Sparrow e-Mail Client for PowerPC

If you guys follow MacPowerPC’s Facebook Page you probably are already aware that we are on vacation at the moment.  This means that I had to leave my good buddy (my iMac G5) at home because I can’t take such a large machine overseas….  Can you picture someone at the airport taking an iMac G4 out of their carry on?   LOL!  Anyways, even while we’re away, I’m still trying to update our blog and found (on twitter) that someone installed Sparrow on a Mac PowerPC running 10.5/Leopard.  I took a closer look and found that version 1.5 might work for us!  I’m very glad to share this information with our readers and if you guys want to do the test and share the results with us, your comments will be most appreciated.

Sparrow 1.5 $9.99 – PowerPC 10.5 (Leopard) – http://mac.brothersoft.com/sparrow.html 

This is a very powerful e-mail client and very minimalist as far as I can see.  It’s easy to organize more than one e-mail account and has great support. Imap or Pop, it’s up to you.  Also compatible with e-mail accounts like Yahoo + Hotmail that is very hard to sync these accounts.  I think is a double plus.

Recently I took a look at the app’s website and there is a notice that Google bought this amazing app, so let’s hope they keep up the work or even make it better, but I’m not sure they will release something for PowerPC…  anyways here is the link: http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/index.php

You guys know the drill very well, but make sure before you purchase any PowerPC app, contact the developers and make sure they will provide the right license for PowerPC architecture.  :)

P.S.: Our reader Xenosage once mentioned that he had some issues to install an old version of Sparrow but just now I had a chance to find some sites that support the old version.

25 comments on “Sparrow e-Mail Client for PowerPC

  1. Nice, you have even mentioned me in the post ;S

    Anyway, still I can’t install Sparrow 1.5.
    I was looking for older versions, but I can’t find any to download right now.
    Maybe someone got it and could share with me?

    Cheers.

  2. I’m as close to positive as I can be when the vendor ignores customer queries that there was never ever a PowerPC version of Sparrow and that this is a false rumour and a dead-end, being spread by malicious liars who like to send people on wild goose chases.

    I’ve seen people claiming that they have Lion on their PowerPC machines, or that they’re running flash 11 etc, etc. So this kind of thing is not unheard of, I can’t imagine why people do this sort of thing, I guess some people are just xxxxxxxx with a strange sense of humor.

    I’ve made a point of contacting everyone who claims that there’s a PowerPC version on their computer if they could zip up the binary and mail it to me, or give me a download link. So far I’ve never received a reply from anyone including the authors of sparrow. I’ve wasted many, many hours scouring the net trying to find this file and found nothing.

    Just to be clear, short of actual proof in the form of a download, I’m convinced that;

    THERE IS *NO* POWERPC VERSION OF SPARROW, NEVER WAS AND NEVER WILL BE, DON’T BOTHER WASTING YOUR TIME BECAUSE OF THE MISINFORMATION PUBLISHED HERE.

    It’s irresponsible to leave this false report of a PowerPC version of Sparrow that never even existed on this blog, as it just serves to perpetuate the lies and cause frustration and massive time wasting. Shame.

    • Hi @Steve I had to change your post because we do not allow “foul language” on this blog.  I will post an edited version of your comment because you brought something that might be true so I think the information within (minus the rant) is valuable. 
      I would suggest that you read the entire post before determining that MacPowerPC is irresponsible.  We are here to bring information not to knock on people’s doors with a pen drive to install the application you want it on your computer.   I spend many many hours looking for applications that are still running on PowerPC and I bring the information here to my readers, out of good will.  As I mentioned on the blog, someone on twitter tweeted about it and I was very impressed, but I did not have a PowerPC machine with me at that time to try the option and the links that advised that Sparrow (version 1.5) would work on PowerPC running 10.5.  This information does not originate with me…you can check the original information on the following links: “Description”.
      http://mac.brothersoft.com/sparrow.html 
      http://download.cnet.com/Sparrow/3000-2367_4-12309451.html 

      You are right, people can make some mistakes, but we do not condemn them for it and here we have 2 big web-sites that brought the information that this application might work.  Instead of sitting and playing with Facebook, I thought why not try to pass the fifth page of my Google search..  Doing that, I did not find Sparrow compatible with PowerPC but I found something else, which is the joy of searching the net.  Also @PowerMac4Ever shared great options for e-Mail clients that would not appear if I hadn’t have posted this “MISINFORMATION ” 
      http://mailplaneapp.com/

      and have a good day  :)

      • After spending literally months looking for a version of Sparrow that works on PPC, the frustration got the better of me.

        But I have great news, a stranger was kind enough to track down the application on their old powerbook and email it to me.

        I will be happy to make it available to anyone who wants it, and will swing by with a link to download it once I get in front of a computer.

        Sorry for the rant, and sorry to anyone whose credibility I questioned.

        Have faith in the PPC, it always delivers the goods, just very slowly sometimes!

  3. Here’s a link to Sparrow 1.2.3, the final version to run on PowerPC, I don’t know for sure that I’m legally allowed distribute their product, but since it’s a freely distributed ad-supported version that can be licensed to remove the ad-panel, and is effectively abandoned, I don’t see how it’s hurting anyone.

    In fact, I think I’m helping by distributing their product to an audience who would normally be excluded from paying or viewing ads.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/b0atrhkfs2nygkm/Sparrow_1.2.3_PowerPC.zip?n=27542437

    I already have a .sparrowlicense file, so I didn’t need to buy one, but I couldn’t find a link on the Sparrow website to buy one. Fastspring used to handle licensing for Sparrow, so it might be worth emailing [email protected] to see if it’s still possible if you’re interested.

  4. Steve, you’re best :) I’m glad that you found it and was even so kind to share it with us. My only question is, if I get a license, will I be able to add another e-mail account? Because for now I can use only one… and that’s not good.

    Another thing, how does that .sparrowlicense file works? Is it possible to use the same file on many machines or how does it work?

    • You can use the same .sparrowlicense file on more than one machine, I don’t know if you’re supposed to, but that’s what I have done.

      And yes, getting a license allows you to add more than one account. Fingers crossed you can still get a license from somewhere.

      • Well, I’m waiting for some kind of respond from [email protected]. However, I’m not so certain if they will ever reply. I was looking for some ‘illegal’ methods of dealing with that problem. There is an eyePatch app for Sparrow, but I found it to work with versions 1.6+, so it won’t help PowerPC users.

      • Xenosage, try googling for filetype:sparrowlicense. I didn’t tell you that though. :)

      • Haha, great thanks man. I was looking for that, but I guess it’s the matter of how you type it in Google. Works perfectly! I’m using two GMail accounts, so it was a pain to have only one available in Sparrow.

        Great app indeed, I guess it is the best email client available on PowerPC machines. Although it eats lots of CPU, it suits well the look of OSX system.

        By the way, do you know about Mountain Lion Theme for OSX Leopard? I’m using it and it’s fabulous.

      • Glad to hear I was able to help, the high CPU usage in sparrow only seems to happen while it’s syncing your mail. Idle CPU usage should go down to near zero once that’s done.

        I’m using the mountain leopard theme too. :) The only problems I’ve found are that it makes dock stacks look glitchy, and that it makes Aurorafox look really ugly without hacking the userChrome.css with this code:

        toolbar{
        background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(rgba(255,255,255,.3),rgba(255,255,255,.3),rgba(255,255,255,.285),rgba(255,255,255,.285),rgba(255,255,255,.0)) !important;
        }

        #nav-bar
        {
        margin-top: -1px !important;
        border-top: 1px solid rgba(245,245,245,.5) !important;
        background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(rgba(255,255,255,.4),rgba(255,255,255,.4),rgba(255,255,255,.3)) !important;
        }

  5. Ah. that’s true. I was using AuroraFox some time ago, but now I’m usually on Stainless and Safari (with the latest webkit). Roccat is another solution here, but Roccat’s look isn’t so great. I would like to get one day a web browser which combines Safari’s appearance and Stainless/Chrome’s performance :) That would be awesome. Generally, having Chrome on PPC would be awesome :D

    Going back to Sparrow, you’re right. I forgot to leave it to sync. My bad :D

    From some additional things, I’ve recently bought and put in my PM G4 MDD a SanDisk SSD drive (120GB) with SATA/IDE adapter on Marvell chipset. I do possess PCI/SATA adapter, more precisely ACARD 6290M, but from unknown reasons it doesn’t work. I mean, it works, but boot load is rather slow; sometimes applications don’t wish to work, and I often receive CRC errors while mounting .dmg files etc…

    XBench tests are very varied, usually from 80 to 130. Boot load is a bit faster, and general performance is surely better. I know that Tiger with SSD boots really fast, but Leopard has so many helpful things that Tiger can’t beat.

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