What Can You Do With a PowerPC Mac?

[z970]

So with everyone always sharing what they've done with a PowerPC Mac recently, I thought I'd add a fitting companion into the mix. Although I've had the idea (and rudimentary contents) for making a relatively simple thread like this since April, it wasn't until I saw this guy on reddit that I decided to finally post it as a Wiki full-stop.

Not only that, considering the rampant consumerism that tends to carry such influence over your average Joe today, hopefully the information within will make random passerby think twice about tossing their old Macs out after querying online as to if they're even still usable in 2022 and beyond, a whole 16 years (and counting!) after the last model rolled off the assembly line.

As goes without saying of course, feel free to add truckloads of more activities as necessary.

1. Rip CDs, listen to music, and play Internet radio with iTunes

2. Watch DVDs and QuickTime movies from Cornica with QuickTime and DVD Player

3. Create your own songs and audio tracks with Garageband and Logic

4. Organize your photo and video libraries with iPhoto, assemble them into short clips with iMovie, then burn them to disc with iDVD

5. Download countless long-since-abandoned games, applications, and package suites from Macintosh Garden and burn them to disc (like legends such as Quake III Arena, Halo: Combat Evolved, Myst, Bugdom, and many, many more!)

6. Chat with other users on the Macintosh Garden, Mac OS 9 Lives!, or System 7 Today forums on Netscape Navigator 4, Internet Explorer 5, or Safari 1.0

7. Cruise the modern Web with Links2 or AquaWeb micro, or browse through the Web 1.1 landscape with old versions of Safari

8. Grab video URLs with AquaWeb micro (or Iteroni.com) and watch, download, and process YouTube videos with PowerPC Media Center 7

9. Write a story, do homework, or file TPS reports in TextEdit, Pages, or Microsoft Word

10. Draw fabulous pictures with Adobe Illustrator; turn them into a book with InDesign

11. Maintain a simple website with Macintosh Garden Hosting, and add it to the Web 1.1 directory

12. Keep an expansive information database with Address Book, Numbers, or Microsoft Excel

13. Play retro games and watch iconic videos on reFlash

14. Try out a PowerPC-compatible alpha of Snow Leopard before the architecture was dropped

15. Install Sorbet Leopard and experience firsthand what Mac OS X 10.6.8 would have been like on PowerPC

16. Install the Debian, Ubuntu, Void Linux, and OpenBSD alternative UNIX-like operating systems and see how modern software runs

17. Build your own personalized version of TenFourFox, then take it out for a spin

18. Play a special PowerPC-optimized version of Minecraft 1.5.2 on hardware 10 years older than the game

19. Play a special PowerPC-native version of Super Mario 64, originally derived from the SM64EX project

20. Emulate classic consoles like the NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, PS1, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS

21. Emulate a Mac Plus running System 7.5 with Mini vMac

22. Run Windows 2000 with Microsoft Virtual PC

23. Create advanced 3D objects and environments with the Maya, SketchUp, or Blender modeling packages

24. Get connected to your Home-Network via ScreenSharing/RemoteDesktop or FileSharing (AFP/SMB/FTP). Make your PPC a really fat client for using a fast Mac/PC for file-access or remote/screen-control

25. Share an iTunes-Music-Library. Build a multi-room-musik-system using iTunes/AirPlay/old AirPortExpress and connected active speakers

26. Recover footage from old DV-Camcorders through USB and iMovie. (Same for analog-Camcorders using old EyeTV-video-grabbing hardware.)

27. Go to System Preferences > Speech > Text to Speech. Open TextEdit, type a sentence, Command + A, right-click, and select Speech > Start Speaking. Have hours of fun.

28. Download widgets from Macintosh Garden and style your Dashboard to look like a desktop version of iOS 1 / iPhoneOS 1.0

And the list goes on ...

PowerPC | Power to the Pro

 

[TheShortTimer]

A very important thread and thanks to you @z970 for initiating it.

I'll continue with the numbering format...

22. Watch video content in 1080i/1080p HD if you have a sufficiently powerful CPU and GPU - as I have done on my PM G5 and also watch some content in 720p on G4 machines - as I've done on my Mac Mini thanks to recommendations from @Dronecatcher.

23. Editing films in HD for commercial release - acclaimed film editor Walter Murch put together Sam Mendes' Jarhead on a PM G5 using Final Cut Pro, 720p and the DVCProHD codec. Open Water was edited on a PM DP G5 and Final Cut Pro too.

 

[alfogator]

0. Love it, treasure it and never, ever let it go.

 

[headlessmike]

In the case of my Powermac G3 (Blue and White): service it without tools! My wife and I keep it around for playing old games that require a classic Mac OS.

 

[Doq]

24(/7). Server management! With inbuilt OpenSSH and downloadable Chicken and TSclientX-- not to mention Apple Remote Desktop-- managing servers of all hard-and-softwares is a cakewalk for your PowerPC Mac.

 

[rampancy]

Retro gaming is definitely where PPC OS X/Classic Macs shine. Quite a few of my all time favorites, like Star Trek DS9: The Fallen, and FutureCop: LAPD never made the jump to OS X. (But maybe the Windows versions can work in WINE?)

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

(Why most of point of this list is so MacOSX-centric..? It's as to ask what can you do with your PC in Windows... Well, yes I prefer Linux for about 3+ years. At least in home environment.)

 

[Amethyst1]

(Why most of point of this list is so MacOSX-centric..?

My (totally uneducated) guess is: because the overwhelming majority of members who "run" PPC Macs run Mac OS [X].
I certainly do, because I primarily care about specific pieces of software. In other words, why run Linux or BSD on PPC when I can just run it (virtually) trouble-free on pretty much any old x86 box which are "ten a penny" and get the same or even better user experience without any of PPC's "peculiarities"?

 

[TheShortTimer]

My (totally uneducated) guess is: because the overwhelming majority of members who "run" PPC Macs run Mac OS [X].
I certainly do, because I primarily care about specific pieces of software. In other words, why run Linux or BSD on PPC when I can just run it (virtually) trouble-free on pretty much any old x86 box which are "ten a penny" and get the same or even better user experience without any of PPC's "peculiarities"?

Exactly, most people (myself included) use a Mac in order to specifically use Mac OS and the software that runs within its environment and this is reflected by the list being orientated towards that focus.

 

[JMacHack]

Chat on irc, listen to internet radio with iTunes. Those worked on my iMac G3

 

[Slix]

This is a great list! I already do a lot of these on PowerPC and early Intel Macs, and this list is a great way to share with newcomers what sorts of things these computers still excel at.

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

why run Linux or BSD on PPC when I can just run it (virtually) trouble-free on pretty much any old x86 box which are "ten a penny" and get the same or even better user experience without any of PPC's "peculiarities"?

1. No IntelME or AMD PSP or whatever similar **** built-in hardware.
2. Different (non-x86) hardware .
3. Self-learning about other low-level things (GRUB & OpenFirmware was quite exciting experience ).
Well, I always use a bit different ways of thinking . It is something in my nature - to be out of crowd.

 

[mmphosis]

Apple isn’t emptying my iWallet at the company iStore.

Microsoft isn’t animating my screen with the company’s brands.

I can use an old but familiar GUI, without trying to contort a Linux distro into something it isn’t.

 

[Amethyst1]

1. No IntelME or AMD PSP or whatever similar **** built-in hardware.

Intel ME and AMD PSP can be disabled or avoided.

2. Different (non-x86) hardware

Same goes for a Raspberry Pi though.

3. Self-learning about other low-level things (GRUB & OpenFirmware was quite exciting experience ).

Good point.

 

[JMacHack]

My best reason: there is no Intel/Apple Silicon iMac g3

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

Intel ME and AMD PSP can be disabled or avoided.

This is what THEY make you think . Do you really think that something living already in chip can be FULLY disabled? (Apple delivers custom firmware with ME reduced, but this is subject for another big thread.)

 

[Amethyst1]

Do you really think that something living already in chip can be FULLY disabled?

Intel chipsets older than 965 don’t have the ME to begin with.
AMD’s PSP isn’t present in CPUs older than 2013 (according to Wikipedia; corrections welcome).
What about Libreboot disabling/removing ME on Core 2 Duo systems at least?

 

[MoerBoer]

I would add MorphOS to point 16.

 

[Lastic]

Not really something for the list but my main motivator for using PowerPC and older x86, 16-bit Atari ST , 16-bit Amiga, Atari 8-bit, older network gear because most people buy a 3000 EUR machine and use 5% of it's capabilities.

I tend to use 90% of the older machine capabilities (my work laptop is a Thinkpad X230 now) and try to have them run as much software as my work laptop can.

My work/school experience also has given me a lot to learn from older machines , a foundation on which my career has expanded, especially all things *NIX/BSD/Solaris/AIX/VMS/CP-M/DOS

If they break, got another one to continue, if they die beyond repair, at least they went out fighting
Compiling occupies one machine, use another.
Repairability also a great motivator versus new machines.

 

[mortlocli]

There's a sort of rebellion factor in using something that's 'obsolete' instead of the 'latest n greatest'. It like thumbing your nose at Apple..and big corporations...while they're trying to make you buy more stuff!!

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Exactly, most people (myself included) use a Mac in order to specifically use Mac OS and the software that runs within its environment and this is reflected by the list being orientated towards that focus.

38. Get chicks

Everyone knows hot chicks are way into retro mac computing. I do it for the chicks.

 

[mortlocli]

38. Get chicks

Everyone knows hot chicks are way into retro mac computing. I do it for the chicks.

theres just so many of them.. I often have to beat them off with a stick.

 

[z970]

Everyone knows hot chicks are way into retro mac computing.

... Have you tried renewing their thermal paste?

 

[lepidotós]

Intel ME and AMD PSP can be disabled or avoided.

Only on certain chips/chipsets, and those are aging fast. Pentium 4/925x are the last guaranteed no-IME/AMT Intel offerings, and I believe C2D or early Core is the last time either can be disabled fully and entirely. Recent Intel offerings, it just won't boot at all if you disable it instead of just try to neuter some of it. Same with AMD post-Bulldozer, which was pretty hot for an "alright" chip that's just on the cusp of being decent for non realtime workflows. Writing doesn't count, an Apple II can write. I have an electric typewriter if I get desperate and it doesn't even have a microprocessor.​

What about Libreboot disabling/removing ME on Core 2 Duo systems at least?

I looked into it as a stopgap measure in between now and getting a Raptor Blackbird, but libreboot has a shockingly slim number of computers it actually works on, roughly 20 of them are noted as actually booting with it between laptops, desktops... desktops in particular, only four motherboards in total are reported to work nicely with it. Granted, one is the iMac5,2 (and on the laptop side of things are the MacBook1,1 and 2,1), so that makes it easier to find librebootable machines, but it's not currently much of an option to probably 80% of people.
And again, you're stuck with Core 2 Duo. I realize that it's ironic I'm saying C2D with disdain for its age when I'm typing this on a 7447a, but software is still written targetting chips less powerful than this one; C2D has been left in the dust for software in the Intel world for a long time and has to rely on amd64 backward compatibility to run software made on and made for PCs an order of magnitude higher spec than it will ever be. Same thing with the G5 and PPC64 Linux, actually.
PPC Macs sidestep this whole thing, very affordably (well, when compared to a Raptor motherboard and IBM CPU, anyway), and often have enough power to do day to day tasks with software written specifically on and for them, taking into account what they're capable of, and optimized to Hell and back.​

 

[lepidotós]

Anyway, to get back on topic, I stress tested my new Radeon 9800 Pro when I got it by making a ~10k face model of a nuclear power plant in Blender 2.5, and it actually held up decently well. Rendering took a little bit of a while, but the normal view was decently fast. It wasn't super detailed, many of those faces went towards making the cooling towers smooth, but it wasn't just a building and the cooling towers either.​