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World Wild Web => ☞ ∙ Life on the Web => ⛽︎ ∙ Technology & Archiving => Topic started by: Melooon on October 12, 2023 @532.86

Title: G4 Power Club!
Post by: Melooon on October 12, 2023 @532.86
(https://m1.secondhandapp.at/1.1/5e022218328ffa0b0296ba19)(https://img.ricardostatic.ch/images/4e3c3eec-1c23-4073-80ee-98779ff1bc26/t_1800x1350)(https://www.apfelpage.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/powermac-g4.jpg)(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3032/2389243587_fcccb0a811_o.jpg)

G4 POWER CLUB

HELLO this is a special club for people who own G4 computers! (If you own a G3 or a G5 you can join too but you have to stand at the back in group photos). G4 Computers are a particular line of pre-Intel computers that used Apples own brand of PowerPC processors made between 2000 and 2005 - the era is marked by having the coolest and most futuristic designs almost in the whole history of computing; before everything got boring in the late 00!

FUN FACT: NASAs Mars rovers still use G4 CPUs (made of solid gold) as their main brains! They are some of the most reliable processors ever made!

If you have a G4; please report here!  :ozwomp:  :ozwomp:

Useful G4 related links:
Title: Re: G4 Power Club!
Post by: Salty on October 12, 2023 @600.45
 :ozwomp: Finally, I get to show off my OG iMac G4! I swiped this bad boy on the Facebook marketplace from the local electronics recycling center for $30 USD. It's in really good condition and works like a charm:

(https://saltedslug.net/server/imac-salt.png)

I figure I'd share the links I used to get mine all set up as well:
Mac PowerPC (https://macpowerpc.wordpress.com/) - An oldhead's blog where he shares tips and software archives about the PowerPC, which is still his daily driver!!! I got a lot of cool stuff and knowledge from here.
Mac Driver Museum (https://www.vintageapple.org/macdrivers/) - A well-organized archive of pre-Intel Mac drivers.
Mac68k Software Collection (https://ia802909.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/27/items/MacPPC-Mac68k-software-collection/MacPPC-Mac68k-software-collection.tar) - This is an Internet Archive software collection and it's HUGE! All sorts of fun games that are PowerPC compatible here. Have fun :)
PowerPC Software (http://www.powerpcsoftware.com/) - This is an archive of the latest releases of software for PowerPCs. Very useful!
Vintage Mac Museum (https://vintagemacmuseum.com/resources/mac-software/) - This is where I spent a ton of time. This is a giant list of (mostly alive) links related to pre-Intel Macs.

Hope this helps!! I spent a ton of time this summer fixing up the iMac and using it for fun. Also, I would highly recommend just using CDs or DVDs to install drivers/software on these things. Using USB is a nightmare unless you have an old flash drive running on an ancient USB standard.

:unite: Melon, you should totally make a cute little G4 badge for the awards section on here...
Title: Re: G4 Power Club!
Post by: starbreaker on October 12, 2023 @605.49
I've got a G4 iMac (2003) and I had recently brought it into a shop to have its hard drive replaced with a SSD and its RAM maxed out at 1GB. I don't use it much, though.

There's a port of Firefox to G4 hardware called TenFourFox (https://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/) but the developer stopped working on it in 2021 (https://tenfourfox.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-end-of-tenfourfox-and-what-ive.html).
Title: Re: G4 Power Club!
Post by: Melooon on October 12, 2023 @617.04
Quote from: starbreaker on October 12, 2023 @605.49
SSD and its RAM maxed out at 1GB
I just did an SSD install on mine yesterday and it makes a big difference :grin:

(https://nonit.me/external/images/g4-ssd.jpeg)
For those curious; any mSATA to IDE adapter from eBay or Amazon should work; they cost about 15 euro. For the SSD itself I used an Integral 128GB SSD (128 is the limit for older G4s unless you wanna get hacky), it was about 23 euro; they had cheaper ones, but I'd recommend paying a bit extra to get a more reliable one - all in it was about 38 euro to do the upgrade and its well worth it for the extra space and speeeed! (U also need the right screwdrivers)

Also extra fun fact for anyone with a Titanium PowerBook; they keyboard actually pops off if you pull two tabs on it; you can use an airpods case to prop it up for extra cooling when it gets too hot opining StuffIt archives :tongue:
(https://nonit.me/external/images/g4-under-keyboard.jpg)(https://nonit.me/external/images/g4-keyboard.jpg)

ALSO ALSO the 10.4.12 patch includes a theme called Pinstripe that makes the OS look more like 10.2; its really nice; and it really makes me realise how pleasent that era of OS design was.. it makes going back to a modern mac a bit disappointing (at least in terms of UI design) :ohdear:

Quote from: Salty on October 12, 2023 @600.45
I get to show off my OG iMac G4! I swiped this bad boy on the Facebook marketplace from the local electronics recycling center for $30 USD
OMG this is such a great deal :omg: Its so rare to get anything like that where I live! Thank you for the links!


Also Questions:
What OS versions do you like to run and way? And what are your favourite programs to use?

EDIT:
Quote from: starbreaker on October 12, 2023 @605.49
here's a port of Firefox to G4 hardware
I gave this a good go; but I found it really was unpleasantly slow on my system; Safari 4 is so much nicer to use; but it cant handle modern sites or HTTPS at all; TheOldNet.com works well, but not much else. That said; RSS feeds still work great on these systems, NetNewsWire is a good RSS reader.
Title: Re: G4 Power Club!
Post by: Salty on October 12, 2023 @677.62
Quote from: starbreaker on October 12, 2023 @605.49
I've got a G4 iMac (2003) and I had recently brought it into a shop to have its hard drive replaced with a SSD and its RAM maxed out at 1GB. I don't use it much, though.

There's a port of Firefox to G4 hardware called TenFourFox (https://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/) but the developer stopped working on it in 2021 (https://tenfourfox.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-end-of-tenfourfox-and-what-ive.html).

I tried that one out as well! I didn't really notice any performance difference over Safari, though. I think it's really cool that the dev kept it alive for so long, though.

Quote from: Melooon on October 12, 2023 @617.04
Also Questions:
What OS versions do you like to run and way? And what are your favourite programs to use?

I'm running Leopard on mine! I believe that it can run Snow Leopard, but that's as far as it goes. I haven't had performance issues with 10.5, so I just left it like that. That's sick by the way that you put an SSD in yours! The HDD in mine has really good drive health, so I just think this wasn't used very much and just sat in someone's shop for 20 years.
Title: Re: G4 Power Club!
Post by: Melooon on October 12, 2023 @687.31
Quote from: Salty on October 12, 2023 @677.62
Leopard on mine! I believe that it can run Snow Leopard, b
Snow Leopard was the first to remove support for PowerPC's :sad: But I think ere are unofficial builds out there that might work! (Sorbet Leopard)

The key difference between Tiger and Leopard is that Tiger can run Mac OS 9 applications using classic mode; that was removed in Leopard, but Leopard can run some significaly newer Mac OSX software as a result. So it really comes down to what you like to run; and/or if you prefer just using MacOS 9 as a standalone OS.

The main thing I enjoy about OS 9 is its suppper wild selection of art programs (https://www.macintoshrepository.org/software_search.php?c=7&stid=1&p=1) - most of them work much better in standalone mode.

The SSD is great; although I do miss the clicking noise!
Title: Re: G4 Power Club!
Post by: Frost Sheridan on October 24, 2023 @581.70
yooo finally a club just for me! this beautiful Quicksilver Power Mac G4 setup (with matching studio display, harmon-kardon soundsticks, and keyboard + mouse) is by far my favorite computer that i own. this guy is running OS X 10.4 Tiger and has a 733MHz G4, 256MB RAM, and a 128GB SSD (installed with a SATA to IDE adapter). unfortunately the power mac itself isn't really shown in this photo, but it's on the floor to the right of the desk - you can just barely see it in the corner. (with a cute little dragon sitting on top!)

(https://iili.io/JKMVUPI.md.jpg) (https://freeimage.host/i/JKMVUPI)

i've been having a lot of fun running iLife (https://archive.org/details/iLife08) software on this computer. as a synthesizer nerd, garageband is a treat to tinker around with, and iWeb seems like a pretty fun little website creator as well. someday i need to give iMovie a try with my miniDV handycam!
Title: Re: G4 Power Club!
Post by: Salty on October 24, 2023 @655.24
Quote from: Frost Sheridan on October 24, 2023 @581.70
yooo finally a club just for me! this beautiful Quicksilver Power Mac G4 setup (with matching studio display, harmon-kardon soundsticks, and keyboard + mouse) is by far my favorite computer that i own. this guy is running OS X 10.4 Tiger and has a 733MHz G4, 256MB RAM, and a 128GB SSD (installed with a SATA to IDE adapter). unfortunately the power mac itself isn't really shown in this photo, but it's on the floor to the right of the desk - you can just barely see it in the corner. (with a cute little dragon sitting on top!)

(https://iili.io/JKMVUPI.md.jpg) (https://freeimage.host/i/JKMVUPI)

i've been having a lot of fun running iLife (https://archive.org/details/iLife08) software on this computer. as a synthesizer nerd, garageband is a treat to tinker around with, and iWeb seems like a pretty fun little website creator as well. someday i need to give iMovie a try with my miniDV handycam!

Wow this is sick!!! I've never messed with iLife on mine; I'll have to check it out.
Title: Re: G4 Power Club!
Post by: Melooon on October 27, 2023 @738.25
Quote from: Frost Sheridan on October 24, 2023 @581.70
with matching studio display, harmon-kardon soundsticks, and keyboard + mouse
My mum has almost exactly this setup but with a G5 tower instead! The soundsticks are actually mine, but I couldn't let that monitor go without soundsticks! She used it as her main computer up to last year when it was replaced with a new iMac (but don't worry the old setup is still preserved!)

I'm glad to see yours is still working; those ADB screens are getting increasingly hard to run!

ALSO I got some lightly used Firewire G-Drives today! One will be used for my PC backup, but the one with the light on is currently setup as a backup for me G4 using CarbonCopyClone! (2TB is WAY overkill for a G4 backup; but I just love how these drives look)

(https://nonit.me/external/images/g-drives-old.jpg)

ALSO ALSO; what version of Life do you like to use??
Title: Re: G4 Power Club!
Post by: Melooon on March 04, 2025 @932.28
Quote from: Frost Sheridan on October 24, 2023 @581.70
Quicksilver Power Mac G4
I picked up a quick silver today from my local independent mac shop thats been around since the 80s and is shutting down (I would be sad but Im amazed they lasted so long tbh!) Just the computer, they had the monitor but omg I'm not sure I can handle more monitors in my life...

I also got an iMac G4 from the same shop! Both of them have a lot of issues (the iMac is stuck at startup), but I hope with a bit of work I can get them up and running. Im planning to install MacOS 9.2 on both, maybe with an OSX duel boot.

(https://nonit.me/external/images/g4-imac.jpeg)

Also an update on my G4 Titanium! I completely stripped it down the other day and replaced the thermal paste plus oiled the fans, it now runs almost silently and its MUCH cooler, I very much recommend doing thermal paste swaps on G4s! (Although doing it on the laptop was quite a scary and complex process, it was worth it!)

I hope other G4 Club members are doing well! :ozwomp:
Title: Re: G4 Power Club!
Post by: Slix on March 04, 2025 @956.81
Very cool thread! I have a bunch of G4s at home, I should take some photos soon and share them here!

From memory, assuming I'm not forgetting anything I have:
- 3 iMac G4s, 1 17" and 2 15"s.
- 2 Titanium PowerBook G4s.
- 15" PowerBook G4 Aluminum.
- 12" PowerBook G4 Aluminum.
- 14" iBook G4.
- 3 Power Macintosh G4 Graphite of various speeds (1 was given to my brother technically, but I had it for a number of years)
- 1 Power Mac G4 MDD 1.25 GHz single processor.
- 1 Mac Mini G4 1.5 GHz.
- 1 Xserve G4.

Honorable mention to the family eMac G4 that my dad had, then my mom got from him, we used for a long time, and it was upgraded and replaced and probably isn't even the same one we got way back in the day anymore, haha. My mom still has it in her dining room!

Most of my G4s are running Tiger or Leopard, but I like using older iLife, iWork, and games on them, and browsing can be done with some tweaks and InterWeb PPC (https://github.com/wicknix/InterWebPPC), last I checked at least! I used to use my G4 Mac Mini as my home server running 10.5 Leopard Server, but that role has since been given to my Mac Mini 2006 running Snow Leopard Server. :)
Title: Re: G4 Power Club!
Post by: warlock on March 14, 2025 @613.73
Reporting in from an eMac! I got mine from my grandmother, who was using it as her main computer up until last year, when she simply opted to not have a computer at all.

I was able to get here via AquaWeb micro - it's honestly pretty good if you find yourself on a lower end machine. Unfortunately even a few gifs are enough to totally overload the machine, so the normal forum theme is a no-go. Still, very fun to see that I can reach some modern sites.

I'll post a couple pics when I get the chance - hopefully soon!