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Dec 22 2012

All I Want for Christmas is My PowerPC!

I’ll admit that I’m relatively new to blogging, and because of this I get excited to check the results each day for the number of people visiting my site.  Considering when I started posting here, it was for the sake of gathering PowerPC users, and we still continue to work towards this goal today!  The first year was admittedly very slow, I used to get 1,000 hits per month and then it was 1,000 per weak and now we are over 1,000 hits per day.  In the past we commemorated 50,000 hits, 100,000 hits and I can’t let 200,000 hits pass without mentioning.  It’s almost a quarter of a Million visitors searching for information on a computer that some people consider to be obsolete.  Needless to say, I’m very excited for 2013 to keep this site growing.

I want to say thanks to everyone that stayed loyal with us in 2012 and if you got a new Mac for Christmas there is no need to go away, we strongly advise you to make an partition and install Snow Leopard to keep running some binary apps. :)

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Lately we have been really busy with our day jobs so we have been somewhat lax in updating our posts, as you may have noticed this month.  So we will keep our regular research going and as soon as the holidays are over, we’ll be back with a vengeance!  Don’t forget to like us on Facebook http://facebook.com/macpowerpc   and Twitter http://twitter.com/macpowerpc we always share interesting material/facts etc sometimes not 100% PowerPC related, but posts that we believe are still definitely worth reading.

Thanks to Andre for sharing this picture, which is absolutely perfect for this post!

iMac Christmas

Dec 9 2012

Boot Your Mac From Another Mac With DVD Driver Via Firewire Cable

Install Leopard or Tiger Via Target Disk Mode.

Believe or not, many people are still buying PowerPC computers, some of them know what they are getting into, but some of them have no clue at all!  They just see that it’s a very cheap Mac and think they’re lucky to find it.

In fact there are some points you should consider before buying a used Mac computer and they’re not limited to just checking the cosmetic aspects or hardware specs.  Ask for the original packing and documents, because it will make the difference if one day you decide to sell it, or in the event that they become collectors items, you’ll increase their value!  Another item you should ask about are the original DVD’s or CD’s, some people just forget to ask about the installation disk and it’s very important to have it in case one day you need to reinstall your machine, as I recently had to.

So let’s say you got an old PowerPC Mac and you want to reinstall the OS X or upgrade to Leopard but your machine has CD drivers only and your Leopard disk is DVD (as I mentioned before some of the G3/G4 Macs won’t boot from USB).  This post shows you how to boot it from USB, but it’s not 100% guaranteed that it will work in all scenarios.   https://macpowerpc.com/2012/09/12/boot-your-powerpc-from-a-usb-for-mac-powerpc/   So you still have a shot at this, what you have to do is:

1 – Mac with no DVD driver

2 – Mac with a DVD driver

3 – Firewire cable (compatible with both machines)

4 – Install DVD disks.

First, insert your install DVD disk in your Mac with DVD drivers and reboot this Mac holding “ t “ for Firewire target mode. >  Next, connect this Mac to the Mac with no DVD driver and reboot it holding down “ alt “.

It might take a second for it to boot, but at this point something should be appearing on screen and you select the DVD as boot source.   Finally, click on the arrow button and the installation will start.

I got a few e-mails advising that some PowerPC users were having a hard time because some machines do not come with DVD drivers and it’s hard to find aTiger OS X CD.  Also, if you are looking to upgrade to Leopard, it would be even harder because I think Leopard is available on DVD only.  I hope you guys like this handy tip and leave some comments if it worked out for you, as it did me!

P.S.: Do not forget to back up all your data before trying anything!!!

Nov 16 2012

SyncMate – Sync Your Devices On PowerPC

In recent post I’ve reviewed a fantastic program called SyncMate and today, I’m pleased to advise that we’ve received correspondence from the developers of SyncMate advising that they’ve prepared a build of their program that we can use again! With this launch, they’ve also provided us with some important recommendations and things to consider:

* This is a special build for PowerPC users only, it’s an old build and it’s not longer updated. (All improvements were added into SyncMate4 – Intel only).

* Expert version of this build can be purchased at a discounted price ($29.95) directly from the build.

* Email for support questions – [email protected], Please do not forget to mention that you are using the special build for PowerPC Mac (PPC Macs)

* This special build has another set of supported devices and types of connection (compared to SyncMate 4). The full list of devices that are supported in this special build can be found in SyncMate interface (users will need to launch free version of SyncMate, click Add connection button and SyncMate wizard will be shown)

* Mac PowerPC strongly recommends that you test the Free version of SyncMate first to make sure which of your devices are supported and which plugins are offered for each device and then upgrade to the Expert version later.

Any questions concerning paid version – recommend that you direct them to SyncMate’s Support team first. This is also a general recommendation for all SyncMate users.

I highly recommend that PowerPC users test this amazing program out, and see if it fits your needs, like it does mine! Thanks SyncMate!

One thing that I really like is to be able to sync Android by Wi-Fi, cable or Bluetooth

Download here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mf25xdyxwsm358m/syncmate_3.6.1707_custom_ppc.dmg

###

My original Post Nov/04

Attention all PowerPC users: I think that the time to sync data in our Mac with multiple devices has come! I recently got an e-mail from the SyncMate team telling me that their application supports PowerPC and right away I started scouring the internet for more information. Here is what I found out (just to start):

* SyncMate (Free version) allows syncing Contacts (Address Book & Entourage 2008), iCal (Entourage 2008) and Mac OS with Android, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices, Nokia S40 phones, other Mac and Windows computers, iOS devices (iPhones, iPods, iPads), any mounted storage, MTP devices, PlayStation Portable. SyncMate also supports Google, Dropbox, iCloud, and Yahoo! accounts synchronization. Also includes SMS reader plugin. And this is the FREE version of this amazing application, but if you decide to “Go Pro” with:

* SyncMate Expert will be able to sync everything from the free version (of course), plus iTunes, iPhoto, Safari and Firefox bookmarks, Folders between devices automatically, Entourage, Mail, Notes, ToDo’s. You can create, send, search, delete and export text messages, also allows you to convert videos to AVI, MPG, MP4, WMV, ASF, 3GP and audio files to MP3 and WAV.

Other cool features are that you can use this application via USB, WI-FI, Bluetooth and Ethernet!

Special thanks to one of our readers Andre F. for sharing this application with us!

I don’t have iPhone 5 and I’m not planning to get any iPhone or device with iOS6 soon, so if you guys have it and want to share if SyncMate sync iOS6 / iPhone5 we really appreciate.

Nov 5 2012

SyncMate News

Some of you guys might have noticed that I removed the post “SyncMate – Sync Your Devices On PowerPC” because this morning I received an e-mail from SyncMate asking me to do so because they are actively working on a new version of 3.6 compatible with PowerPC Leopard 10.5.  This is really a great step for us PowerPC users, because the recent 4.0 version is Intel only and SyncMate has decided to re-release 3.6 just for us!  Thumbs up guys, and keep an eye on http://www.sync-mac.com/and let’s hope this update comes with the ability to sync iPhone5, iPod Nano, iEtc.

Thank you guys.

By MAC POWERPC  • Posted in Text
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Oct 6 2012

Simple Comic – Comic Reader

Enjoy your favorite comics on your Mac with this viewer.
Simple Comic is designed with one goal in mind: to provide us reading comics, mangas and other American comics from the screen of your computer.

:)
*Simple Comic (Free / accepting donations) – PowerPC friend 10.5 – Leopard: http://dancingtortoise.com/simplecomic/ It’s clean interface and easy to use, it’s perfect! Features like: one or two pages display, left to right or right to left (perfect for Manga), fullscreen, archive handling (rar. 7z, zip, tar and other), text notes, auto save, etc.

Oct 2 2012

New Blogs for PowerPC

I found a good source for PowerPC information today and am pleased to provide you with 2 more web-sites that have my “seal of approval!”

 http://ratedwin.com/Blog/Blog.html – This site seems to have just opened and I like the idea of sharing experiences and how to use a Mac OS X with a PowerPC processor in the year 2012.  It’s basically almost the same idea as Mac PowerPC…both give functional tips on how to get the most out of Mac OS X system with your PowerPC.

http://powerpcliberation.blogspot.com/–  This blog is a good source of information about the PowerPC.  It’s very technologically informative and the writer is very clear to point out that he is focusing on sharing tips and info about operating systems for PowerPC, including Linux as well as Mac OS X.  He also provides great tips on how to continue updating the Apple OS.  If you are looking to get the most out of your PowerPC (Linux/Mac OS X) this is a good place to start!  Highly recommend saving this one in your favourites!!

It’s really good to see that PowerPC users have started producing and sharing more tips and experiences.  In this post, you have now found 2 blogs that help bring the breath of life to your PowerPC.  One focuses on the Mac OS X system and the other in Linux + Mac OS X….the choice is yours!

Keep PowerPCing guys.

P.S.: PowerPCMacintoshLiberationArmy – http://www.ppcmla.com/index.html

*RJCalifornia http://rodolfohernan20.blogspot.ca/search/label/powerpc PowerPC Macs got one more blog to help us sharing information and experience of running Mac OS X.  This blog just started posting about PowerPC and already have great material.  I also liked the idea of posting in Spanish and English because that would help a lot of readers that use google translator.  Thanks RJCalifornia keep up the good work!

Sep 18 2012

Wall-E is a Mac PowerPC

This videos is so cool that I really think Wall-E is a Mac and sure he is a PowerPC. The other side Eve would be an Intel Mac. This movie is old and there are so many Apple details that would drive all Apple fans crazy and I think it brings all of us together for one thing in common.
Wall-E

Sep 12 2012

Boot your PowerPC from a USB for Mac PowerPC

Through my epic research, I found great information that I want to share with all of you.  Last year I unsuccessfully tried to find information on how to boot my iBook G4 from a USB.  If you have a PowerPC (most models) it won’t boot from a USB but I found a Ben Collins’ blog that teaches you how to do it, step by step.  Just follow the info in this link, and I know you will find the answer to your prayers!

* Boot from USB: http://ben-collins.blogspot.ca/2010/08/booting-your-ibook-g4-from-usb-stick.html

Sep 7 2012

100,000 Hits for Mac PowerPC

Mac PowerPC is a simple project that serves to mention applications that are still available for PowerPCs.  We are very happy to archive over 100,000 hits after over 1 year!  Our only intention here is to make sure that the owners of G3/G4/G5 Macs are still able to run their machines with up to date applications (and sometimes not so up to date applications!)

We will stay around for as long as my iMac still wakes up and we would appreciate any and all donations to help us in covering the expenses we incur in keeping our blog online.  If you guys also can check out the advertisements we really appreciate it because that helps too!

Thank you all and stay tuned because I’ve been busy doing research and have got great and exciting apps to share with you.  I strive to post 3 times per week…

Until next time!

Sep 3 2012

Partition (Part 1) Using Terminal for Mac PowerPC

Partition Error for Mac PowerPC (Part 1)

Recently I was doing some research, trying to figure out ways to the simplify the task of partitioning my hard drive.  One thing lead to another and eventually I found  some great information that I would like to share with you in the following 2 posts:

Partition Part 1 for Mac PowerPC

:  I recently got an iMac G4 running Leopard 10.5 and I wanted to partition the computer in order to install Tiger 10.4, but the only thing that I was getting was this message: “Partition failed with the error: File system resize support required, such as HFS+ with journaling enable” and no matter how hard I tried, it would not change.  So I put my fighting gloves on and turned my Google search mode to “feeling lucky”…  I’m a firm believer that if you can’t find what you’re looking for on the first page of a Google search, then you’re usually not in for good news.  But this time, I found that someone else had the same problem that I did and the only available solution was called TERMINAL!   After many tries, I found this blog: http://wisevishvesh.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/partition-using-terminal/ with amazing material that teaches you how to partition using Terminal, step by step.  It was fun but in the end, I found out some bad news…Terminal also did not allow me to partition, which made me pretty upset…I’d finally hit a brick wall.  I really do not enjoy losing battles against machines so I decided to get aggressive and take my Leopard OS X DVD and (Option + Eject) continued in my quest…  Well you probably figured out that it wasn’t the easiest job for me to format my iMac, to say the least.  My Leopard requires 867MHz and up and my iMac has only 800MHz.  Seriously?  Are you kidding me?  I could not install my Leopard because the system didn’t have an additional 67MHz hiding someplace???  But this doesn’t end here!   Stay tuned for my next post and I will tell you how everything ended up (with big surprises) and if you had/have the same problem, this will surely fix it!

 

To be continued…

Aug 5 2012

Customize Your Mac Mug for Mac PowerPC

I know this post has nothing to do with applications or set up but I found some info on the internet and I really think it’s a cool idea that I wanted to share with my readers.

This could be a perfect weekend project with the family, just to get together, or could also be a very nice and personal gift for someone you like!

On this blog we always look for the cheap/cheapest way to do a task and I admit that sometimes the word cheap sounds pejorative but honestly we need to get over it.  Who doesn’t like a deal???

All you need is a ceramic mug (I found my on dollar store for $1.25) and a Sharpie pen (or other permanent marker).

  • Now you have to channel your inner artist and draw something on the mug.  I tried a few of the apple software logos and ended up using the “Finder” logo.  Once you’re satisfied with the drawing, you put your mug in the oven at 350º for 30 minutes.

And after 30 minutes you remove the mug and let it rest until it gets cold and is ready for you to use for your beverage of choice.

  • Warning:  It won’t last forever.  We recommend hand wash only.  Do not put in the dishwasher.

Now it’s time for all of you to take this project and make it PowerPC friendly!  Send me any photos of your customized mugs and we will try to make an art galley of those inspired by mac!

eMail: mac.powerpc11[at]gmail.com

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Jul 6 2012

eBook for Mac PowerPC + PowerPC U

Today, we’ve got great news for our readers.  One of our regulars (PowerMac4Ever) gave us the great idea to convert our blog [MacPowerPC] to an eBook, so our users could have a reference guide for their PowerPCs.  We confess that in the beginning we thought that it wasn’t going to happen.  After we sat and put some thought and some research into it we realized that it could be really cool to offer an eBook to our loyal fans.  For a limited time, we are offering the complete MacPowerPC blog in PDF format absolutely FREE as a sign of appreciation to our diligent readers.  All we ask is that you subscribe to our blog and we will send a copy to your e-mail.  Should you want to offer a small donation to help keep this blog alive, we appreciate your support!

The benefits of having the blog as an eBook are that it can be saved onto any device and taken with you, wherever you go!  Subscribe now and get for Free your copy of eBook for Mac PowerPC.

Thank you PowerMac4Ever for the great idea!!!

Also we have a new page called PowerPC U >   This is a place that you can share all your favorite apps/blogs/doubts/etc.  Take your time to browse around and share with us  your results and what applications your PowerPC can’t live without, and want your fellow PowerPCers to know all about them!

Jun 21 2012

Become An Xcoder programmer for MacPowerPC

Become An Xcoder (Tiger/Leopard) for Mac PowerPC

Become An Xcoder using Objective-C.

The most important parts of programming:   First of all, you must get into it, once you start I don’t think you ever can stop.  I found this book online (for free / PDF format) that explains/teaches/puts you on track to start programming Macs using Objective-C.  The book/tutorial is for non-programmers and is written by Bert Altenberg, Alex Clarke and Philippe Moughin.  I hope you guys like this post and start some projects for our ever-growing PowerPC community.

You guys can download the book here:

10.4 Tiger – http://www.cocoalab.com/?q=becomeanxcoder

10.5 Leopard – http://www.cocoalab.com/?q=becomeanxcoder

For other languages, please visit this link: http://www.cocoalab.com/?q=becomeanxcoder

Jun 16 2012

PowerPC for Mac PowerPC

Thank you to all the readers of Mac PowerPC. We’ve just passed the all important landmark of 50,000 hits!!! Again, thank you and we will continue helping keep the PowerPC alive! Because it’s not about what we got stuck with… it’s because we like them and we enjoy them! Keeping a PowerPC running in today’s day and age is a huge challenge…and we’re honoured to be part of your quest into preventing them from becoming obscelete.

Keep Macing!
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