Late PPC Macbooks

Post Reply
User avatar
tekk
Posts: 99
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2024 5:17 pm

Late PPC Macbooks

Post by tekk »

So MacOS kinda got shit starting after 10.4 right?

If I were to get one of the last gen of PPC macbooks how would wifi support work? What's the browsing situation like since I think tenfourfox went away?

Yes I'm probably trying to talk myself out of a stupid purchase when I already own like 5 different laptops. I swear they all have their own niche :ugeek:
User avatar
zero cool
Site Admin
Posts: 245
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2024 9:40 am
Location: The sea of meatballs
Gopher: gopher.deadnet.se
IRC: zero_cool @ irc.libera.chat
Jabber: headcrash@og.im
Contact:

Re: Late PPC Macbooks

Post by zero cool »

It did indeed start getting shit after that. However, if you're going to venture into PPC Macs and OSX nowadays you really want 10.5 Leopard, because barely any of the available apps work on older versions. It's preferable to completely disable file indexing in the OS though, since it takes up a lot of resources. It's well worth it.
Wifi works perfectly. I've yet to have issues with it.
InterWebPPC is the latest updated browser afaik. It's not new, but works pretty well. It's not fast though. A bit like browsing with a slug, lol. https://github.com/wicknix/InterWebPPC
Everything is a smoke machine if you operate it wrong enough.
Main site
deadnet.se
User avatar
claudiom
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu May 23, 2024 1:45 pm

Re: Late PPC Macbooks

Post by claudiom »

zero cool wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2025 8:20 am It did indeed start getting shit after that. However, if you're going to venture into PPC Macs and OSX nowadays you really want 10.5 Leopard, because barely any of the available apps work on older versions. It's preferable to completely disable file indexing in the OS though, since it takes up a lot of resources. It's well worth it.
Wifi works perfectly. I've yet to have issues with it.
InterWebPPC is the latest updated browser afaik. It's not new, but works pretty well. It's not fast though. A bit like browsing with a slug, lol. https://github.com/wicknix/InterWebPPC
This right here.

If I were to run Mac OS X, that's probably what I'd stick with. But I agree, the difference from Tiger to Leopard was noticeable, and not in a good way.
User avatar
tekk
Posts: 99
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2024 5:17 pm

Re: Late PPC Macbooks

Post by tekk »

I actually thought 10.4 was the last version on ppc. 10.5 might be tolerable, but are they still actually nice? I didn't mind...10.2 or 10.3 (I don't recall which) that I put on my blueberry ibook but it couldn't do anything and the OS was dog slow on 90's hardware.
User avatar
mavica
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri May 24, 2024 10:35 pm
Location: internet
IRC: mavica @ irc.libera.chat
Mastodon: https://computerfairi.es/@mavica_again
Jabber: mavica@netizen.club
Contact:

Re: Late PPC Macbooks

Post by mavica »

i have a maxed-out 1.5 GB RAM 1.33ghz A1133 12" 2005 iBook G4 running 10.4.11 on a "SSD" (mSATA to IDE) that i find really enjoyable to even browse with tenfourfox on

i really want a TiBook because i want a laptop that can book OS 9 natively tho
User avatar
zero cool
Site Admin
Posts: 245
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2024 9:40 am
Location: The sea of meatballs
Gopher: gopher.deadnet.se
IRC: zero_cool @ irc.libera.chat
Jabber: headcrash@og.im
Contact:

Re: Late PPC Macbooks

Post by zero cool »

One thing to bear in mind is that all of the Powerbooks, and even MBP's pre-unibody are insanely flimsy, because they made them as thing as possible. Nearly all of them have a bent frame, corner dents, cracked corner trim and so on. So an iBook would be a better pick.

Oh, and the onboard soldered RAM chips seem to like going bad from old age. I fixed that in my Powerbook G4 by desoldering and lifting the power supply pins on the chips. They're really damn neat old machines, but they seem to age sort of like yoghurt. That being said, if you find a working one in decent shape for a good price, just grab it.

The mSATA-IDE SSD mod is a nice one indeed. I did that to mine when the old HDD was failing, and it's a lot quicker.
OSX loves swap when running so little RAM, which in my case meant I couldn't even play an MP3 without stuttering just by moving a window around.
Everything is a smoke machine if you operate it wrong enough.
Main site
deadnet.se
User avatar
mavica
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri May 24, 2024 10:35 pm
Location: internet
IRC: mavica @ irc.libera.chat
Mastodon: https://computerfairi.es/@mavica_again
Jabber: mavica@netizen.club
Contact:

Re: Late PPC Macbooks

Post by mavica »

i once had an A1054 that would only boot if i pressed hard on the left side of the palmrest. there is so much online about it being bad solder joints on one particular power control chip yet no matter how much i reflowed it with a hot air station the damn thing really only ever booted if i choked it. maybe it was into it. i can't judge

(d-d-double post!!!) i've now tried InterWebPPC RR4 with TenFourFoxPEP and i cannot tell much performance improvement over latest TenFourFox, if anything it might be slightly worse. the PEP description makes it sound like it should be leagues faster but it isn't really
Post Reply