What to do with my PowerMac G5

[Kombi Garage]

Hi there,

I'm wondering, apart from storing my PowerMac G5 in the basement, what can it be used for? I also have a Power Macintosh G3 and an older iMac that are just sitting around. What are some options for these to make them useful?

Cheers,

Joe

 

[MrImprovement]

1. check out Leopard Sorbet, a tweaked version of the last version of OSX that will run on the G5 and possibly the others as well.

2. There are Linux and BSD operating systems that will run just fine on those as well.

There should be both VLC and MPV (video and music player software) that runs on both OSes for movie or music purpose, and you can always use SSH, Telnet, RDP, X11 remote etc. to connect to a server that is more powerful, but displays the results locally.

 

[Kombi Garage]

1. check out Leopard Sorbet, a tweaked version of the last version of OSX that will run on the G5 and possibly the others as well.

2. There are Linux and BSD operating systems that will run just fine on those as well.

Thanks, I'll check that out

 

[oldpcguy]

I would recommend heading over to Mac Rumors and asking the PPC forum. Those guys are very knowledgeable about keeping these old systems useful.

 

[onre]

I second the MacRumors recommendation. If you're into making music, Logic 8 is as capable now as it was 15 years ago.

 

[GiGaBiTe]

Instead of storing it in your basement, enjoy it while you can, because many models of the G5 are hideously unreliable. The logic boards on the early G5s are notorious for failure due to ROHS solder. The power supplies are also notorious for failure due to bad capacitors. Trying to repair the power supply can end up killing the machine, because to get the PSU out of the machine, you have to damn near strip the thing down to the rivets. Just flexing the logic board slightly can kill it by cracking random joints on the board from the terrible ROHS solder.

The later liquid cooled model has problems with the coolant failing on some of the units and causing thermal death.

Once you find a place to set the machine up, I don't recommend touching it or moving it.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Although my Linux POWER9 is now my daily driver, I still use my Tiger-based Quad for GarageBand, Photoshop and Quark.