Webone proxy on your main PC? Or maybe on a Pi?

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-18, 20:35:

Should I...

Yes 😀 Its $50 as it maybe up to $200 in perfect working order and there are tons of them out there so no chance of becoming expensive unicorns. Same goes for useless G5s

Matth79 wrote on 2026-04-18, 21:03:

Webone proxy on your main PC? Or maybe on a Pi?

Changing the guts of a machine and retaining its old keyboard, or offloading critical work to a second machine, are two different ways of distorting the original system - they just do it in different ways.

The question is, where do I want the illusion to hold? That's the nut of the conundrum.

If you're keeping it as a piece of furniture... do you want to look at it as a proudly sculptured PC, or as a joke cupboard?

The definition of art is the object existing for itself with purpose...

I have a lot of old TVs, but the thought of converting one into a joke fishtank or modern TV makes me want to vomit.

Does a fish tank not have a purpose?

Two ideas from Google images, both making very functional use of the original hinged panel.

Taking practically to it's zenith, I suppose I could put a cushion on top and use to store toilet rolls 😉

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-19, 10:55:

Does a fish tank not have a purpose?

Two ideas from Google images, both making very functional use of the original hinged panel.

Taking practically to it's zenith, I suppose I could put a cushion on top and use to store toilet rolls 😉

i like the one in the middle, i had the bottom one which i picked up dead bout 17yrs back havent seen one since, tried to fit a standard pc motherboard for my hackintosh, the panels were too thin to hold the stand-offs so resorted to nuts and bolts which didnt work out 🤣, ended up ditching it but kept the power supply which turned out to be dead. shit! ruined a perfectly good mac because i didnt test the psu.

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-18, 20:35:

The problem is, any G4 is a PPC and while the hardware is fantastic all PPC systems are blocked from joining the TLS1.2+ Internet by their branch of Linux not being maintained.

Install Gentoo. If you have a spare capable quad-core, set it up as a binhost (either crossdev or a QEMU PPC VM) to significantly reduce compilation times.

DEAT wrote on 2026-04-20, 08:05:

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-18, 20:35:

The problem is, any G4 is a PPC and while the hardware is fantastic all PPC systems are blocked from joining the TLS1.2+ Internet by their branch of Linux not being maintained.

Install Gentoo. If you have a spare capable quad-core, set it up as a binhost (either crossdev or a QEMU PPC VM) to significantly reduce compilation times.

Gentoo would get TLS 1.2 working, but not a browser that can render current websites (e.g. CNN/BBC/ABC).

I'm not trying to make the old machines a daily driver - it's that I don't like multiple machines running when I can physically use only one at a time.

DudeFace wrote on 2026-04-20, 07:07:

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-19, 10:55:

Does a fish tank not have a purpose?

Two ideas from Google images, both making very functional use of the original hinged panel.

Taking practically to it's zenith, I suppose I could put a cushion on top and use to store toilet rolls 😉

i like the one in the middle, i had the bottom one which i picked up dead bout 17yrs back havent seen one since, tried to fit a standard pc motherboard for my hackintosh, the panels were too thin to hold the stand-offs so resorted to nuts and bolts which didnt work out 🤣, ended up ditching it but kept the power supply which turned out to be dead. shit! ruined a perfectly good mac because i didnt test the psu.

I like the middle one too, but I'd stick to air cooling - to me, water seems to signal that the hardware is being pushed too far.

I don't understand the standoff thing because the PCI card backplates are the reference point. I read it's the same challenge when repurposing an XT case, but haven't witnessed the challenge myself.

Have you tried this webbrowser?
https://powerfox.jazzzny.me

Check this out:

This is not a PC, but it may as well be! (My PowerMac G3 Blue & White)

Some images are unfortunately missing already - but maybe you find some inspiration...

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-19, 10:55:

Does a fish tank not have a purpose?

Two ideas from Google images, both making very functional use of the original hinged panel.

Taking practically to it's zenith, I suppose I could put a cushion on top and use to store toilet rolls 😉

kinda interesting and i have no worries seeing old cases used like this, up to a point.. it reminds me of people who "make" lightbulbs or other things out of old hand tools, i admit i think that a kind of sacrilege as the hand tool is till useful (it also just looks awful in my view.. the worst was hammer heads on a coat rack.. waste of good steel, at least the heads could be rescued i support)

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-20, 09:32:

DudeFace wrote on 2026-04-20, 07:07:

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-19, 10:55:

Does a fish tank not have a purpose?

Two ideas from Google images, both making very functional use of the original hinged panel.

Taking practically to it's zenith, I suppose I could put a cushion on top and use to store toilet rolls 😉

i like the one in the middle, i had the bottom one which i picked up dead bout 17yrs back havent seen one since, tried to fit a standard pc motherboard for my hackintosh, the panels were too thin to hold the stand-offs so resorted to nuts and bolts which didnt work out 🤣, ended up ditching it but kept the power supply which turned out to be dead. shit! ruined a perfectly good mac because i didnt test the psu.

I like the middle one too, but I'd stick to air cooling - to me, water seems to signal that the hardware is being pushed too far.

I don't understand the standoff thing because the PCI card backplates are the reference point. I read it's the same challenge when repurposing an XT case, but haven't witnessed the challenge myself.

from what i remember the standoffs for the mac were different sizes and in different positions and the standoffs had different size threads than what you would use on a standard pc board, i had to redrill holes in the panel but as it was so thin the standoffs wouldnt hold and would flop about in the holes, so not properly securing the board, if i were to do it again id buy one of those test bench chassis off amazon, chop it up and screw it in.

i think i found one.

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-19, 10:55:

Does a fish tank not have a purpose?

Two ideas from Google images, both making very functional use of the original hinged panel.

Taking practically to it's zenith, I suppose I could put a cushion on top and use to store toilet rolls 😉

It's about proudly making something the best it can be given the purpose, and surviving in the space it's design for.......

Take a step back and look at those letterboxes.... it looks like someone decided "this item is a useless joke now, haha, I'm going to make it my new letter box".. and now it looks like trash on a stick, and you're advertising to the world how much you hate your front garden and letter box, yourself, and what you think of inventors, classic art design... and that you should never be allowed in a musuem.

Even a g4 will have a updated OS, is too slow for any web browsing

Is like using XP in a P2 or P3 impossible. But i have XP in a i7 and web browsing using chrome is perfect

I will love to use OS9 in a modern CPU with a modern browser

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-18, 20:35:

The problem is, any G4 is a PPC and while the hardware is fantastic all PPC systems are blocked from joining the TLS1.2+ Internet by their branch of Linux not being maintained. The most functional desktop OS available to this G4 is MacOS X Leopard, and that's about as functional as Windows XP.

Huh, even something like Gentoo or Adelie Linux? I recall them being compatible, with the latter having at least basic compatibility at least a year ago...
and Gentoo just has the host machine compile everything, so I'm not sure why that wouldn't work on PPC

MikeSG wrote on 2026-04-20, 13:21:

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-19, 10:55:

Does a fish tank not have a purpose?

Two ideas from Google images, both making very functional use of the original hinged panel.

Taking practically to it's zenith, I suppose I could put a cushion on top and use to store toilet rolls 😉

It's about proudly making something the best it can be given the purpose, and surviving in the space it's design for....

In Apple community it seems popular to mod the case by embedding a Mac Mini, and I don't understand that because it's just making a very big and heavy Mac Mini. The G4 PowerMac case is "better" than any ATX I've come across, but putting a Mac Mini inside is not leveraging the G4 case's strength because the actual computer is inside a different case. Practically any mini tower or laptop would fit inside that big cavity and makes just as much sense as embedding a Mac Mini.

Converting the G4's case into a generic ATX is an irreversible modification, and that seems to be the path least trodden as customisations appear to be bespoke for a specific motherboard rather than universally ATX-compliant.

But it's more than just the case because my G4 appears to be working as it should - it just doesn't have a bootable disk.

I could get Tiger installed (Leopard at a stretch). I used to be into Final Cut Pro video editing on G5 Macs, and I could beef up the G4 with a Delta sound card and a Radeon GPU. I think the glitch is that, unlike a PC of the same era, I don't know what software actually showcases the strengths of PPC. There are Mac games, but they were more OS9 (or earlier). Maybe that is where I need to look?

Addendum: Just checked and Tiger on PPC can execute OS9 in a window (like QEMU hardware passthrough) so that is a showcase. Also found that Apple bungled FCP X and lost the pro video editing market, so FCP 7.x on PPC is a showcase.

VanillaFairy wrote on 2026-04-20, 16:36:

MattRocks wrote on 2026-04-18, 20:35:

The problem is, any G4 is a PPC and while the hardware is fantastic all PPC systems are blocked from joining the TLS1.2+ Internet by their branch of Linux not being maintained. The most functional desktop OS available to this G4 is MacOS X Leopard, and that's about as functional as Windows XP.

Huh, even something like Gentoo or Adelie Linux? I recall them being compatible, with the latter having at least basic compatibility at least a year ago...
and Gentoo just has the host machine compile everything, so I'm not sure why that wouldn't work on PPC

The core Linux OS will work.

But, when you add a full software stack (including web browsers) too many apps were written specifically for SSE2 instruction set and won't compile for PPC - so my understanding is I'd have a Linux desktop with fewer apps than I would have on MacOS X.

Aui wrote on 2026-04-20, 09:49:

Check this out:

This is not a PC, but it may as well be! (My PowerMac G3 Blue & White)

Some images are unfortunately missing already - but maybe you find some inspiration...

Which GPU are you using in the last iteration?