PowerPC Challenge - Early 2019 Edition

[timidpimpin]

Since the 68k topic came up can someone give me the rundown on the Powerbook 520? I'm watching one on ebay. Were they considered good in their day? Decent to play around with or complete garbage?

They have serious hinge issues. I wouldn't buy it.

 

[SuperKerem]

I always enjoyed these, was afraid we wouldn’t get one this year! I think it’s cool that someone took the time to write up an interesting new challenge. It’s an homage to the original. Now, if only I could get the LCS in my G5 working again...

Also I wonder if the categories could be named (perhaps for next year)...

“Sane”
“Wacky”
“Crazy”
“Insane”

“Deathwish” (68k)

 

[EnriqueG]

Just one question...


I can do everything work-related with my PowerBook (essentially email, word documents, some forums) but for media I usually cast netflix from my smartphone to my Chromecast. Is this not allowed during the challenge? Might need to get back to DVDs then...

Is it okay if I use my TiVo? The old ones existed in PowerPC era 😀

Please, I would love if the Challenge's starter has an answer for these two questions.



My machine will be a 15" PowerBook G4/1.25GHz, Mac OS 9. Yes, OS 9 booting on an Aluminium PowerBook is now possible and it literally flies...

 

[LordeOurMother]

I'll enter... powerbook G4 1.67 1 gb ram running 10.5.

 

[Kliee]

Just one question...


I can do everything work-related with my PowerBook (essentially email, word documents, some forums) but for media I usually cast netflix from my smartphone to my Chromecast. Is this not allowed during the challenge? Might need to get back to DVDs then...

Is it okay if I use my TiVo? The old ones existed in PowerPC era 😀

Please, I would love if the Challenge's starter has an answer for these two questions.

Well, the previous challenges encouraged participants to limit their use of post PowerPC tech as much as possible. For instance, many tried to get youtube to work on their PowerPC machine instead of externalizing it to their smartphones.

It is not an iron rule, but more a measurement of how much you are committed to this challenge. I think most of people trying to abide by the spirit of the challenge would say no, you can't, but the letter leaves you some room to adapt the challenge to your wishes. 😉

 

[Dronecatcher]

My machine will be a 15" PowerBook G4/1.25GHz, Mac OS 9. Yes, OS 9 booting on an Aluminium PowerBook is now possible and it literally flies...

Mac OS9Lives disk? Does everything work?

 

[EnriqueG]

Well, the previous challenges encouraged participants to limit their use of post PowerPC tech as much as possible. For instance, many tried to get youtube to work on their PowerPC machine instead of externalizing it to their smartphones.

It is not an iron rule, but more a measurement of how much you are committed to this challenge. I think most of people trying to abide by the spirit of the challenge would say no, you can't, but the letter leaves you some room to adapt the challenge to your wishes. 😉

Okay I'll figure it out. I might download first some series or directly use a big 100 DVD box full of DivX movies from that era. Almost half of them play in OS9.

Mac OS9Lives disk? Does everything work?

Yes it's that diak. It works, but no modem, no Airport Extreme (obvious), ethernet needs 10baseT half duplex, brightness control does not work...

And I have 2GB of RAM but of course, only 1.5 are usable.

ItsI just that the combination Tiger+TenFourFox is way too slow for me. I prefer not being able to browse a lot of sites but I still want my laptop to fly.

 

[bobesch]

To be honest: I didn't attend previous challenges as a diehard ...
Always had to use an intel-MacBook for VPN/RDP-connectivity to my office and batch-scanning/OCR.
My personal challenges had been:
- make os9-machines (Clamshell/iMacG3) vivid members of my home network (web/imap-mail, fax, office, VNC, FileSharing, webDAV)
- capture/edit old DV-Camcorder tapes and encode analog Hi8-Tapes using my G4 PowerBook and iMovie'06 with some extra effects
- stream Video from an iOS device to an eyeTV250+ box and G4-Powerbook in order to view/capture some stuff (well, only proof of concept)
- emulate old Windows ('98, 2k, xpFundamentals/RDP-Client v6) with VirtualPC both on os9 and OSX
- get iOS and PPC connected: with iFiles-App on iOS to exchange files between PPCs and Cloud-storage; with iOS offering the HotSpot for connectivity;
- and the whole thing of "how to watch video/YT" best on PPC
With files located in one place a lot of things at home can be done with this or with that machine and I enjoy using old, elder and new ones as I like. Sometimes the kind of task or time matters (life is short).
...
It had been a pleasure getting so much help and inspiration here!

So far, there's no real taking-part a the challenge for me now- 'cause cheating with connected iOS-devices and temporarily using intel-Hardware for mission-critical tasks is like "I don't drink beer! Except, ehm ... at the Pub"

Well, my currrent fun-project/challenge is to repair/restore a PowerBook 165c with broken display-hinges and find out, how to connect and what to do with such an old brick ... 😀
(I don't even have the proper cables and connectors except the one for power-supply)

 

[fourbirds]

Power Mac G5 quad running 10.4 and a 1.67 PowerBook G4 running 10.5.

 

[LordeOurMother]

Powermac G5 quad running 10.4 and a 1.67 Powerbook G4 running 10.5.

Out of curiosity why isn't the quad running 10.5?

 

[fourbirds]

I prefer running Tiger and the quad has more than ample grunt to run tenfourfox. The webkit is easier on the G4 for browsing hence leopard.

 

[SkyBell]

I'll throw in for this one - will be using a 1.42 G4 eMac and a 1.5 12" PowerBook G4, both running 10.4

 

[EnriqueG]

In fact I have already begun with the challenge since I wrote my first post here.

My dialy routine this month is working in the morning and then studying for my exams in the afternoon... well it's been two weeks transcribing my handwritten notes in Word 2001 and everything went great. As browsing the net is almost impossible (also, the PB has no WiFi under OS 9) I am more focused than before...

 

[timidpimpin]

In fact I have already begun with the challenge since I wrote my first post here.

My dialy routine this month is working in the morning and then studying for my exams in the afternoon... well it's been two weeks transcribing my handwritten notes in Word 2001 and everything went great. As browsing the net is almost impossible (also, the PB has no WiFi under OS 9) I am more focused than before...

Do you have ethernet access? What browser are you using?

 

[EnriqueG]

Do you have ethernet access? What browser are you using?

Ethernet works at 10 Mbits. However, at the university library there are no ethernet ports. It's not a big deal as I only use MS Word and Adobe Acrobat.

I've bought a second hand PCMCIA wifi card with OS 9 drivers which will be delivered this week. If there were a driver for the Airport Extreme it would be soooo great, but running OS 9 on an unsupported Mac has its problems...

For browsing and IMAP mail with OS 9 I use Classilla, but I have a partition with Tiger with TenFourFox when I need to reach a modern website.

MS Word 2001 (or AppleWorks 6 when I don't need to share documents with windows people) are light and free of unnecessary options. Also the GUI is better for me. Word 2008 and newer has that "one window" thing that i don't like.

 

[2984839]

Is it cheating if you SSH into a faster machine?

 

[mmphosis]

Is it cheating if you SSH into a faster machine?

No. We are connecting to all sorts of remote and local computers that may be faster or slower.

Faster is a matter of perception, and sometimes things do run slower on a "faster" machine.

Recently, I built git from scratch. On the PowerPC G4, I left out building the docs (man pages.) On the "fast" computer -- a laptop with the compomrised Intel CPU, I included building the docs, but I also had to install a whole bunch of other software that git depended on, on the "fast" machine. Installing all that extra software took a lot of my time to install. On the PowerPC G4, everything I needed to do a quick build was already installed thanks to Xcode. So, the "fast" machine was significantly slower.

Also, I am used to the Mac user interface, so I am way "faster" and often more productive on the PowerPC Mac than I am with the fiddly inconsistent user interface of the "fast" machine.

Looking forward to the PowerPC challenge. 🙂

 

[Slix]

Glad to see this back again. 🙂

I'll be doing Basic, with some dabbling in Mac OS 9 during the week! I'm planning to use any of my PowerPC Macs that I feel like, but notably this time around, my newest 12" PowerBook G4 seems to be up to the tasks lately to help with internet duties. My personal goal for this time is to take some camcorder footage of my adventures during the week, and edit the video on one of these PowerPCs with iMovie. 🙂

@Kliee: Just noticed you didn't have the specs of my machine(s) up on the first post, my mistake! I'll be running G4s on 10.5 and 10.4, and G3s running 10.4 during the challenge primarily. As well as some OS 9 for some random tasks. 🙂

 

[reukiodo]

Count me in! Mainly with:

• PowerMac G5 2.5 Quad 10.5
• PowerBook G4 1.5 12" 10.5

working on project machine:

• iBook G3 600 12" 10.4 (recent trash rescue)

And occasionally with:

• PowerBook G4 1.0 Ti 10.5
• iMac G4 800 17" 10.5
• PowerBook Pismo 550 10.5
• Power Macintosh 9500 10.5
• PowerBook 520c 8.1
• Macintosh Classic 7.5

 

[Kliee]

Count me in! Mainly with:

• PowerMac G5 2.5 Quad 10.5
• PowerBook G4 1.5 12" 10.5

working on project machine:

• iBook G3 600 12" 10.4 (recent trash rescue)

And occasionally with:

• PowerBook G4 1.0 Ti 10.5
• iMac G4 800 17" 10.5
• PowerBook Pismo 550 10.5
• Power Macintosh 9500 10.5
• PowerBook 520c 8.1
• Macintosh Classic 7.5

Added.

Nice to save this little iBook from the trash. I, myself, like to pick non working ones or some in very bad condition from ebay for cheap and making them run again. My main G3 at the moment is almost the same as yours. A 500 Mhz iBook someone tried to, literally, cut open. Needed a few parts swapped, but now runs well with Debian on it 🙂.

A PM9500 running 10.5? Curious about how bearable is the slowness 😀. Which upgrade card did you use?
Same for the PowerBook Pismo.

 

[kasuja00]

I want to try.

Basic.

My Powerpc Mac are: Powerbook G4 1.5GHz 12" and Powermac G5 dual 1.8. Both with Mac Os Leopard 10.5.8.

 

[reukiodo]

Nice to save this little iBook from the trash. I, myself, like to pick non working ones or some in very bad condition from ebay for cheap and making them run again. My main G3 at the moment is almost the same as yours. A 500 Mhz iBook someone tried to, literally, cut open. Needed a few parts swapped, but now runs well with Debian on it 🙂.

A PM9500 running 10.5? Curious about how bearable is the slowness 😀. Which upgrade card did you use?
Same for the PowerBook Pismo.

This iBook isn't too bad, definitely not surgery-attempted. The keyboard qwertyuiop row doesn't work and so it needs replacing. Like every Mac, it could use a much larger hard drive and max RAM. I'd like to give it to my son when I'm done.

The PM9500 has a Sonnet Crescendo 700MHz G4 and max RAM which is decent enough. It's a great bridge between the m68k Macs and the more powerful PPCs.

Likewise the Pismo has a (NewerTech maybe?) 550MHz G4 and 1GB RAM so it runs 10.5 ok also.

 

[timidpimpin]

I have an idea... a year long challenge! Do the opposite and use your most powerful PowerPC for a year. Then report all findings, or report as you go.

I would use my 1.3GHz Gigabit Ethernet machine for that.

 

[EnriqueG]

I have an idea... a year long challenge! Do the opposite and use your most powerful PowerPC for a year. Then report all findings, or report as you go.

I would use my 1.3GHz Gigabit Ethernet machine for that.

Maybe first we should start with a month...

However no Netflix or HBO = no party. I couldn't stand a year...

 

[timidpimpin]

Maybe first we should start with a month...

However no Netflix or HBO = no party. I couldn't stand a year...

A phone or tablet, which should be allowed during the challenge, is a perfect Netflix alternative. The challenge as I understand it is to only use a PowerPC computer. So IMO as long as you keep desktop and laptop use to PowerPC it's all good.