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New Uses for Old Computers
- Thread starter mersea
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Get ready in three easy steps:
First of all, please tell me the serial number.
You can find this number on the bottom of the iBook, or in the Apple System Profiler.
That allows me to identify the exact configuration of the iBook that you have.
Thank you.
Second of all, if you're looking for a web browser, try TenFourFox.
Third of all, I understand that you're running Leopard. I highly discourage Leopard on PowerPC Macs, mainly due to the lack of the Classic environment. I highly encourage the use of an earlier version. Panther is avalible at Winworld. Burn all three disk images to CD-ROMs:
Panther Disk 1
Panther Disk 2
Panther Disk 3
Requirements for Panther are a G3 or later, built-in USB, 128 megs of RAM, 1.5 gigs of free disk space, and a CD drive.
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Firstly, there isn't any need for the OP to share the serial number. If bought new shortly before the Intel transition, it will be an Early 2005 model 1.33 GHz (12") or 1.42 GHz (14"). These were produced into 2006 when Apple released the first Intel MacBook.
Secondly, there isn't any reason I can think of to pick Panther over Tiger on a late model G4 or G5. In fact, the 2005 models are too new to even be compatible with Panther (at least officially). Tiger has much better compatibility with later PowerPC apps.
You might have misheard. I said I discourage Leopard, but I do encourage Tiger, Panther, or Jaguar.
You might have misheard me because I put links to Panther images on the post, but that was only because Tiger wasn't avalible at Winworld.
However, I gracefully encourage you to use OS X Tiger, Panther, Jaguar, or even non-OS X operating systems (like Linux), the one and only exception being Leopard.
[doublepost=1565658368][/doublepost]Also, the reason to post the serial number is because it's not just for the year of the iBook. It allows me to know the entire configuration of your iBook (like RAM, hard disk, and processor speed).
Use the Macintosh Garden for Tiger. (I won't post a direct link here but it's an easy web search for "PPC Mac OS X".) In this situation, OP's factory discs with the Early 2005 iBook G4 would have Tiger, so the iBook in question is likely already running it.
Leopard is great on G5s and some later G4s. On the iBooks I prefer Tiger, but people have reasons for running Leopard on those systems (eg. a specific app like Leopard Webkit) and that's fine. The main disadvantage is that it's more graphically-demanding, but there are ways to optimize it for lower-end systems.
Panther and Jaguar I wouldn't recommend, unless it's an early G3 Mac or the reason for installing it is purely nostalgia or curiosity for an early iteration of Mac OS X. Tiger gives you much better app support and newer features like Spotlight and Dashboard. It's generally less buggy as well. Software like Adobe CS4, iWork '09 and Microsoft Office 2008 works fine in Tiger but not earlier versions of Mac OS X, and we mustn't forget about TenFourFox if web browsing is a priority.
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OK, let's say they listen to you. They install Panther.
Let's say they listen to you a second time. They try TenFourFox.
Then they find out that TenFourFox doesn't work on Panther because you didn't do your research. What now, how are they supposed to browse the Web?
So according to you, between the two, everyone should use a 2002 OS over a 2007 OS, because you don't like the '07 OS?
Let's propose yet another hypothetical and say they install a non-OS X operating system (like Linux) because you write well and seem to know your stuff. They boot to a command line, and they have no idea what to do. Given that it's your recommendation, can you provide support for them on using their non-OS X operating system?
And we're right back at square one. How do you have the basis to encourage anything with the lack of experience you've so far displayed? Have you even used Leopard? I like Tiger as much as the next guy, but Leopard is objectively superior to Tiger. It's more secure, it has newer media libraries, it has better compatibility with newer applications, it's more SMB compliant, it supports newer web browsers, and it has more stable tappable graphical renderers, like QuartzGL and Quartz 2D Extreme.
Not everyone relies on an OS 9 application to be useful. Even if you do, you are not one to tell them to copy you.
Stock configuration. The serial number will tell you the configuration the machine shipped with. More often than not, people will have long since upgraded their RAM, HD, and GPU, sometimes even CPU, to a different configuration. Will you have expected that?
This is where experience (or the lack of it) shows.
By chance, do you see where I'm coming from?
I've got to hand it to the kid, though. He's giving it the old college try with his advice. One thing you should do, @Jordan XP , is search through this forum for the topics that interest you and the things you already have a good idea about, and read as many of the threads as possible. You'll find that many of the things that you're advising on have been covered already, by the many veterans here. You'll also find that much of what you're advising on is based on your own personal opinion, and others may have a different or even better idea of what they want to do. In your future posts, you may just want to say, "Well, this is what I do", then describe what you'd do in any given situation.
I understand that you're young and eager to prove that you're knowledgeable about some things, and I'm not trying to condescend to or patronize you in any way. I'm just giving you some "netiquette" advice on how to handle posts on this forum in the future. There are a great many people (myself included) that have been here for many years, doling out the same advice that you're giving, and have spent (wasted?) many an hour and/or day exploring these machines. Many of us have vast collections of different types of PowerPC machines, and pretty much know the quirks and foibles of all of them. At the same time that we're giving out advice, we're all also still learning. That's only one aspect of this particular forum that makes it great. Stick around, watch these threads, put your ideas in, and learn with the rest of us...
I understand that you're young and eager to prove that you're knowledgeable about some things, and I'm not trying to condescend to or patronize you in any way. I'm just giving you some "netiquette" advice on how to handle posts on this forum in the future. There are a great many people (myself included) that have been here for many years, doling out the same advice that you're giving, and have spent (wasted?) many an hour and/or day exploring these machines. Many of us have vast collections of different types of PowerPC machines, and pretty much know the quirks and foibles of all of them. At the same time that we're giving out advice, we're all also still learning. That's only one aspect of this particular forum that makes it great. Stick around, watch these threads, put your ideas in, and learn with the rest of us...
[doublepost=1565715690][/doublepost]
I want to know the shipped configuration.
[doublepost=1565716043][/doublepost]
Thank you. Even though I'm in 5th grade, and is 10 years old.
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The Ethernet card is this one. It's a 64Bit card from an Xserve G4. I do local transfers with it all the time and it saturates (the mac also has a PCI SATA card and 4 Sata HDDs).Now that is interesting.
At first glance, I would imagine the mbps ceiling to be a limitation of its slower 33mhz PCI bus. I would suggest getting a machine that has two Ethernet ports built-in (to circumvent this limit), then connect the spare one to a network switch (that is known not to be a bottleneck), and hook everything up to that. See what happens?
Good luck with this endeavor.
For whatever reason the internet speed is just slow on it. It's like that if I run a speed test on it locally with TenFourFox, too. IDK why.
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Could it be possible that the speed test in TFF is so heavy on the CPU that it significantly reduces throughput?
1. Leopard is slow on PowerPC Macs (especially G4 ones). Tiger is much faster.
2. No Classic environment. You won't be able to run OS 9 applications.
Also, Tiger was made in 2005, not 2007:
10.6 --> 2009
10.5 --> 2007
10.4 --> 2005
10.3 --> 2003
10.2 --> 2002
There are a whole, whole lot of reasons to use Leopard, and it runs quite well on a decently specced G4 or pretty much any G5.
I use Tiger and Leopard both, and they each have their respective uses. When I'm going to use a PPC computer these days, though, it's pretty much either full blow OS 9(native booting) or Leopard. Probably most importantly for me, Leopard supports newer versions of programs I actually use.
My reasons for using Tiger could be summed up as follows:
1. Easier to find a SCSI card that will work/play nicely with it
2. Running on a G3 or other computer that doesn't actually support Leopard.
To me, there is so little software support for 10.0-10.3 that I see little value in running them other than as a curiosity. In my experience, Tiger generally runs at least as well if not better on comparable hardware, and offers much better software support.
I use Tiger and Leopard both, and they each have their respective uses. When I'm going to use a PPC computer these days, though, it's pretty much either full blow OS 9(native booting) or Leopard. Probably most importantly for me, Leopard supports newer versions of programs I actually use.
My reasons for using Tiger could be summed up as follows:
1. Easier to find a SCSI card that will work/play nicely with it
2. Running on a G3 or other computer that doesn't actually support Leopard.
To me, there is so little software support for 10.0-10.3 that I see little value in running them other than as a curiosity. In my experience, Tiger generally runs at least as well if not better on comparable hardware, and offers much better software support.
If you concede that there are in fact a whole lot of reasons to use Leopard, does this mean you'll stop the anti-Leopard rhetoric now?
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I still don't follow-you quoted a post I made where I said several things, and just responded "yes it does." What specific point were you responding to in the post you quoted?
I avoid Leopard on any machine that doesn't have Core Image support, with one glaring exception: the 1.0ghz TiBook. The L3 cache, at least in my experience, makes up for that somewhat, and it's actually a pleasure to use. I *do* get some glitches; Appcleaner's 3D mode does some weird things when I use it; but not enough for me to worry too much.
You might want to look up the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. This is the reason many US-based sites like MacRumors ask you to confirm that you are 13 or older when creating an account.
That's kinda sad. I'd be bummed as a 10-year-old. I hope he goes on to create awesome PPC apps in the future still, though!
Shhhh!No worries, if you thought 21 for beer or 18 for cigarettes was the benchmark, the federal gov’t just taught this kid how to lie about their age by 10.
Hi-Fives!
My daughter just turned 11 in late June. I don't need to exclude you for undue influence!