they favor a particular version of a tool.
(2)Not that this is a bad thing, but the community where RetroChallenge started, the 68kMLA, has a lot of really young people onboard, along with a few educators. There are others, but for them, exceptions were made for work systems and work-critical communications devices, etc. What it essentially meant at the time, especially because there was almost nothing that had really grown beyond needing a good Quadra to render well, was that we were all just showing off, and the person who had a Q840av and a good display for it was the winner because their system was going to make them wait the least, and as such, be less tempted to turn on a PowerPC Mac.
Now, if the endurance challenge is to go use a 68k Mac for a while, then that would be a little different, if only because using a 68k Mac (or even Mac OS 9, exclusively, without the help of Classic Mode) requires some creative problem solving and the use of different tools as bridge machines. For example, folks over at the 68kMLA (and the Apple IIgs scene) have been getting good at setting up and using netatalk in Linux virtual machines as a fileserver.
In its original incarnation, the challenge was to use something "ten years old" but that was quickly abandoned once Power Macintosh 6100s, 7100s, and 8100s were less than ten years old. Mind, this was back in the day when most of us were actually still using Mac OS 9 and IE4/5 as our main browsing systems, so even doing RetroChallenge on a good '040 with a big disk and a lot of RAM (like more than 24 or so megs) was really pretty boring.
These days, RetroChallenge has switched over to a new format, focusing on doing interesting things with old technology, rather than the "endurance" challenge.
And, it's probably for the best, because endurance challenges aren't really that interesting at this point, if you're Paul Miller it can essentially totally destroy you, and to be perfectly honest, computing hasn't changed quite enough since the days of a machine like a fast G4 or just about any G5 that those systems would really be challenging to use.
Heck, my Windows 10 Tech Preview system has been a ThinkPad R61, which might actually be one of the few Core2Duo systems from 2007-2009 that i own that is actually slower than most G5s -- it's got a 1.8GHz single-core Celeron (Merom) with 4 gigs of RAM and a (new) 500GB/5400RPM hard disk, and for the most part, I'd describe it as "fine" -- it tests my patience and I'm not about to process my photos on it (compared with the 2.5GHz Core2Duo I use for that task) but that may even change as Windows 10 stabilizes a bit.
So, the idea of an endurance challenge on a late PPC Mac(1) is honestly pretty boring. It was somewhat poorly conceived idea when we first started doing it with 68k Macs, because at the time, a large majority of the site was already using 68k Macs in a primary or extremely heavy secondary role, and because it happened over the summer when less work happened, it meant that everybody was essentially given a free pass to have an excuse to turn off their modern computers and play Oregon Trail(2).
(1)Especially given that a fair number of people in this subforum choose them as their only or main computers (or most frequently used computers) specifically because they don't change or because they favor a particular version of a tool.
(2)Not that this is a bad thing, but the community where RetroChallenge started, the 68kMLA, has a lot of really young people onboard, along with a few educators. There are others, but for them, exceptions were made for work systems and work-critical communications devices, etc. What it essentially meant at the time, especially because there was almost nothing that had really grown beyond needing a good Quadra to render well, was that we were all just showing off, and the person who had a Q840av and a good display for it was the winner because their system was going to make them wait the least, and as such, be less tempted to turn on a PowerPC Mac.
Now, if the endurance challenge is to go use a 68k Mac for a while, then that would be a little different, if only because using a 68k Mac (or even Mac OS 9, exclusively, without the help of Classic Mode) requires some creative problem solving and the use of different tools as bridge machines. For example, folks over at the 68kMLA (and the Apple IIgs scene) have been getting good at setting up and using netatalk in Linux virtual machines as a fileserver.
I see where you are coming from, but not everyone has 68k Macs. If I did, I would definitely do that challenge instead. But, for now, I only have later PPC Macs minus my G3's
I'd call a G3 a "later PowerPC Mac," especially as by volume, most of them are NewWorld and will happily run Mac OS X 10.3/10.4 without much effort -- Heck, back when a 1GHz TiBook was my main computer from 2003 to 2006 or so, it never felt faster than my G3/450 tower (with a Yikes! board installed) or the G3/500 PowerBook that replaced it.
A more interesting idea would be a creativity challenge. This is a good opportunity for somebody to finally come up with a unified guide to Mac OS X hardening and security for the modern age, or for somebody to take on the programming project that is a bittorrent sync (or something similar -- bonus points if you invent your own engine) for PPC Macs.
A more interesting idea would be a creativity challenge. This is a good opportunity for somebody to finally come up with a unified guide to Mac OS X hardening and security for the modern age, or for somebody to take on the programming project that is a bittorrent sync (or something similar -- bonus points if you invent your own engine) for PPC Macs.
I don't know if you know Tom Smith (ItsMyNaturalColour). He's a youtuber and loves PowerPC Macs.
About 3 years ago one of his videos (the one about buying PowerPC Macs in 2012) was posted in the main Mac section of this very forum. Seeing the response, he decided to take a challenge pretty much identical to the one you are proposing here
He then gave up on the project until about a year ago, when he actually carried out the challenge, but never posted the videos...
Anyway, I could easily take your challenge. The only Intel Mac I've got is a rMacBook Pro which I hate (gave me so many problems...), so I would happily put it in the drawer for about a week. I could also post informations about the apps I use and the tasks I do on my Mac.
I might someday take on this PowerPC challenge, although my first Mac was a rMBP and I've primarily used an Intel Mac with an SSD and Retina display since so it would certainly be quite a change (although I've used my PowerPC Macs occasionally and still do).
I know which PPCs I would select: a Power Mac G5 dual-core 2.0 and 12" iBook G4 1.33. My best PPC desktop and laptop, of course.
Yes, used to be one of his subscribers... not anymore.
I know which PPCs I would select: a Power Mac G5 dual-core 2.0 and 12" iBook G4 1.33. My best PPC desktop and laptop, of course.
I don't know if you know Tom Smith (ItsMyNaturalColour). He's a youtuber and loves PowerPC Macs.
About 3 years ago one of his videos (the one about buying PowerPC Macs in 2012) was posted in the main Mac section of this very forum. Seeing the response, he decided to take a challenge pretty much identical to the one you are proposing here
He then gave up on the project until about a year ago, when he actually carried out the challenge, but never posted the videos...
Yes, used to be one of his subscribers... not anymore.
Last edited:
Another full time PPC user here - I spend most of my time on my G5 but use my G4 portables regularly. Web, video, graphics, music - all done on PPC. I have a laptop dual booting Linux and XP but never have to use it out of necessity.
iv sort of already done this challenge... a few months back my main machine at the time (a Hackintoshed dell laptop) died and I was forced to use my dual 1.42Ghz PowerMac G4 MDD for a month LOL it was fun with just 1.5GB of ram and 25 tabs open in tenforfox (awesome browser btw) I could actually watch 360p YT vids in the browser with out too much stuttering even with 24 other tabs one being facebook... if my PowerMac G5 had more Ram I could prolly use that as my main machine (id rather use that as my main machine then my hackintoshed Xeon machine as it drives me up the wall some times LOL)
Well, I just got my 12" PBG4, and with my PowerMac G5 standing by, this sounds like a great idea for someone like me who relies heavily on Intel macs and only uses PPC on the side.
My challenge to myself is to run Windows 10 on a computer from 1999.
It should work fine - it's a dual 1 GHz Pentium 3 with 2 GB RAM - higher than the minimum specifications for 32-bit Windows 10. Unfortunately, it's a 1U rack-mount server with a dead CD-ROM drive, so I'll need to figure out how to get it over there.
It should work fine - it's a dual 1 GHz Pentium 3 with 2 GB RAM - higher than the minimum specifications for 32-bit Windows 10. Unfortunately, it's a 1U rack-mount server with a dead CD-ROM drive, so I'll need to figure out how to get it over there.
There is a guy called the ibook guy who did a video of him using an ibook 1,42GHz for a week and even found a solution for his work with HD content. I don't remember the title, one would have to search it on youtube.
You actually nailed it, without knowing. This challenge is a great way for people not using a PPC on a regular basis or as single machine to explore what is possible and what not.
If we would want this to be a challenge to PPC-already-only-users we would have to list things that one would think will be challenging or can't be done. Because everythign the people are doing must be ok, since otherwise they won't use their PPCs as single machine.
K... I'll bite, mostly as a way to help me troubleshoot things I struggle with while using a G5 in a workplace surrounded by more modern computers running windows.
Google Drive. Since I work at a church, file sharing with volunteer leaders is important. I didn't choose, but Google Drive was chosen. How do you deal with it efficiently and without relying on other computers or someone emailing me a .zip file?
Printing. We have a Konica Minolta Bizhub and uses PostScript 3 for printing. Printing can be extremely slow with PostScript 3 and it uses tons of processing power.
iDVD and iMovie. I occasionally have to edit small videos and burn DVDs. I use iMovie HD 6 because I'm familiar with it and I have no problems using it. I enjoy iDVD, but it can take hours to process video. Not a big deal if you set it to go when you leave work, but if you need something done the same day, you're not going to have a computer the whole morning.
Plex Server. So this one's not too much of a struggle. I currently use a 2006 CD MBP for this, and I'm actually thinking about replacing it with a DP G5 I've got laying around or finding a QC G5. But, the MBP sometimes has trouble keeping up if it has to transcode a large file to an iPad.
Current Jailbreaking apps. Sure, it only happens about once a year, but even Snow Leopard support has being dropped from current jailbreaking apps, so I have to borrow 10.7+ for a week.
Those are about the only things I struggle with on PPC macs. For everything else I do I use the same programs on an intel mac.
This sounds so much more epic than really is xD
----------
Yeah even 5 years of increasingly sloppy markup and heavier javascript is sadly a noticeable difference...
LOL. True, it does.
However, it's one of those deals of not knowing what you don't have because you don't have it.
I don't know anyone personally who owns an Intel Mac. While I do know OF some people who do, the people I know personally own PC laptops or desktops. And it's been that way for a very long time.
I can read online about what having an Intel Mac is like, what using SL, Lion, etc, etc is like, but that's not the same as experiencing it.
Now that I have an Intel Mac of my own I know what I can/can't do.
Having used the Mac Pro for a little over a year though I don't believe I've missed that much.
Yes, my PowerBook is slower in browsing than my MBP or even the MP here at work. But I've optimized the hell out of the damn thing so much that the difference is measured in just a few seconds of load time. I still have no issues then browsing on my PB, which is really the main purpose I use my Macs for.
Did I mention I hate Yosemite?
Did I mention I hate Yosemite?
Not to get off topic in a hurry, bit I think performance wise it's quite good. A good step up from the Lion/Mountain Lion era. Under the hood I think both Mavericks and Yosemite were very strong.
I assume you dislike it on aesthetic grounds? Or for removed functionality?
Also, did you prefer the look of Tiger to Leopard?
Yosemite fixed Mavericks problem with SMB2 connections. For that, I'm grateful. It means that I can go much longer than a day before having to reconnect to our server because InDesign quits when I save documents.
That said, I hate the look and I hate the fact that starting with Mav, Apple killed labels and that starting with Lion, Apple hardcoded a minimum window size for Finder windows. I have to use an Applescript to get windows below that minimum. Yosemite fixes none of that. We use labels at work to quickly decide what ads are pickups, new, or house ads. Very hard to tell when all you get now is a colored ball that disappears when you size windows down.
I further hate that there seems to be no decent way to theme Yosemite. XtraFinder lets you manipulate things, but no one else seems to have come up with a theme and Yosemite has been out for a while. And Dark Mode only changes the menu bar and it's menus. How is it the developer of XtraFinder can change window backgrounds with reverse type on black but nobody else seems able to theme Yosemite?!
As to Tiger/Leopard, I much prefer the look of Leopard.
However, Shapeshifter is compatible with Tiger and allows reverse type on black backgrounds depending on theme. So that's a plus for Tiger.
Functionality wise, Leopard blows the doors off Tiger.
I don't think any sane individual would disagree with that sentiment!
I remember you mentioning the label while back. I have never used them myself but that does sound pointlessly annoying. Minimum windows sizes are Apple doing too much hand holding, leave it in iOS Craig.
