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Windows VPC downloads free from Micro$oft

L

Lastic

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 19, 2016
879
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North of the HellHole
While still trying to run a VPC7 virtual machine to run a browser that can play Netflix I stumbled across these .

These are big images but official ones so I'm testing them one by one currently.

These are official Microsoft Windows Images which work in Microsoft Virtual PC and are thus also compatible with VPC7 ,since they use the same diskformat .VHD

Edge up to IE8

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/

RAM wise off course these don't work if they need more than 512MB

https://az792536.vo.msecnd.net/vms/release_notes_license_terms_8_1_15.pdf

Here are some older ones ,including Vista and XP .

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11575

And for those of us running QEMU as a virtualisation platform

Debian i386 images for QEMU

https://people.debian.org/~aurel32/qemu/i386/
 
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AmazingHenry said:
I'm excited to see where you take this project!
Click to expand...

The images from Microsoft where all too resource hungry or needed a faster processor than the emulated CPU of VPC7 .

Currently looking at using an (Spanish first I could find) Vista Lite iso

https://mega.nz/#!khkyTQLA!zhYtoEiHCFODjIiS7wl8TMrlMvIb0svSN88af0zJWKg

install on VPC7 on my G5 to meet these Netflix requirements :
  • Mozilla Firefox version 47 or later on Windows Vista or later, Mac OS X 10.7 or later, or Linux*
    • Supported on stable, official release builds from Mozilla. Non-Mozilla builds are not supported.
  • Opera version 33 or later on Windows Vista Service Pack 2 or later and Mac OS X 10.9 or later
XP doesn't have Chrome and 7 is way too resource heavy so after XP,win7,Debian,Ubuntu let's try the Vista route.
 
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pochopsp said:
Why don't try latest Linux distros? I think you'll have better luck with Linux than virtual machines, you have a G5, so latest Linux should be fine on it, and you'll have Firefox 51
Click to expand...

I tried to install Debian,Ubuntu Mate PPC on my PB G4 but for some reason I keep getting boot errors after the 2 hour installs so I gave up. I remember on the G5 that I even wouldn't get an install screen just a black screen so not even trying that , it always a hassle with the video cards and no accelerated video.

There is a point where I dedicate my entire weeks spare-time after work on installing PPC Linux without success , that I give up and focus on OS X 10.5.

If you have a Linux PPC install that works, do like I did , create a free Netflix account for one month and cancel it before the month completes but I'm pretty convinced that it won't work since you need the NSS and DRM parts of HTML5 which I don't think will be available on Linux PPC but I could be wrong.
 
Emulation for Netflix was never likely to work as they use H.264 / AVC video. Given Quicktime struggles to CPU decode it with Altivec, doing it via an emulated Pentium is a very big ask.
 
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MagicBoy said:
Emulation for Netflix was never likely to work as they use H.264 / AVC video. Given Quicktime struggles to CPU decode it with Altivec, doing it via an emulated Pentium is a very big ask.
Click to expand...

Just trying to use Silverlight on an emulated Windows since I don't have a clue how the whole codec/HTML5 DRM stuff works.
 
A G4 Powerbook with a 1,5/1,67 processor is at it's limit with XP-fundamentals and even more with XP.
No way to get Netflix running...
And when it comes to Flash/Silverlight/browsing Win98SE, Win2k, WinXP are as much left behind as PPCs are (or even more...)
The only way is to cheat an external video/audio-signal from an external device into PowerPC via capturing hardware with HDMI2Analog-converter, Analog2USB-converter or even a very-clever(&expensive) all-in-one HDMI2Firewire-box from Canopus/GrassValley/Thomson
"A king's ransom for a horse ..."

PS: there are also cheaper AC2FireWire-converters (like Canopus ADVC-55 Converter), which should work daisy-chained with an HDMI2AV-converter. Should work for video-input into iMovie. Could also be used to record streaming videos coming from another computer ...
 
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Lastic said:
The images from Microsoft where all too resource hungry or needed a faster processor than the emulated CPU of VPC7 .

Currently looking at using an (Spanish first I could find) Vista Lite iso

https://mega.nz/#!khkyTQLA!zhYtoEiHCFODjIiS7wl8TMrlMvIb0svSN88af0zJWKg

install on VPC7 on my G5 to meet these Netflix requirements :
  • Mozilla Firefox version 47 or later on Windows Vista or later, Mac OS X 10.7 or later, or Linux*
    • Supported on stable, official release builds from Mozilla. Non-Mozilla builds are not supported.
  • Opera version 33 or later on Windows Vista Service Pack 2 or later and Mac OS X 10.9 or later
XP doesn't have Chrome and 7 is way too resource heavy so after XP,win7,Debian,Ubuntu let's try the Vista route.
Click to expand...

Well I tried, runnig Vista Final Lite and it's snappy and not pegging out at 384 Mb but none of the required browsers install due to the emulated Pentium II lacking SSE2 , only one I got to install was Firefox 3 but then Silverlight wouldn't install due to no SSE2.

Back to Linux PPC or maybe OpenBSD 6.1
 
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Lastic said:
Well I tried, runnig Vista Final Lite and it's snappy and not pegging out at 384 Mb but none of the required browsers install due to the emulated Pentium II lacking SSE2 , only one I got to install was Firefox 3 but then Silverlight wouldn't install due to no SSE2.

Back to Linux PPC or maybe OpenBSD 6.1
Click to expand...
Latest OpenBSD is still supported on PowerPC Macs, but it lacks browsers. The best ones you'll get are Midori and Netsurf... I doubt you'll be able to watch Netflix on them
 
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pochopsp said:
Lastest OpenBSD is still supported on PowerPC Macs, but it lacks browsers. The best ones you'll get are Midori and Netsurf... I doubt you'll be able to watch Netflix on them
Click to expand...

Indeed, there were no packages yet in the 6.1 ppc repository , I checked them this morning , they were added on the 22nd of April and it's still NetSurf and Midori.
 
Well, wasted another 2 hours on installing Lubuntu 16.04 LTS ( which seems to be the only one I can still get installed without having boot issues after the install).

Got Firefox 47 now and libnss, can get all the way up to playing a video and then Netflix tells me the system requirements, switching via UserAgent to Chrome gives missing Widevine CDM , IE/Opera/Safari tells me to install Silverlight (but there is no moonlight/pipelight on PPC) , and Firefox on Linux (Intel UserAgent) also doesn't play.

Tried updating to Firefox 49 or higher but that doesn't seem to be feasible as there are no ppa repositories or I can't find unofficial PPC ones. I could swear that I saw the Amiga PPC running a higher Firefox on their systems.
 
pochopsp said:
Have a look here, post #20 :
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/tenfourfox-source-parity-were-done-folks.2034696/
Click to expand...

Thanks, I already found my answer on the Ubuntu forums, Firefox >49 only builds on ppc64 systems like the Amiga's or the G5.

Did find the last Ubuntu Mate 17.01 iso's here #13 because (L)Ubuntu Mate took down the daily build ISO's

[doublepost=1493269170][/doublepost]
MysticCow said:
For Netflix, just get a Roku like everyone else.
Click to expand...

I don't need Netflix, tried it years ago and it has nothing to offer me that I don't have already.

In light of the upcoming PPC Challenge and the changed Netflix system requirements allowing Linux+Firefox >=47 to stream HTML5 , I'm just trying to get it working on PPC as in my PB G4 .

I can perfectly watch Netflix on my Intel MBp if I want.
 
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