Hi Everyone,

I'm an old time Amiga user, and now just wanting to get in to using MorphOS. I have a chance of picking up a Powerbook G4 1Ghz with a 64M Ati card. I wondered if this would be enough to run Morph OS at a decent speed and be able to play new and old 68K games?

Thanks to everyone in advance for any feedback.

It's enough! MOS runs even on a MacMini with 32MB VRAM - and the amount of VRAM does not affect speed - only screen resolution/depth and maximum number of simultaniously open screens. On my 32MB-Mini it's possible to open 5 screens in 1280x1024x16 simultanisously (less at more depth and resolution) before slowing down/freezing, etc. - so your 64MB should be enough for your purposes......

68K-Games: Most of them will only run with UAE (you don't have Amiga's custom chips on your PB), but I think that your 1GHz PPC will have enough power for most of 68k-games (should be similar or better to my Pegasos2).

[ Editiert durch Amigaharry2 03.01.2014 - 20:58 ]

If "picling up" means free, sure go for it and install the free demo to check it out.

If it involves you paying real money, better wait for something better to show up.

When buying at market-value, only PowerBooks with 1.67 offer good bang/buck ratios (these units also offer other details better suited for MorphOS).

Well, if the cost for an OS key was lower for this model, I'd say go for it, but Kronos is right, you probably want something more powerful.

I have been debating the merits of a key for my iBook (faster than the Powerbook you are considering, but with even less vram).

Oh, and since the 1.5 GHz model Powerbook can also feature 128MB of vram (a special order option) I would consider that as well (less than 200 MHz is not significant difference).

@Jim

IMO VRAM ain't the issue here, but the fact that those older PBs (including 1.5GHz if we ignore the rare 5.6 downgrade option) only come with ADB KBD and trackpad, which can be a bit annoying.

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VERY good point.
And now that you mention it, the 32mb 9550 in 1.42 GHz iBooks works surprisingly well.
I just played some video games on that last night.

64mb of vram is probably fairly adequate on later Powerbooks.

ADB devices?
Well they just had to be different, didn't they?

32MB is more than enough for the 1024x768 res of the iBook
64MB PowerBooks never went past 1440x900 (ancient 5.3 17") or 1280x854 (the much better 5.6 15")
15" with 1440x900 (5.8) and 17" with 1680x1050 (5.9) allways had a sufficient 128MB

ADB wasn't really that bad at its time, clearly predating USB when everybody else was useing all sort of weird connectors for KBD or mouse.
Later it was more of a case of "if ain't broken don't fix it" as the keyboard make no difference in OSX-use. Under MorphOS one will notice that both "CMD"-keys send the same code resulting in the loss of "L-Amiga" (USB sends 2 different codes).
With trackpad it was probraly just easier to implement those 2 finger gestures over USB then ADB-protocol.

@namelegion
Unless that 1GHz is (near) freebie:

- Consider wether you want 15 or 17"
- look for PowerBook 5.6 and 5.8 (15") or 5.7 and 5.9 (17")
- 5.6 and 5.7 have a lower resolution than 5.8 and 5.9
- 5.6 has 64MB VRAM as standard, 128MB was available with the "Dual-DVI" builtoorder
- 5.7,5.8 and 5.9 allways come with 128MB VRAM
- all models can be upped to 2GB RAM, but the 5.6 (and older 15") are notorious for 1 RAM socket failing limiting you to 1GB
- 5.8 and 5.9 can take 2GB as single RAM-module

More info:
Everymac

Thanks guys for the super replies and detailed info! I really appreciate it. It's the powerbook g4 (ti) from Nov. 2002 I found it on Everymac for the specs:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g4/specs/powerbook_g4_1.0.html

The person selling it is asking $55.00 for it it, as it does not charge any more (he replaced power adapter, but still is not charging) so it may be the battery or perhaps something else, but I would be fine with it just being plugged in on a desk anyway. Looks like the max ram is only 1 total of 1GB. I'll contact him again to see if perhaps there is some way to upgrade it past that, but I am concerned about the speed of the system, as you had mentioned Kronos... it may not be fast enough to properly give me the full morph os experience.

> It's the powerbook g4 (ti) from Nov. 2002 I found it on Everymac for the specs:
> http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g4/specs/powerbook_g4_1.0.html

Titanium PowerBooks are not supported by MorphOS. You have to get an Aluminum one (build year 2003 or later).

@namelegion

My experience is that the Powermac G5 has become quite cheap lately and other G4 macs have gotten more expensive. If you have the room, I would buy one of those instead. Then you have enough power to do stuff you do on any other computer, like watching HD movies. And that's on one core!

Just make sure if you get one that it's supported. Not everyone is.

Yasu has a point.
G5s here are about $100.

But they sure aren't portable.

@Jim

Not at all! But they got power. My Ibook is only good for those times I can't use my G5 and they are rare. And it's weak.

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They are what they are (the iBooks).
But I'm satisfied with my 1.42 GHz iBook, and thanks to lower prices would recommend it over the Powerbook.

@Jim

True that. I got mine because it's small (12"). And it was really cheap. A G5 and an Ibook is a good combination in my opinion (except for Wifi. That has much better solutions on Powerbooks).

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True, my wifi connection was overpriced.

Well guys, that settles that then. It's not even compatible.... Thanks for saving me a few dollars.

@yasu: I think I will do just that and look around for a g5 and hopefully find one for a good price.

@jim: 100 is very cheap. I wish I could find them that cheap here in the Toronto area . Portability is not an issue, I had planned to setup the PowerBook on my desk anyway, it has room for another computer.

Thanks again for the thorough and thoughtful replies guys!

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Shipping into Canada is a painful experience (or out for that matter), but it can be done.

Also, I wasn't kidding about my endorsement of the iBook port.
It works well (with the only disadvantage being that the OS key frequently costs more than the hardware).

But Yasu is right, the G5 has the best power per dollar ratio.

>>> It's the powerbook g4 (ti) from Nov. 2002 I found it on Everymac for the specs:
>>> http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g4/specs/powerbook_g4_1.0.html

>> Titanium PowerBooks are not supported by MorphOS. You have to get an Aluminum one
>> (build year 2003 or later).

> that settles that then. It's not even compatible....

Seems I was not quite correct:

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=8874&forum=11&start=29

But then, you probably would want to have sound support.