VOGONS


Best os for G4 350 mhz Agp?

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First post, by brostenen

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hi.
Just wondering what os would be the best for my G4 350mhz.
Tiger runs directly awfull. Even with 2 gig og ram.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
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Reply 1 of 63, by pewpewpew

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The best to do what?

Like do you mean the best running period-correct Mac OS, or are you asking for something modern with proper browser support etc?

AFAIK the latter is impossible now. I'm not an expert, just tend to stay within earshot of Linux for PowerPC. IIRC it got itself well reorganized around 2012 but since then Firefox and the Kernel have moved on, so I think things are "dead jim" dead now.

_If_ things were going okay in 2012, then for completeness I should say the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is still good till 2017, so /maybe/ there is faint hope in that direction if you care to Google it. But I expect the hardware is too weak in any event. Better to make it a retro-box.

Reply 2 of 63, by collector

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Why are you asking for help with old hardware in an emulation forum? Ask in the old hardware forum, Marvin.

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Reply 3 of 63, by brostenen

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collector wrote:

Why are you asking for help with old hardware in an emulation forum? Ask in the old hardware forum, Marvin.

I know. I only ask because Marvin is an PC hardware forum.
There is no mac hardware section.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

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Reply 7 of 63, by collector

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Marvin is just old hardware, not just PC. It is just dominated by PC. Snover created the Marvin forum because he got tired of people constantly posting hardware stuff in the emulation forums.

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Reply 8 of 63, by bakudd

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mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

Rare 2GHz CPU upgrade?

Up until around 2008 or so there were CPU upgrades sold by NewerTech which worked with some of the earlier G4 models, including the one OP is using, and they went up to 2Ghz for single core or 1.8 for dual core. They came with a CD which flashed the Mac's firmware so that you could use the chip. They're pretty rare to find now though, I would love to find one for my own AGP machine.

(I'm not actually sure if they worked under OS 8.6 but they definitely worked under OS9.)

Reply 9 of 63, by brostenen

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collector wrote:

Marvin is just old hardware, not just PC. It is just dominated by PC. Snover created the Marvin forum because he got tired of people constantly posting hardware stuff in the emulation forums.

That is something I know nothing about. I am new to Vogons. 😀
He should change the explanation under macintosh emulation though.
It clearly says that this section is hardware too.

Anyway.
Just wanted to know if i should run os9 or osx 10.0.9
My question is software and not hardware.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

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Reply 10 of 63, by brostenen

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Well... Just saw the announcement about the hardware issue dilemma thing.
And I apolegize about what I said about hardware.
Yet. My question is still software related, as I am not looking for any upgrade or changing my mac.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

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Reply 11 of 63, by collector

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The description is about emulation of old Macintoshes OR Mac hardware OR Mac peripherals, not about what to run on actual hardware.

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers

Reply 12 of 63, by pewpewpew

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brostenen wrote:

Just wanted to know if i should run os9 or osx 10.0.9

Okay. Then for that question you might be well served at lowendmac:
http://lowendmac.com/

When I was keeping a PowerMac going, they were pretty good about discussing what OS is optimum for which hardware,

Reply 13 of 63, by filipetolhuizen

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I have a similar machine running both Mac OS 9.2.2 and 8.6. Both run great. Your machine supports up to 2GB RAM (1.5 in OS 9) while mine goes up to 1. This is a great advantage, specially when running OS X. If you want to keep things original and squeeze the maximum of it, get a Radeon 9200 (which I finally got working in Mac OS 9.2.2) or Radeon 7000 which is a lot easier to get working and a 500MHz CPU, which was the fastest made by Apple for this machine (other models CPUs might fit in your machine as well, without firmware modding). Then you'll be good to run Tiger, if that's what you want. Never keep Mac OS 9 and OS X installed on the same partition, since OS X file system writes down information that OS 9 can't understand, corrupting the system.

Reply 15 of 63, by bakudd

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350 mhz does seem pretty underpowered for running Tiger. My 1Ghz G4 laptop runs Tiger and I can't stream Youtube videos any higher than 240p. Word 2008 also runs slow after a while but I think that may be due to a memory leak as it corrects itself upon restarting the computer. So I would recommend sticking with OS 8.6 or 9.2.2 unless you can find a CPU upgrade. Which I just confirmed requires OS 9

Just be advised that if you upgrade to OS 9.2.2 you won't be able to go back down to 8.6 without either flashing the firmware or reformatting.

Reply 17 of 63, by filipetolhuizen

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2fort5r wrote:

What would be the advantage of OS 8.x over 9.x? Greater compatibility?

It's better for running very old games plus it's slightly more stable.

Reply 19 of 63, by Unknown_K

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You can use dual G4 cpu's only on specific revisions of Sawtooth G4 motherboards and a firmware upgrade is needed even then.

I have a couple G4's upgraded to 500x2 and they are nice for OSX, makes no difference in OS 9.

Collector of old computers, hardware, and software