Hi All,

Im interested in giving Morphos a go. Being an ex Amiga user it looks great.

I have read the following forum post
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6684&forum=11

and I want to confirm if a potential purchase would run Morphos.
Its a Power Mac G4 dual 867 Mhz. I understand that only 1 cpu would work which is not a problem.

Also if it did work i assume i have to replace the Geforce 2 mx with a compatible Radeon card.

Can any body confirm if Morphos runs on that setup?
Would the performance be ok?

Cheers.

Support for specific PowerMac models is coming. But anyway, a PowerPC MacMini, which is already supported, is a better computer.

Hi

If you want to give it a go, don't wait for PowerMac support as we don't know when release will come.

For the moment the best option is MacMini if you don't need to expand it, or you can look for second hand Pegasos 2.

No Regrets, Big Smile, and many dancing banannas..Get a Mini and start dancin

yeah i agree, mac mini rocks.. Recomend it 100% ...

I'd also suggest a Mac mini G4. If you happen to like MorphOS you won't regret that purchase anyway and if you happen to discover that MorphOS is not your cup of tea you can easily sell off the mini for probably more or less the same price as you picked it up (given you discover wetehr you like it or not in a not too long timeframe (i.e. not longer than a few months)). It is pretty risk less.

But comimg back to your initial question: The performance ona 867 MHZ Powermac will be enough for a pleasant experience. Before I got my Mac mini G4 1.5 GHz a Pegasos with a 600 MHz G3 was my main maschine and it barely felt never too slow. Well for some tasks it was too limited, but the general usage experience was amazingly fast.

I've just done a little bit of checking and this guy's asking price is more or less in line with what international sellers are getting. From what I can tell, they're a professional outfit and they ship overseas.

Ebay Australia

Hi All,

Thanks for the quick replies. I wasnt expecting so many responses (so quickly). Thats a good indicator of the Morhpos community.

I'd get a mini in a heartbeat but unfortunately the cost doesnt have a great WAF (wife approval factor) The machine i can get my hands on is only $100 AUD. I know its not as fast as a mini but it has a 100$ WAF.

I know the answer when will power mac g4 be officially ready would be something like "when its ready" but does any body have unoffical reply that its already working?

Thanks in advance!

I can't help wondering if it's gotten out amoung 1.5GHz G4 Mac mini sellers that they have particular items of lust for MorphOS users as they sell for way more than the slower models...

But if you're aiming for a $100 system you'll get a 1.25GHz mini for close to that.

No telling when Powermac support will be added to MorphOS. We've just been told it won't be in the next revision.
However, when it does occur the Powermac will provide a more expandable, upgradable system (than a Mac Mini).
I've already purchased one and the upgrades are dirt cheap. I had a Radeon 9000 Pro in the Powermac I bought. That was supported by MorphOS, but I was able to modify a 256MB Radeon 9200 (a Sapphire PC card) to work in the Mac. My cost? Less than $20. An NEC based USB2.0 card, less than $5. Soundblaster live about the same.
The Powermac can accept more memory, it has several PCI expansion slots and an AGP video card slot. Third party CPU upgrades are available that run as fast as 2Ghz.
Since many of the drivers that work with expansion cards that plug into the Peg should work in a G4 Powermac, support for these models should require a lot less work (for the development team) than the oft requested G5 models.

I'm sure that the development team isn't going to let us down on this one, they just announced future support for these Apple models prematurely (which is unusual because they're very tight lipped). Its unlikely they'll release a supporting version of MorphOS until they get it fairly bug free.

So, if you're patient, and its available at a good price buy the Powermac.

Radeon 9000 Pro is a faster gfx card than 9200. Just so you know.

@brad
about performance give a look here (It's very interesting PowerMac G4) :
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6960&forum=3

about graphic card flash give a look here :
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6893&forum=3

It's possibile you'll see the support for your PowerMac G4 in MorphOS 2.6.

regards


[ Edited by Divinity on 2010/5/19 1:08 ]

> I can't help wondering if it's gotten out amoung 1.5GHz G4 Mac mini sellers that
> they have particular items of lust for MorphOS users as they sell for way more than
> the slower models...

I don't think that's the reason. At least on German eBay the 1.5 GHz variant had been way more expansive than other variants since long before the release of MorphOS for Mac mini. I guess that's rather due to the 64 MiB VRAM which no other variant sports.

> many of the drivers that work with expansion cards that plug into the Peg should
> work in a G4 Powermac

Many? Why not all?

Good question Andreas. The only card I've purchased that I'm worried about is a Symbios SYM8952U SCSI controller card. It will probably work, but I'm doubtful I'll be able to boot from it.
And yes, a 9000 Pro is slightly better than a 9200, but the 9200 I have has four times more memory than the 9000 Pro it replaced (and no ADC connector so I can use two standard displays). Beyond that, an 8500 would be faster than a 9000 Pro.
And sooner or later we're likely to see higher performing cards like the Radeon 9800 supported. I just wanted the extra video memory.

I only hope that the development team gets around to supporting the Powermac before the exchange rate (dollars to euros) changes significantly. Right now, purchases from Europe are a bargain to us in the US. At the current exchange rate (and considering how much I've saved on hardware) I have no problem paying for a license.

[ Edited by Jim on 2010/5/19 2:19 ]

Sounds like i am sold on the upgrades.

In Australia there is NO WAY to get any Mac Mini anywhere near $100. Even for the slowest ones.

Ill buy this and wait patiently i guess.

Fingers crossed

$150 with postage - not trying to be a pain, just sayin'.

ausPPC,

I would have bought that. I have been looking for a while and missed that one some how?
Im scared to hold off because i think the PowerMac G4 2x867 is pretty good for $100.

Perhaps ill do more hunting for the mini.
Damn.

Yes i would rather a mini as it is even more wife friendly.
I already have a big box that i use for Linux and occasionally windows.

Quote:

Go Brad! By the moment you show your wife the size of a MacMini compared to the Huge PowerMac, she will immediately agree on that few extra bucks. Not to mention the Mini means inmediate enjoyment!

Quote:

So you suggesting that all the mails I get telling me constantly that "size really matters" are actually lies?

@ brad: the WAF factor is a terrible costant for a lot of us!
@ Zylesea: lol! .... I'm going to delete them....

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Apple-G4-Mac-MIni-1-42-GHz-original-install-disks-/250635717026?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_Computers_Apple_Desktops&hash=item3a5b0d89a2 TIME, TIDE, and the MORPH .......

WAFed as well

[ Edited by osco on 2010/5/19 9:20 ]

@Andreas Wolf

Quote:

lack of x86 emulation for BIOS of some cards.

@brad

get a Mac Mini. Even if you have to wait some months until you find a cheap Mac Mini you'll be running MorphOS sooner than on a PowerMac.

[ Edited by Crumb on 2010/5/19 17:30 ]

> lack of x86 emulation for BIOS of some cards.

Ah yes, I didn't think of that. Thanks for reminding. Btw, are there cards other than gfx cards dependent on x86 code execution at startup ?

Well, $100 versus $150? If you can still get it, buy the Mini.
You're not going to want to pay the rather high prices an upgrade processor for the Powermac would cost and unless your into hardware mods I can't recommend modified PC video cards (and Apple video cards go for a premium). Besides, if I hadn't had a PC (with an AGP slot) on hand to flash that card, it would have been a lot more difficult to modify it.
And if you want to upgrade later, you should be able to sell a Mini for at least $150.