Refreshing iMac G5 early 2025 - help needed

[rasvoja]

Dear fellow MOS / MacPPC users,

I have been thinking how to improve my iMac G5 experience

PROBLEMS
Apple BIOS is in tiny fonts and my eyesight is operated and bad (ablatio retinae)
and its hard to find some special characters. Any help here is greatly appriciated.
Entering BIOS and booting from CD requires strange key combo at least for PC Amiga users

My G5 is second hand, has a bit bad speaker sound and not so clear screen and just 1GB RAM and mechanical drive, and has installed Leopard on drive and I boot MOS from CD.

I have managed to install MOS only by formating whole hard drive.

Even I have extensive experience with CFE, some with Uboot and have tried all PPC Linuxes on x-1000
I did not manage to start Linux PPC install.

I understand there is no GUI Boot menu a la GRUB possible. Is there a simple way to enter BIOS and boot from some parition, like UBoot had boota, bootb or similar command or CFE had path line from where to start?

WISHES

- Hardware upgrade RAM to 2-4GB if possible for MacOS and Linux
- HW upgrade: Installing clean larger SSD that can work with old SATA? Which models?

Pointing 101% working parts on ebay, offering them for late 2024 or early 2025 would be grately appriciated

- SW upgrade: installing to hard drive, Registering MorphOS at end of 2024 (is it 100e for G5 via PayPal?)
- SW upgrade: IF possible, installing that "unofficial Snow Leopard PPC" crossmix with latest updates that I find on Mac forums and Mac Garden

- SW upgrade: IF possible, installing Linux PPC (prefered LinuxMINT or Debian based distro with LXDE and MATE, plus some browser and some version of Libre)

- SW upgrade: Out of those 3 OSs which can easily emulate Classic MacOS 8.1 m68k or MacOS 9 PPC?
This is a bit trivial, but I prefer MacOS Classic look to OS X. Or can OS X look more like

- SW upgrade: Linux Can read FAT32, can MacOS and MOS do it too, so I make 4th data exchange partition?

Would pay small fees via Pay pal for assistance at end of year, this is just planning phase.

And will encourage DJ Nick to register MorphOS on his SAM460, deleting OS 4.1


Thank you, who can really help can contact me via vojinvidanovic at gmail.com
Viber, Telegram, Signal 381629670515
Forums vox here or at AW.net

 

[B S Magnet]

I’ll try to answer what I can.

Dear fellow MOS / MacPPC users,

I have been thinking how to improve my iMac G5 experience

PROBLEMS
Apple BIOS is in tiny fonts and my eyesight is operated and bad (ablatio retinae)
and its hard to find some special characters. Any help here is greatly appriciated.
Entering BIOS and booting from CD requires strange key combo at least for PC Amiga users

My G5 is second hand, has a bit bad speaker sound and not so clear screen and just 1GB RAM and mechanical drive, and has installed Leopard on drive and I boot MOS from CD.

I have managed to install MOS only by formating whole hard drive.

Even I have extensive experience with CFE, some with Uboot and have tried all PPC Linuxes on x-1000
I did not manage to start Linux PPC install.

I understand there is no GUI Boot menu a la GRUB possible. Is there a simple way to enter BIOS and boot from some parition, like UBoot had boota, bootb or similar command or CFE had path line from where to start?

Although my tinkering with Linux on PPC has been limited, I have been able to install Debian sid (10) on a 2000 iBook G3 in recent years. When I want to boot into it, I can hold down “Option/^ ” at power-on to select the GNU icon, which bootstraps into GRUB, which is already set up to recognize that Debian sid build.

To install Debian sid, I used this guide (there’s also this more general guide). You may also be able to try something similar with Void Linux. There are also other Linux/OpenBSD PowerPC projects on this forum, compiled neatly under the “POSIX” section of this index to their respective links.

WISHES

- Hardware upgrade RAM to 2-4GB if possible for MacOS and Linux

On your early 2005 iMac G5 (you may want to edit/update the title of your post above, as it read “2025”, not “2005”), you will be able to upgrade to 2GB maximum. The late 2005 iMac G5s (the iSight edition) were equipped with a revised logic board capable of running up to 4.5GB of RAM successfully — both on Mac OS X and Linux builds.

- HW upgrade: Installing clean larger SSD that can work with old SATA? Which models?

You will need to find a SATA SSD which can be run at the slower, SATA I/II speeds. Modern SATA SSDs, generally, only run at the SATA III protocol. What this ends up doing, from the Mac G5 user’s vantage, is the system won’t boot with the modern SATA III SSDs.

There are, to my knowledge, two definitive workarounds.

One is to find an SSD designed deliberately to run at SATA I/II — designed that way to be able to run on early SATA systems like the G5s. OWC still sell their Electra 3G SSD which I have used for years in my Power Mac G5. “3G” is short for the rated “3Gbps” of a SATA II protocol. OWC designed this model line to accommodate systems which are limited to SATA I (or 1.5Gbps) protocol. I came to this solution after discovering a SATA III SSD I tried previously would not boot the system.

The other, I have found, involved buying one of the budget SSDs from PRC-related brands like Dogfish, Zheino, or iRecData, and possibly Netac). These SSDs are, typically, a couple of generations behind in chip/logic design, but are sold as reliable, budget offerings which, as a side-benefit, tend to work on slow SATA I protocol buses like the G5s.

At present, I run a Dogfish SATA SSD in my Power Mac G5. Because these models almost never have an onboard DRAM cache (which both aid in read/write processes and are also a premium-level feature not typically found on entry-level SSDs), however, their random write/read speeds may cause the system to, briefly, slow to a crawl — typically during boot-up, when several logs are being written as the system is also reading system files for booting. After that initial crawl, things will get back to ususal. Oddly, this seems to only be an issue with the Power Mac G5, as the SSDS running on my G4 and G3 models, all mSATA (same brands), via a mSATA-to-IDE adapter, have not tended to do that.

Pointing 101% working parts on ebay, offering them for late 2024 or early 2025 would be grately appriciated

The main serviceability/usability issue for the 2004–05 iMacs G5s, pre-iSight, is an issue with the capacitors used. They all come from a time when a bad batch of capacitors circulated around the manufacturing industry, ending up in many products from many companies (including Apple). Consequently, many of the iMac G5s from the period you‘re referring to (2004 to 2005, I believe you meant?) will probably need, at minimum, a visual inspection of the main logic board and other board components to determine whether any of the capacitors have leaked open. If so, you may already notice this in the iMac not powering on or POST-ing properly.

Either way, inspection of these capacitors is vital for the continued use of these iMac G5s. This may necessitate buying new capacitors and soldering those in as replacements for the original capacitors.

- SW upgrade: installing to hard drive, Registering MorphOS at end of 2024 (is it 100e for G5 via PayPal?)

According to this post, the iMac G5s are not supported by MorphOS, but 2003 and mid 2004 Power Macs G5s may be. It sounds like, however, you do have MorphOS running on your particular iMac G5 configuration, so that information may need some updating. My understanding is MorphOS compatibility is constrained by the GPU a model uses — ATI/AMD generally being the GPU line MorphOS works with with most often.

- SW upgrade: IF possible, installing that "unofficial Snow Leopard PPC" crossmix with latest updates that I find on Mac forums and Mac Garden

As a principal tester of the Clouded Leopard SL-PPC project, I am inclined (and biased!) to encourage you to try it out. I do so, however, offering the caveat how it’s a good place to test different software and for trying out backports of components from other OS X builds, including OS X 10.5.8. It’s a fun place to tinker and contribute to the project, but I would not, especially in its two base forms (as Builds 10A96 or 10A190), ready to “just work” without issues. The garden does offer a pre-installed image of Build 10A190, which saves one from a lot of the initial hoops one must follow to get either Build 10A96 or 10A190 to install completely.

Your interest in possibly doing this might compel me to finally dust off my own work and to make an image for Build 10A96 much like the 10A190 image. The difference being, I have patched a lot of Build 10A96 to run stably on a PowerBook G4, but from what I can tell, will probably run more stable on other Macs, including G5s, than the base installation of Build 10A96.

Most of the other principal testers for SL-PPC have concentrated their efforts on Build 10A190, so that might be a better place to get one’s feet wet.

- SW upgrade: IF possible, installing Linux PPC (prefered LinuxMINT or Debian based distro with LXDE and MATE, plus some browser and some version of Libre)

See above that link to the index of POSIX systems known to run successfully on PowerPC Macs. I am aware there was a port of Linux Mint for PPC, but I don’t know whether that project is dormant at this time. As noted above, Debian sid is a possibility, as are others, possibly so with LXDE.

- SW upgrade: Out of those 3 OSs which can easily emulate Classic MacOS 8.1 m68k or MacOS 9 PPC?
This is a bit trivial, but I prefer MacOS Classic look to OS X. Or can OS X look more like

I can’t answer that, but there may be folks on here who can. It might be easier to try for Classic UI tweaks in Tiger, as there are probably more Shapeshifter/Unsanity haxies to more closely mimic the Classic Mac OS platinum UI.

- SW upgrade: Linux Can read FAT32, can MacOS and MOS do it too, so I make 4th data exchange partition?

Generally, Mac OS X cannot read the linux partitions, but it will see in Disk Utility that those partitions are in existence. Consequently, one cannot generally mount those partitions in OS X.

 

[rasvoja]

Thank you. My iMac G5 is iSight. MorphOS does work there Its not officially listed, but does work and can be registered. Working with MorphOS community - they proposed NTFS for data partitioning, if MacOS X Tiger and that made Snow Leopard mix, can read it.
I have read meanwhile that there is Classic environment within PowerPC MacOS X, will try that. Seems OS9 clean boot ends with some G3 Hippy models and some rarer G4 models (even looking nice)

So newer e.g. SATA3 SSDs would not downgrade speed to SATA1, but simply not be seen? Thanks, valuable tip there.

Major issue is how to choose what to boot to archieve triple boot, not creating partitions and installing on each.

Thank you for great work in keeping MacOS X PPC more updated then base Tiger, greatly appreciated!

P.S.
Upgrade is planned for old iMac for 2025. Its surely not post M3 iMac, even that looks nice and stylish

 

[B S Magnet]

Thank you. My iMac G5 is iSight. MorphOS does work there

So yes. 4.5GB and MorphOS works. That’s a good combo.

Its not officially listed, but does work and can be registered. Working with MorphOS community - they proposed NTFS for data partitioning, if MacOS X Tiger and that made Snow Leopard mix, can read it.

It appears that, yes, the iSight G5s used ATI/AMD Radeon GPUs, so this would make sense that MorphOS is running on it.

I have read meanwhile that there is Classic environment within PowerPC MacOS X, will try that. Seems OS9 clean boot ends with some G3 Hippy models and some rarer G4 models (even looking nice)

I’m not sure what a Hippy G3 is, but your iMac G5, when booted into Tiger 10.4.11, can run OS 9 in “Classic mode”. All Mac G5s cannot, however, boot into OS 9 directly. Still, running OS 9 in Classic mode on your iMac G5 should still be mightily quick.

So newer e.g. SATA3 SSDs would not downgrade speed to SATA1, but simply not be seen? Thanks, valuable tip there.

Generally, yes. Keep your eyes open for some of those smaller, People’s Republic of China brands I mentioned earlier.

Sometimes, you might also find the least costly SSD option is to find a SATA m.2 or mSATA version of the SSD, mated with an m.2-SATA-to-SATA-2.5-inch adapter. They tend to be unbranded and generic. This links you to an m.2 SATA-to-SATA-2.5 version of the product [Note to Mods: not my product or store!] I have had good success with these combinations on some of my early Intel Macs (which, likewise, are SATA I only).

Major issue is how to choose what to boot to archieve triple boot, not creating partitions and installing on each.

So long as you set up your drive as an Apple Partition Format, you should be fine with using bootable partitions. The priority when doing this is to set up the partition map and first physical drive formatting with something like Disk Utility. If you, later on, plan to add non-Apple partitions for non-Mac OSes, you should be able to do so within those Linux/MorphOS installer disk utils.

Thank you for great work in keeping MacOS X PPC more updated then base Tiger, greatly appreciated!

That’s what this forum and its community are for!

 

[Amethyst1]

Working with MorphOS community - they proposed NTFS for data partitioning, if MacOS X Tiger and that made Snow Leopard mix, can read it.

OS X can read and write FAT32, but NTFS is read-only without third-party software such as this.

I have read meanwhile that there is Classic environment within PowerPC MacOS X, will try that.

If you’re going to use it for games, be warned that the experience may suck.

 

[B S Magnet]

If you’re going to use it for games, be warned that the experience may suck.

 

[TheShortTimer]

OS X can read and write FAT32, but NTFS is read-only without third-party software such as this.

I wonder why after all these years that Apple hasn't included write support for NTFS?

If you’re going to use it for games, be warned that the experience may suck.

It will suck - more than a high powered vacuum. There has only been one game that I've managed to play with good results in Classic. Everything else either wouldn't run or performed so badly that it was unenjoyable.