Dear readers,

Up until Lion however, at least PowerPC software was emulated using Rosetta. This was dropped in Lion though. If you really do need a PowerPC machine, for dedicated work, I would personally buy a used older machine from ebay, which would be rather inexpensive depending on what kind of power you need.
Nov 21, 2015 Nov 21, 2015. A few days ago I decided to install ubuntu mate 15.10 on my PowerMac G5 dual 2Ghz (with a Radeon 9200) I got everything working Sound, Graphics and even wireless and CPU speed stepping so I decided to try setting up QEMU with KVM for those who don't know QEMU is a emulator/virtualiser that can do many different machines.
We've even offered to purchase a new Mac plus provide them with an Adobe CC license and have been turned down. At this point all I can do is advise the risky position we're in and try my best to keep the machines running and available. We just have to hope the client's old computer dies before ours.

Although Mac fans might find it hard to believe, the dual 2.5-GHz Power Mac G5 does indeed exist. The new top-end Power Mac was officially unveiled in June, but only a few of them have trickled.

I was away enjoying the pristine beauty of western Maryland earlier this week when the news dropped from Cameron Kaiser that TenFourFox, the most important piece of software to keep our Power Mac G5s somewhat relevant in this modern era of complex interweb technology, is nearing the end of its active development.

First, this should be no surprise. Cameron has performed coding miracles figuring out ways to add features, squeeze better performance, and generally give us a secure and somewhat modern option for PowerPC Macs running 10.4 and 10.5 in recent years. There really are not any alternatives beyond jumping to Linux, which carries with it its own set of tradeoffs and challenges. There was always going to be an end to development for TenFourFox. It was just a matter of when and not if.

Plus, despite many PowerPC users upgrading to solid state drives, flashed graphics card, occasional CPU upgrades, and maxed out RAM, there isn’t any processing power to gain out of our aging and venerable Macs. The internet will continue to introduce new technologies and make life miserable. The modern web, even on a somewhat updated browser, will struggle on our older computers.

Cameron spells it out here:

Writing and maintaining a browser engine is fricking hard and everything moves far too quickly for a single developer now. However, JavaScript is what probably killed TenFourFox quickest. For better or for worse, web browsers’ primary role is no longer to view documents; it is to view applications that, by sheer coincidence, sometimes resemble documents. You can make workarounds to gracefully degrade where we have missing HTML or DOM features, but JavaScript is pretty much run or don’t, and more and more sites just plain collapse if any portion of it doesn’t.

I had the privilege of meeting Cameron back at vintage computer conference near Sunnyvale, CA several years back. It was awesome to thank him personally and find out how many other vintage projects he has going on. He’s a brilliant and kind guy, and we owe him our immense gratitude.

Of course, someone could come along and pick up on TenFourFox code and decide to tweak and add new features on their own. I’d be fully supportive of such an endeavor. Maybe PowerPC users could think about collectively pooling resources to hire 2-3 programmers to update javascript, add features, and optimize the browser. Possibilities remain.

Power mac g5 virtual machine software free

In the meanwhile, does this mean our G5s are useless? Of course not! You can still do so many things on the modern web via your G5 – like chatting on IRC, sharing files, serving webpages, programming your dream projects, and browsing into the foreseeable future (but hopefully not accessing anything that needs to be sensitive/secure).

But it is ultimately another reminder that our Macs are getting older and older, and as Apple transitions full bore to Apple Silicon, we are not just one distant architecture behind but two. Yikes. Time flies. Enjoy your vintage Macs anyway.

— Nathan

Less than a year after unveiling the original Power Mac G5, Apple released a new line of G5 models, each with dual processors and an 8x SuperDrive. As before, the entry level model uses 64-bit PCI slots and only supports up to 4 GB of RAM vs. PCI-X slots and an 8 GB RAM ceiling in the faster G5s.

The motherboard architecture uses HyperTransport technology. System memory is so fast (400 MHz RAM on a 900 MHz to 1.25 GHz bus) that Apple doesn’t bother with a level 3 cache.

A headphone jack, a USB 2.0 port, and a FireWire 400 port are located on the front of the G5 for easy access.

The G5 uses an aluminum enclosure that’s vented in the front and back. The case includes four thermal zones and nine fans to handle cooling, each independently controlled for speed. The 2.5 GHz model incorporates a liquid cooling system to keep the CPU from overheating.

Note that the 1.8 GHz model is one of Apple’s entry-level G5s, which means it uses 33 MHz PCI expansion slots instead of 133 MHz PCI-X andhas 4 memory slots instead of 8.

Power Mac G5 Reliability

Adobe reader for mac latest. Reliability ratings are based on statistics compiled by MacInTouch in June 2006, at which time the dual-core Power Mac G5 models had only been on the market for 8 months. Letter grades are based on failure rate: A = 0-6%, B = 7-12%, C = 13-18%, D = 19-24%, and F = 25% or higher. We also note the two components that failed most often.

G5/1.8 dual (June 2004), D+ (19%, logicboard, optical drive)
G5/2.0 dual (June 2004), C- (17%, logicboard, hard or optical drive)
G5/2.5 dual (June 2004), F (26%, logicboard, hard drive)

In each generation, except for the final dual-core one, the fastest model is the least reliable, while the second-fastest is the most reliable. Logicboards are the most expensive component to repair, followed by the power supply. Hard drives, optical drives, video cards, and RAM can be replaced inexpensively using third-party components.

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Details

introduced 2004.06.09 with 1.8 GHz 256 MB/80 GB at $1,999, 2.0 GHz 512 MB/160 GB at $2,499, and 2.5 GHz 512 MB/160 GB at $2,999; shipped in August; 1.8 GHz single model added 2004.10.19; replaced by 2005 Power Mac G5 on 2005.04.27
Support Mac OS Versions
CPU: 1.8/2.0/2.5 GHz PowerPC 970
Bus: 900 MHz/1.0 GHz/1.25 GHz (half CPU speed)
Performance:
- Geekbench 2 (Leopard): 2083 (2.5 GHz), 1704 (2.0 GHz), 1553 (1.8 GHz)
- Geekbench 2 (Tiger): 2105 (2.5 GHz), 1688 (2.0 GHz), 1582 (1.8 GHz)
L2 cache: 512 KB on-chip L2 cache
L3 cache: none
RAM, 1.8 GHz: 256 MB, expandable to 4 GB or 8 GB using pairs of 400 MHz PC3200 DDR RAM (4 RAM slots in 1.8 GHz model, 8 in faster ones)
Video: AGP 8x
- 1.8/2.0 GHz: Nvidia GeForce FX5200 Ultra
- 2.5 GHz: ATI Radeon 9600 XT
- ATI Radeon 9800 XT with 256 MB optional
VRAM: 64 MB (Nvidia) or 128 MB (Radeon 9600)
Hard drive bus: 1.5 Gbps SATA Rev. 1
Hard drive: 80/160 Serial ATA (SATA) 7200 rpm
Optical drive bus: ATA/100 bus
optical drive: 8x SuperDrive on Ultra ATA/100 bus
3 33 MHz 64-bit PCI s

Power Mac G5 Virtual Machine Software