Yet Another PowerPC Blog

The Powerbook has arrived, and (aside from a few battle wounds - including 1 x big dent and the screen catch not working), it's in mint condition. More on this to follow later, but for now I'm just setting things up....

In my experience, there are two things that you need to keep under control with a Powerbook: Heat (with the default setup out of the box, they generate way too much heat both at idle and while under stress) & managing local storage (due to them having relatively small HDDs). I'll be blogging on some tips to manage these in due course, but I wanted to keep track of the software that I'm installing.

These notes are pretty rough at the moment - and I'm planning to return to tidy them up at a later stage. (Read: "Stream of Consciousness".)

//TODO: List the dmg filenames.
//TODO: Table showing, for discontinued software, the last versions available for PPC.

0. A note on PowerPC Macs
Because Apple (and subsequently third-parties) have by and large dropped all PPC support, there's much more setup and configuration needed to get a great system. But it can be done, and you can learn quite a bit about the OS in the process.

One of the things I like about OS X is that it makes a great UNIX based workstation. Fortunately, Leopard has lots of great UNIX-style goodies, e.g. X11 installed out of the box. (Incidently, Apple have in my view turned their back on the *nix aspect with recent OSX versions - one of the original goals of NeXTStep was to create a create *nix box.)

Anyhoo:

Important Note: My goal is not to run the latest and greatest versions of software. In fact, this is pretty much impossible on a PPC Mac (assuming at least you're running OSX). What I am keen to demonstrate is "task based" - e.g. you can view PDFs, access Facebook, create SVG graphics, and so forth, and - all around - have a pretty capable system on great hardware for next to nothing.

The OS (in my opinion anyway) hasn't really changed all that much between versions in terms of look & feel, and functionality with respect to being a good UNIX setup. (I have a 10.9 MBP - still use it pretty much the same as my 10.5 PPC systems.)

And, before you ask, I have been on Windows and Linux for a number of years (most recently Ubuntu 10.04LTS) before eventually discovering Mac. For the record, my favourite OSes - OSX 10.5/10.6.

1. TenFourFox:

We'll update WebKit later, but (to get you up and running), I recommend installing TenFourFox - for these late model G4s, the build you want is ppc7450. Download it from here:

http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/

Since a good web-browser is essential (especially since new software isn't generally being created for PPC Mac and we're going to 'leverage' Web 2.0 apps (Facebook and the like) in place of this), I recommend keeping this app in the dock.

1a: WebKit for Leopard
This awesome upgrade of WebKit (backported for Leopard) gives you HTML5 (YouTube etc) in Safari. 0_o; #winning

http://code.google.com/p/leopard-webkit/‎

Note: Check that you've applied all patches - Safari 5.0.6 is required.

1b. Disable your vsync. There's extra load re graphics in 10.5. You can disable this (and read all about it) at:

http://powerpcliberation.blogspot.co.nz/2013/04/os-x-disable-your-v-sync.html

The command is:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver Compositor -dict deferredUpdates 0

After a reboot, check that this change has stuck as follows:

# defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver
{
    Compositor =     {
        deferredUpdates = 0;
    };
}

Update: This looks good: http://www.myapplespace.com/blog/view/22674/making-leopard-as-snappy-as-tiger-without-removing-anything

2. NTFS Read / Write

For interop with Windows USB drives, install NTFS-3G. This is a nicely packaged up piece of software and includes MacFUSE. The most recent (and probably final) PPC version is ntfs-3g-2010.10.2-macosx.dmg
Google for:

"index of" ntfs-3g-2010.10.2-macosx.dmg

and you should find a mirror somewhere containing the software. (Some of the 'permalinks' now seem to be broken. The "index of" looks for *nix style httpd servers.)

The MD5 Sum is as follows:

MD5 (ntfs-3g-2010.10.2-macosx.dmg) = bd38360a49b8bc43f44fa077d5526bf2

Then install "Install NTFS-3G.mpkg"
For the caching question, I've found "UBLIO caching" to be a fairly good balance between stability and productivity. (Notes: With "No Caching" set a file transfer takes for Africa. On the very odd occasion that I do get a kernel panic, it seems to be related to doing NTFS-3G stuff.... Overall, the potential for a very infrequent crash is outgunned by better transfer times.)

Reboot as per the recommendation.

3. UNIX style start-up script

I find it real handy to have a *nix style startup script. In OS X Leopard, a file /etc/rc.local can be used to achieve this. From a terminal:

$ sudo -i     # become root
# vim /etc/rc.local

And - to start with - create a file with contents:

#!/bin/sh
touch /private/tmp/something.foo

Then:

# chmod +x /etc/rc.local

Check that the script is working by rebooting. If all is well:

$ file /private/tmp/something.foo
/private/tmp/something.foo: empty

We'll come back to this later. For now, it's just a placeholder.

Update: Haven't documented this, but the powerbook was burning my legs. So grab fancontrol 0.4, drop the binary into /sbin and then tack on the following line to /etc/rc.local:

/sbin/g4fancontrol --set 45

3A: Easy escalation to root.

Make the following change in /etc/sudoers to easy escalate to root:

#%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL
%admin ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

From your usual account, you can become root (aka 'the boss') via a 'sudo -i' (and no password).

[Remember: PPC Macs aren't being maintained for security anymore, so what's an easy root escalation between friends worth anyway ?? It's much more convenient then having to enter your passwd all the time, especially if you trust the people you live with :-).]

3B. Flash

First get the last official version of flash (filename is flashplayer10_1r102_64_ub_mac.dmg). Then apply this hack: http://scriptogr.am/nordkril

3C. Window management under OSX is awful. Get ShiftIt v1.5. The binary works fine on Leopard PPC. Grab it from here: https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt/downloads

3D. From a terminal, run "purge" whenever you run out of real memory. Or buy more ram.

3E. Use WebKit for watching Movies from YouTube. If too slow, download via something like clipconverter.cc

3F. For reading epub books: Adobe Digital Editions 1.7.2:

http://helpx.adobe.com/content/dam/kb/en/403/kb403051/attachment/digitaleditions_installer_ppc.zip

4. Install XCode developer tools.

I use this to build software via macports. The last XCode available for PPC (which you can get from the Apple Developer Connection) has filename:

xcode314_2809_developerdvd.dmg

Direct link is: http://developer.apple.com/devcenter/download.action?path=/Developer_Tools/xcode_3.1.4_developer_tools/xcode314_2809_developerdvd.dmg

Note: More links to old developer tools available at https://quycao.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/download-dmg-file-of-xcode-4-5-6-7-8/

4a. For X11 apps such as Inkscape (which has multiple Windows open for the same app), I recommend setting make focus follow mouse as follows:

defaults write org.x.X11 wm_ffm -boolean true

5. Install macports

[Update 2018: Try tigerbrew instead.]

Get the installer for legacy platform Leopard and install. After Macports is installed:

i. port install googlecl: I use Google Docs a lot and prefer speed over pretty. I use Google Comand Line tools (googlecl), which means I can go crazy things like edit documents using vi. But it is sooooo much faster than waiting for large docs to load in a browser. More to follow this at a later stage.. Maybe...

5A. The utility ssh-copy-id from *nix land is handy. Install it from this site: https://github.com/beautifulcode/ssh-copy-id-for-OSX

5B. iTerm2 is great as a terminal emulator. The classic version has PPC support.

6. PyGame

There's a great tut for making games using Python at http://inventwithpython.com/makinggames.pdf

Unfortunately, my install attempts via brew and macports didn't work out too well. So I used the approach here (using some old packages):

http://geoffford.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/pygame-on-os-x-leopard/

Uses the following:

Download and install python-2.5-macosx.dmg
Download and install pyobjc-1.4-py2.5-macosx10.4.mpkg.zip
Download and install pygame-1.8.1release-py2.5-macosx10.5.zip

7. Apple Software Updates

Apple have already given the middle finger to 10.2 and 10.3 systems (in the sense that there's no automatic/online software updates anymore). Guess they could do this at any time to PPC users too on 10.5. So, below is a screenshot showing updates needed after 10.5.8 combo is applied.

Some download links for updates:

10.5.8 Combo: http://support.apple.com/kb/dl866
Safari 5.0.6: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1422

8. Inkscape
At the time of writing, the latest version available for 10.5 PPC was 0.48.1.

9. GIMP
http://gimp.lisanet.de/Website/Download.html

GIMP 2.6.11 for Leopard

10. Google Sketchup

Download SketchUp Pro 7.1 from this page: http://help.sketchup.com/en/article/60107.

From http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1639070:

"eyoungren is right. The 7.1 Pro version can be downloaded for PowerPC. It will revert to the normal version after something like 8 hours of use"

http://dl.google.com/sketchup/gsu7/PM-2-1-6859-EN.dmg

11. ClipMenu

Excellent Clipboard manager for OSX, and currently maintained for PowerPC and Intel Macs:

http://www.clipmenu.com/

12 Spotify

At the time of writing, Spotify 0.6.6.10.gbd39032a (2011) works fine. The DMG that you're after is:

Spotify-0.6.6.10.dmg

------

Remove unneeded apps from the dock

Just a case of keeping things tidy. Having the dock filled up unnecessarily just makes it difficult to find the apps you use all the time. If you want to find a "secondary app" then Spotlight is just the key combination of Apple+Space away.

You will know which apps you're "never" going to use. For me, I removed the following:

Apple Mail (I prefer Thunderbird, so will use TenFourBird - an up-to-date and community maintained version of Thunderbird)
Dashboard (especially since F12 does the same)
iChat - these systems don't have a web cam, plus I use Skype for comms (on either an Intel Mac or Windows)
Address Book - all in the cloud man.... (Google)
Spaces. I really don't like multiple workspaces. I find it difficult just to keep one workspace tidy. (I have terminal / web-browser tab explosion issues....)
Time Machine: Meh - I never got into this, mostly because a CIFS backend isn't provided for out of the box, and the need to hack around with sparebundles and the like. (Maybe time will change this, but for now, I'm not bothering - will just backup my files manually).

Apps I leave in the doc
iCal - Only to see the day & month at a glance

Apps I add to the doc

Terminal - In part, I'm wanting to use my PPC macs as a UNIX workstation (X11, ssh, ....) so Terminal.app is one of the first to enter into the dock.
TextEdit - Along with VIM, great for quick notes, edits.

System Setting Changes:

Energy Saver - Never go to sleep. (I like accessing my devices via SSH - If I want them off, I'll either manually sleep them or shut them down.)
Disable Half Brightness Display Sleep. (A pet peeve - can't stand "half-dimmed" screens - you can't read them well: IMHO Screen either off or on is better. Also, the battery is not good on this system, so am going to be using mains power all the time (except for moving between power outlets).)

Enable Tabbing between UI elements. (I prefer the windows style tabbing, which allows you to tab to checkboxes etc on pages. Much quicker than using the trackpad.):

System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts, and enable Full Keyboard Access for "All Controls". (This change takes effect immediately, no need to restart Apps etc.)

Additional Misc Software

Install Adblock Plus for TenFourFox.

Apps / Software etc that I use frequently:

1. Facebook. (Works perfectly under a new browser such as TenFourFox - including Chat etc.)

Tips and Tricks

1. These G4 Macs don't seem to cope well with net activity in a browser session - more to follow later, but if I see a webpage loading etc in TenFourFox then I use the space bar to skip pages rather than the arrow keys to scroll. (Not nearly as noticeable on a 1.67GHz G4, but I notice it on 1.0GHz and below for sure....)

2. TODO: File dialogs. Can hit "/" or "~" to quickly access UNIX style paths.

--

People like me (making PPC go the distance in 2014) at this thread (!):

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=19147826#post19147826
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1737681&page=3

It's 2014, and I'm about 10 years late to blogging. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm a Systems Engineer in New Zealand, and I've got an interest in retro-computing. I really don't like seeing computers going into the tip, and into our landfills, so here I am "pushing the envelope" to get the most out of old-school technology in 2014.

About a year ago, I discovered PowerPC Macs (circa 2005). These are machines which were hugely expensive when they were brand new. Now you can find them online for practically nothing. The reason ? Apple changed architecture from RISC based PowerPC to Intel in 2005, and now these machines are deemed vintage / obsolete. Probably in many cases (and for many applications) they are: there aren't any new commercial applications being written for them by the major vendors, there aren't any security updates being shipped by Apple. (Incidentally, Apple themselves were the first to 'disown' the platform - they only supported it for a relatively short time before moving exclusively to Intel.)

I wasn't really sure what I was buying at the time as I'd only had limited exposure to Macs up to this point. However, a year down the track, I've learned a few tricks (from others online and also via experiment) - and reckon I've got a few units of knowledge to impart.

There are many PowerPC blogs out there. My point of difference is that I'm "app" or "task focused" - I want to be able to show that these machines can be very functional and productive, even using (shock, horror) old software, and I want to show that this all can be done at the fraction of the cost of what a new machine with a Windows license will cost you. Furthermore, in my experience, the platform is very secure. The UNIX based MacOS X was pretty robust to start with, and there isn't going to be anyone targeting this platform now.

The downside of working with these machines is that you do need to invest time and effort, and in many cases "pull out all the stops" to get things working nicely. But once you get past these initial hurdles, in my experience, you can get them to do great things.

I'm going to keep track of how much things end up costing me along the way. I want to show that people can have an awesome, safe & reliable computing experience at a fraction of the cost of what a new computer will costs. I'm going to cover things like macports (UNIX / X11 applications), other free software, and probably cover some commercial products (but only those that I manage to buy legit online).

I'm writing this after working with a PowerMac G5 (late 2005, 2.3GHz Dual Core) for about year. I've just been lucky enough to purchase a top of the line 2005 PowerBook 15" 1.67 GHz for a whopping $63 including delivery off TradeMe. This time, I'm going to blog about the out-of-the-box / setup experience, and provide a walkthough of my "ultimate PPC setup guide" for 2014 and beyond.

Yet Another PowerPC Blog

Tuesday 14 June 2016

Acrobat Reader

Thursday 24 April 2014

Software

Tuesday 15 April 2014

Anticipation...

Welcome