News

Snow Leopard on PPC

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Screenshot from Lars Von Hier at MacRumors

The incredible PowerPC community is at work again, conjuring up some interesting experiments to see how else our machines can be extended.

The biggest nugget that has been circulating is the discovery of early builds of Snow Leopard which included PowerPC compatibility. These images come before Apple decided to nix PowerPC code. As such, they aren’t finished builds of Snow Leopard, and the support for some hardware is sketchy. However, initial reports of those who are trying them out note that Snow Leopard runs fairly well, though graphics drivers are buggy.

I haven’t taken the plunge yet, but I am working up to it as I watch the community learn about these finds and troubleshoot how to get the system stable. For example, kexts and drivers from Leopard (10.5.8) could being copied over when missing in Snow Leopard. Other imaginative thoughts include exploring later Snow Leopard builds for PowerPC code that lingered and moving those pieces back into these pre-release disc images. A Frankenstein kind of experience.

Read the thread on MacRumors to get started: Snow Leopard on Unsupported PPC Machines

Questions that remain:

  • Will this open PPC machines to some later builds of certain software? Would this potentially make some TenFourFox builds easier?
  • Is this stable enough to be a daily driver, and is it truly snappy?
  • What will be incompatible?

— Nathan

Server Maintenance – Monday, April 27

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My website host will be going through some server maintenance in about one week which could impact the accessibility of the website. It should be painless, but I’ll update when the process is done so you can let me know if any issues come up. Stay tuned for more posts and old Mac goodness.

— Nathan

The iPod Shuffle Lives

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My main machine at home runs Catalina. It’s nice. I’ve grown to like it, and despite losing 32-bit apps, I appreciate the direction Apple is taking the Mac (for the most part).

When I found my old iPod Shuffle at the bottom of a box of parts, I wondered if it worked. Plugging it in to my Mac had it verified and Music.app open in a flash. However, when I tried to sync music onto it, nothing. Other users have reported similar problems, a loss of functionality with Catalina. Maybe an old device like this is just not on Apple’s radar?

However, things are different on my Power Mac G5. iTunes still works. I was able to access the iTunes Store, download purchased music (since streaming music won’t load on these ol’ shuffles), and quickly sync a number of songs to the iPod. Easy peasy. Another reason to keep old tech around.

I do give credit to Apple for making sure iTunes is backwards compatible at least to Leopard. At some point, it will break, but for now, load up those old Shuffles and keep using them.

The iPod Shuffle is a great form factor. I dig the chewing gum size of the device, and it’s overall sturdiness. The thing still works. I imagine the battery life is less than it used to be, but it’s darn cool even in its aged state.

The only other issue I’ve had with the iPod Shuffle is that newer EarPods with the mic need to be plugged in carefully. Don’t push the jack all the way in. Otherwise, you end up with a weak, strange sound. Pull it out just a tad, and you still have a quality listening device for workouts or whatever.

Looks like various iPod Shuffles go for around $15 on eBay if you are in the market for one.

— Nathan

Fast/Slow

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Well, hello, and Happy New Year!

I’ve been absent from the blog and site for a bit, as I have been absolutely swamped with a trip overseas, classwork, and life. My G5 has been plugged in but neglected. (I’ve heard that’s not kind on the electric bills.) In the midst of some reorganization of the workshop and other projects, I finally reconnected the G5 to a monitor and fired it up to load the latest TenFourFox beta.

Look for more content, and thank you for the comments, especially those I’ve missed lately.

Here’s a quick fun tidbit:

Fast and Slow is free utility for your PPC Mac.

Fast and Slow is a helpful little Mac utility to give just a bit of oomph when you need it.

What does it do? There is no magic code or gimmicky trick in this. Rather, Fast and Slow uses the built in Energy Saver options on your G5. One option is to lower your CPU speed to save power. The other option is to crank the CPU up full blast. The little utility makes it quicker and simpler to switch between the two modes on the fly as you edit your latest album in Garageband and then work on an html document in TextEdit or something.

My download link stopped working recently, but it’s now been fixed.

Is there a downside to always running your Mac in the “fast” mode? I don’t think so. I suppose power usage would be higher if you are running your G5 24/7.

I do remember a similar but slightly different utility for the Mac which uses the underlying UNIX based functions of Mac OS X to force your Mac to focus on a chosen app, ignoring or pausing all other background tasks. If I find it, I’ll pass it on as another way to squeeze a little juice out of your Mac if you are doing heavy processing tasks.

See you soon.

— Nathan

What to do with an old Mac Pro 1,1?

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So, the story goes like this.

I ended up with a Mac Pro 1,1 in decent condition via a university surplus sale for less than $100.

With a firmware upgrade to make it act like a 2,1, more RAM, and a slightly better eight core Xeon processor, I had intended to turn it into a 24/7 file server to be accessible remotely. The Mac Pro, even the 1,1, for all of its warts has plenty of expansion space. Would I max it out internally? Add external hard drives? Make it less power hungry?

But, and there is always a but with these old machines, I ended up with an inexpensive dedicated NAS that sips power and does a lot more for less.

So, what to do with an old Mac Pro 1,1?

(And yes, I recognize that I am posting this on a G5 site.)

In the end, I am typing this blog post from Windows 10 installed on a second SSD (that I had pulled from another machine). On the other SSD, I’m running El Capitan, which is okay to do somethings especially within a browser like Firefox. The Mac Pro 1,1, despite its limitations on the Mac OS X side, makes a hell of a Windows machine. I’ve got an older but decent graphics card in here too (procured on the cheap). I can even game a bit.

Like all old Macs, the key question is why – why do you want to run them? Do you want to tinker? Do you want to learn? Do you want to scrounge around for old parts? Are you into nostalgia? Are you just curious? They are all good reasons. Especially if you can get access to these old Macs for next to nothing.

Older Intel Macs will become the beloved next generation of low end Macs precisely because they can dual boot in a lot of different configurations, from Linux to Windows. It makes them an intriguing option to keep around the house, even as their Mac OS X limitations creep in.

Our PowerPC Macs are only getting older and there is less speed and power to squeeze out of them as even Linux slowly leaves them behind.

Meanwhile, my wife’s old MacBook 1,1 is sitting below me. I’ve tinkered with it but found that its plastic case and roaring fans leave a lot to be desired. Still, it could run Windows. It could run numerous variants of Linux. It’s something to play with. But why? What do I want to do with it? Ultimately, that’s the question.

  • What is your next old Mac project?
  • Why do you work on old Macs?