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What can I do with a G5 Power PC?

F

fearoftigers

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 21, 2010
79
0
I recently bought a Hex Core Mac Pro to run Logic and various other music programs.

I have a G5 Power PC that I've never really used (my girlfriends company were getting rid of them so it was free). I'm not sure of the exact specs but it came from an architects office so would imagine it was pretty good in its day.

Presumably I could use the hard drive in my new machine but is there anything else I could do with it?
 
I second the idea and make it into a Hackintosh
pm1case.jpg
 
I should also add that I'm a bit of a luddite so the hackintosh idea is probably out.
 
Install leopard and use it as a file server. You can stick two large harddrives in there and put them in a RAID-1 mirror array, and connect it to the a Mac Pro via ethernet (or to a gigabit switch, or to another computer).

Then if you enable file sharing you can mount volumes from it right on your desktop, creating easy storage for media, backup, whatever. This really would make a fairly perfect Network Attached Storage device with a 1.5 to 2TB software RAID-1 internal volume. You could use it for backup from a number of computers, or to serve up media to a home theater system.

What's also cool is you can turn on screen sharing and control the PowerMac right from the finder if you need to, using the "Share Screen" button that's offered through bonjour. That way if you need to change any of it's settings you don't need to connect a monitor.

Basically this is exactly what I intend to do with the PowerMac G5 that I'm using right now once my new Mac Pro arrives.
 
you could donate it to someone in school who could get some use out of it or maybe sell it too. I think after a few days with the Mac Pro it will be hard to use a G5. After I got my 2008 Mac Book Pro the G5 didn't even get used anymore.
 
donw35 said:
you could donate it to someone in school who could get some use out of it or maybe sell it too. I think after a few days with the Mac Pro it will be hard to use a G5. After I got my 2008 Mac Book Pro the G5 didn't even get used anymore.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's hard to have a commuter sitting around your house just for "web browsing", it's a bit of a waste actually. If you already have a much better system just sell it or use it as a server. New apps aren't being released as PPC compatible, PPC systems are not very useful if you already have an Intel Mac.
 
Sell it.

The G5 models have no lack of power, they're capable of far more than "web browsing". People who say that kind of stuff are extremely ignorant.
 
Sell it or use it as a [power hungry] media server. Or a web server or a file server. Whatever works for you. Just don't throw it out!

[edit] Oh, you can make it an Xgrid node (Apple's clustering tool).
 
I'm with the 'donate it' crowd, if you don't desperately need the cash you'd get from selling it. I did that with an old iMac. I was shocked at how many people wanted it and the family I gave it to was *ecstatic* because they had some old PC that couldn't even run a web browser. I was happy to help someone out and it was worth it much more to me than the couple hundred bucks I might've gotten for it.
 
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