New member intro, back into PPC with a G5

[eyoungren]

What app do you use to save your RAM disk on reboot?

No app. I've got a folder it's stored in. Esperance (the system pref for the ram disk) is set to create the ram disk on reboot. From there I just copy what's in the folder back to the ram disk. Since the app isn't in the app folder and I always open it from the ram disk it prevents any random opening of the app that could mess things up.

I don't reboot a lot and the copy is pretty fast so it's just a minor inconvenience.

 

[MacFoxG4]

Awesome G5 you got there! I love the case on the PMG5s. I sometimes think about getting one myself, but I’ve held off on getting one due to space and power consumption concerns.

 

[1042686]

Mmmm, delicious. Cheese graters look so damn sharp with aluminum cinema displays!

 

[iluvmacs99]

Hi guys, decided to finally make an account on here after seeing the active community and helpful posts whenever I've searched for something PPC related.

I snagged a dual 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5 last month in 10/10 condition and am looking forward to getting back into PPC ownership. I've already installed a 120gb Samsung SSD and 6gb of RAM, and on 10.5.8, it's purring like a kitten. I'm looking into a possible GPU upgrade but I'm honestly not sure if it's worth it. While you're reading this, could you drop your 2 cents on the "quality of life" improvement you got from a GPU upgrade on a G5 if you have been there, done that? Mine is a 2004 model with the AGP Radeon 9600.

A little about me - I sold my last PowerPC Mac in around 2010 but have decided to come back primarily for nostalgic reasons. I had a B&W 300mhz G3 Power Mac and later traded up to a 800mhz Quicksilver G4, which I used as my everyday machine for quite a while. Eventually I made the leap to a 2010 MBP which I still use daily (and am typing this on), going strong with an SSD and the RAM maxed at 8gb on High Sierra. It's looking like a new MBP is in order soon though, hopefully I can stretch that one for an entire decade as well.

Thanks for having me,
Michael

Similar like yourself, I adopted a PowerMac G5 7,2 2Ghz Dual Processor with 4Gb of ram, 750Gb SSHD (Solid State Hybrid Drive) and 1Tb 7200rpm with a FX5200 graphics card running on Tiger 10.4.11 and OS 9.2.2 from a computer recycling depot where I work. Got it also mainly for nostalgia, but also a reminder of what happened to me in 2003 when I was flat broke when I lost all my savings through the dot.com bubble bust and was not able to afford another mac a few years later after I managed to get back on my feet again.

Anyways, I use the G5 now as a digital audio workstation as well as a legacy video editing platform via Final Cut Express 4 where I can curate older miniDV, VHS and Betamax captured footage before being worked on on my Mac Pro. I also realized that the built-in DVD writer in the PowerMac G5 is able to easily read some DVDs recorded by some obscure cam recorders that were giving both my Mac Pro DVD and my Mini's external DVD writers a very hard time. I thought I lost them, but luckily I saved those DVDs which have some of my fond memories from late 1990s to early 2000s; those made by my PowerMac G4 which I had to let go to pay bills then when I was broke. So I am so happy to own a G5 that I can read those DVDs again!

I also use TenFourFox with the PowerUOC mods and am very happy of its web performance. I don't use it to browse the web all that much though, but it's good to know that it still works great online. I work for a computer non-profit organization and we are realizing the much greater divide between the haves and haves not. Meaning that they are far greater more people who are living in poverty than I could remember in the early 2000 when I was broke and also during the GFC (Great Financial Crisis of 2008) whereby people need a computer to go on the web to look for jobs in a gig economy or even go to government websites to apply or renew their social assistance checks, but a decent computer nowadays cost so much that those people simply can't afford. So we have been experimenting with PowerPC G4 (Mac Mini) and G5 platforms like the PowerMac G5 or iMac G5 turn them into some decent web capable machines. Which is why I am using the G5 as a test platform so we can hopefully turn the G4 Mini and some G5 and provide them as hardware grants to those who are living in poverty, homeless and as roving nomads. The Mini G4 is ideal for those nomads who move from one shelter to another and can carry a small 13 to 14" LCD monitor with them.

In regards to video cards and memory. Your ATI 9600 is a capable card and can easily meet most graphics software requirement. If you use Aperture 2, an Apple program that works like Photoshop, then perhaps you might benefit from a more powerful card. With 4Gb of ram, I found I am fine with that even with Final Cut Express. Eventually though, I might add a RAID controller card for my G5 so I can add more storage.

 

[1042686]

I

Similar like yourself, I adopted a PowerMac G5 7,2 2Ghz Dual Processor with 4Gb of ram, 750Gb SSHD (Solid State Hybrid Drive) and 1Tb 7200rpm with a FX5200 graphics card running on Tiger 10.4.11 and OS 9.2.2 from a computer recycling depot where I work. Got it also mainly for nostalgia, but also a reminder of what happened to me in 2003 when I was flat broke when I lost all my savings through the dot.com bubble bust and was not able to afford another mac a few years later after I managed to get back on my feet again.

Anyways, I use the G5 now as a digital audio workstation as well as a legacy video editing platform via Final Cut Express 4 where I can curate older miniDV, VHS and Betamax captured footage before being worked on on my Mac Pro. I also realized that the built-in DVD writer in the PowerMac G5 is able to easily read some DVDs recorded by some obscure cam recorders that were giving both my Mac Pro DVD and my Mini's external DVD writers a very hard time. I thought I lost them, but luckily I saved those DVDs which have some of my fond memories from late 1990s to early 2000s; those made by my PowerMac G4 which I had to let go to pay bills then when I was broke. So I am so happy to own a G5 that I can read those DVDs again!

I also use TenFourFox with the PowerUOC mods and am very happy of its web performance. I don't use it to browse the web all that much though, but it's good to know that it still works great online. I work for a computer non-profit organization and we are realizing the much greater divide between the haves and haves not. Meaning that they are far greater more people who are living in poverty than I could remember in the early 2000 when I was broke and also during the GFC (Great Financial Crisis of 2008) whereby people need a computer to go on the web to look for jobs in a gig economy or even go to government websites to apply or renew their social assistance checks, but a decent computer nowadays cost so much that those people simply can't afford. So we have been experimenting with PowerPC G4 (Mac Mini) and G5 platforms like the PowerMac G5 or iMac G5 turn them into some decent web capable machines. Which is why I am using the G5 as a test platform so we can hopefully turn the G4 Mini and some G5 and provide them as hardware grants to those who are living in poverty, homeless and as roving nomads. The Mini G4 is ideal for those nomads who move from one shelter to another and can carry a small 13 to 14" LCD monitor with them.

In regards to video cards and memory. Your ATI 9600 is a capable card and can easily meet most graphics software requirement. If you use Aperture 2, an Apple program that works like Photoshop, then perhaps you might benefit from a more powerful card. With 4Gb of ram, I found I am fine with that even with Final Cut Express. Eventually though, I might add a RAID controller card for my G5 so I can add more storage.

Hmm you’d think desktops (even minis) would be best suited for stationary spaces like churches & shelters & laptops/portables for transient folks.

I applaud the effort though. Nothing like necessity being the mother of invention.

 

[iluvmacs99]

I


Hmm you’d think desktops (even minis) would be best suited for stationary spaces like churches & shelters & laptops/portables for transient folks.

I applaud the effort though. Nothing like necessity being the mother of invention.

@RhianB Thank you. We hate to see these G4 and G5s going to landfill when they can be re-purposed and most of these models are not that collectible anyhow so they have very low theft value. Thieves who usually steal from the homeless sell them for drug money and these transient folks really depend on their computers for their day to day gigs.

 

[feelingsupersonic]

iluvmacs99, that is a very noble thing you are doing. Putting your expertise and familiarity with unique systems to do good. Proud of you man!

 

[topcat001]

So cool! Loved this. I picked up Mac Pro 2009 (Xeon based) recently and been playing with it.

 

[1042686]

@RhianB Thank you. We hate to see these G4 and G5s going to landfill when they can be re-purposed and most of these models are not that collectible anyhow so they have very low theft value. Thieves who usually steal from the homeless sell them for drug money and these transient folks really depend on their computers for their day to day gigs.

that makes great sense - quite pragmatic. This reminds me of the Obama era free phone program & illustrates its pragmatism & execution as an ideal solution for broke homeless folks - cheap, small, rechargeable portable, & WIFI etc. I wonder as a tech recycler, if your initiative could adapt beyond big clunky macs & towards cellphones that could best serve this purpose & marginalized demographic - something a transient individual could easily hide & protect, either refill with pay as you go coverage or utilize open WiFi sources like McDs for example, and use to find services & or PT work.

Push the big clunky macs to shelters, churches & other humanitarian nonprofits. They surely would still be saved - perhaps expanding the net & doing even more good pushing those larger systems to low income kiddos & families who need a computer etc. but have a residence to securely store & utilize them.

One step at a time I know but such a humanitarian system could be cultivated & grown. Reminds me of what my big bro always tells me. “Be the light. Be the change you want to see in the world” & one of my own favorite quotes that motivates me greatly:

“Think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country[men].”

 

[eyoungren]

Awesome G5 you got there! I love the case on the PMG5s. I sometimes think about getting one myself, but I’ve held off on getting one due to space and power consumption concerns.

Space can be a concern, but I really believe the power consumption thing is highly overblown.

I have a Quad G5 and a 2.3DC. Both Macs are running (idling, except when I use them) 24/7 at full power. Only the displays switch off. Combined, both Macs only increased my power bill by $25 a month.

Where I live, that's nothing because A/C in Phoenix during the summer is the single biggest energy cost. My current electric bill is $145 and coming down. That may be a lot to some people but it's a relief to us. We pay around $400 a month during the summer because of A/C, not Macs.

 

[1042686]

Yeah the electricity argument I think is a bit silly as a rationale for not buying one. If you like them, want one, & can afford it, buy the model you want & enjoy it.

Space? Sit it under your desk against the back wall or behind your monitor.

 

[z970]

I also use TenFourFox with the PowerUOC mods and am very happy of its web performance. I don't use it to browse the web all that much though, but it's good to know that it still works great online.

TenFourFox still has a ways to go as far as being as smooth as it could be online. It's largely CPU dependent, and either for an OS limitation or another reason, is not compiled to offload content to the GPU, in the process leaving these vintage processors to do all the heavy work of rendering the bloated, modern Web by themselves.

Therefore, whenever someone browses the Web with a PowerPC Mac on TenFourFox, they're not getting the full picture of just what they can pull off because the GPU is not being leveraged for content rendering. When you take that into account, watchable 480p video being reserved for G5s start to make sense. Although PowerUOC attempts to mitigate this as much as absolutely possible (and it shows), it cannot simply flip a switch to "re-enable" GPU offloading, as that is out of its realm of control.

I believe that the browsers available on Linux for PowerPC (Arctic Fox, SpiderWeb, Firefox, etc.) do not have this limitation however, and take full advantage of the system GPU whenever browsing the Web. This heavily lines up with consistent reports of Web browsing on Linux being vastly superior (faster) to that of OS X, oftentimes even being able to play back much higher definition video as a result.

So the fact that your G5 CPU is pulling everything essentially by itself and still yields good performance online, is a real testament to the sheer power that the PowerPC 970 houses and is still capable of today, even for relatively mundane tasks.

-

Anyway, I agree with the others on this fantastic job with this initiative you're taking part in. Don't forget the Pentium 4 and the Core 2 Duo, as those can also be had for peanuts (many times free) and are very capable of handling the modern Web as well. And being that PowerUOC is a universal patch, it can be used across different platforms, architectures, and browsers (even ones that DO take advantage of the GPU, might I add) to the same proportional effect. From a lowly Pentium !!! on Windows XP all the way to a twelve-core Xeon on macOS Mojave.

Sent from my Pentium 4.