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Nick
Spends far too much time on here
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 3527
Location: Portsmouth
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I have the opportunity (through my Mum's work) of picking up some of these machines quite cheap.
I'm not going to bother with the eMacs, I've googled them and they look CRAP!
However, they are selling "Apple G5 base units" for £20 each! No word on hardware specification, but I think I will pick up a couple at that price - they are beautiful machines so even if the hardware is really awfully slow I can reuse the case for something, or sell it on eBay.
What's the state of play with Apple software on these machines? Am I right in thinking they will only go to 10.4? Will I better off just running Linux on it?
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| Sat Jun 26, 2010 5:41 pm |
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timark_uk
Moderator
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:11 pm
Posts: 12143
Location: Belfast
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These are the G5 PowerMac towers you're talking about, right? They run 10.5 just fine. Mark
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| Sat Jun 26, 2010 11:06 pm |
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Nick
Spends far too much time on here
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 3527
Location: Portsmouth
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Well, the only description is "Apple G5 base units" so I am assuming so.
I understand the hardware inside could range from almost unusable up-to pretty nippy so it's going to be a bit of a lottery, although I expect these to be pretty slow.
I will most likely end up either installing linux or using the case for something else.
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| Sun Jun 27, 2010 11:06 am |
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forquare1
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:36 pm
Posts: 5150
Location: /dev/tty0
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Faye's iBook runs a G4 chip (1.33GHz IIRC) and it's not bad for everyday stuff, she even does a small amount of Photoshop work on it still.
I would imagine that even a low-end G5 would be fairly usable in some way. could be interesting if you got your hands on a copy of Leopard or Tiger Server edition.
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| Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:01 pm |
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JJW009
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:58 pm
Posts: 8767
Location: behind the sofa
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I'd be quite interested in seeing how that goes. I've only used Linux on '86 based PCs and ARM embedded systems. _________________jonbwfc's law: "In any forum thread someone will, no matter what the subject, mention Firefly." When you're feeling too silly for x404, youRwired.net
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| Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:42 pm |
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big_D
What's a life?
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:25 pm
Posts: 10691
Location: Bramsche
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Yellow Dog used to be good, but most of the big distributions started doing PowerPC distributions about 2005 or so.
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| Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:51 pm |
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forquare1
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:36 pm
Posts: 5150
Location: /dev/tty0
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You may like to PM bally, he got hold of a G3 or a G4 and installed Linux on it IIRC.
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| Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:59 pm |
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Nick
Spends far too much time on here
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 3527
Location: Portsmouth
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Well if I do end up putting Linux on it then it'll just be Ubuntu.
I don't think it's an official release, but a community release instead.
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| Sun Jun 27, 2010 1:10 pm |
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ProfessorF
What's a life?
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:56 pm
Posts: 12030
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A G5 would be a step up for some of us - let me know if there's one going would you?
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| Sun Jun 27, 2010 6:07 pm |
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saspro
Site Admin
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:53 pm
Posts: 8603
Location: location, location
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Mmmnnnn. Pretty cases.
Buy as many as you can.
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| Sun Jun 27, 2010 7:49 pm |
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davrosG5
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:37 am
Posts: 6954
Location: Peebo
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I'm writing this on dual core G5 tower at the moment and running OS X 10.5.8 is no bother at all.
It's plenty happy to crunch though a bit of Photoshop stuff.
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When they put teeth in your mouth, they spoiled a perfectly good bum.
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| Mon Jun 28, 2010 6:03 pm |
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Angelic
Doesn't have much of a life
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:16 pm
Posts: 704
Location: Leeds, UK
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If you can get me a G5 tower... i'd thoroughly appreciate it!
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| Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:35 am |
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Nick
Spends far too much time on here
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 3527
Location: Portsmouth
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Well I can't make any promises to anyone - I don't know what exactly is available until I turn up on Friday. I'm hoping they will all be in good condition, with no security markings and high specs!   I'll be buying what ever I can, and selling them on eBay - either as whole machines or as parts. _________________
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| Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:03 pm |
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steve74
Doesn't have much of a life
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:43 pm
Posts: 1798
Location: Manchester
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Make sure you get the original system install discs if you can, good for checking any problems (booting into Hardware Tests) and will probably make it easier to sell on eBay too.
If the eMacs are below 1GHz, then I wouldn't bother with them - they will run Leopard but will be quite slow - the maximum they will run at a reasonable pace is 10.4 Tiger. The G5s (even the oldest 1.6GHz processors) will still run 10.5 Leopard fairly fast, as long as you stick a decent graphics card in it and plenty of RAM (at least 2Gb, but preferably higher).
Wish I lived closer, otherwise I'd be interested in a couple for work.
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* Steve *
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| Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:22 pm |
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Nick
Spends far too much time on here
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 3527
Location: Portsmouth
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Yeah I'm not bothering with the eMacs at all - they look like crap, and by all accounts go like crap too.
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| Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:27 pm |
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