What use for a dual 500MHz G4?

[sysiphus]

Just got a free dual G4 500MHz, complete with Airport and a decent amount of RAM--any ideas on what to do with it? Nobody in my house has a need for a computer that old (My G5 is the slowest machine in the house in use), but it's in beautiful shape and works perfectly...Thoughts?

It probably isn't worth what it would cost to ship it/sell it on eBay, so if I can't come up with something creative, it'll probably be donated to my favorite charity--if they even want a machine this old!

 

[Blue Velvet]

Stick a PCI SATA card in there and some big drives, turning it into a media server. You can also do network backups to it.

 

[drewdle]

If you feel like spending some serious money, you could drop a dual 1.8 or dual 1.9Ghz PowerLogix upgrade in there. Supposedly makes them as fast as a Core2Duo MacMini.

You could send it to me. My B&W G3 died and I need a home server.

File server is another good idea. Or load it up with OS9 and play old games and have a laugh. Not sure really. Actually, with some finagling you could get Leopard running on that, if you had enough memory.

 

[sysiphus]

If you feel like spending some serious money, you could drop a dual 1.8 or dual 1.9Ghz PowerLogix upgrade in there. Supposedly makes them as fast as a Core2Duo MacMini.

You could send it to me. My B&W G3 died and I need a home server.

File server is another good idea. Or load it up with OS9 and play old games and have a laugh. Not sure really. Actually, with some finagling you could get Leopard running on that, if you had enough memory.

Geez, I just looked up the pricing on those dual G4 upgrades--who in their right mind spends $700 upgrading a 10-year-old G4 tower?

 

[PowerGamerX]

Geez, I just looked up the pricing on those dual G4 upgrades--who in their right mind spends $700 upgrading a 10-year-old G4 tower?

PowerPC nuts that can't let go. I don't understand it, I feel like just the $130 for a new battery in my PowerBook was way too much. I wanted to use it on the go though >.<

Anyway, I'd use that machine as a backup, get a good size drive in there and a WiFi and it'll do well.

 

[raysfan81]

PowerPC nuts that can't let go. I don't understand it, I feel like just the $130 for a new battery in my PowerBook was way too much. I wanted to use it on the go though >.<

Anyway, I'd use that machine as a backup, get a good size drive in there and a WiFi and it'll do well.

Uh you could buy an okay battery off ebay for like $20, why would you pay $130?

 

[PowerGamerX]

Uh you could buy an okay battery off ebay for like $20, why would you pay $130?

From Apple with warranty.

 

[drewdle]

Uh you could buy an okay battery off ebay for like $20, why would you pay $130?

The cells in the Ebay ones are of questionable quality. Sometimes they're great, sometimes they're not. I paid $80 for a 5200MAH cell from PowerLogix for my iBook, but that's likely because the laptop is so damn old.