Hi all I have a working G5 PM with 10.5.8
It has an NVidia GPU which I know is not supported.

I have an ATI HD4850 GPU in PCI-e slot two.
I have burned 3.19 live cd and can see it in the mac early boot.
The system seems to boot from the live cd however i get no video output from the HD4850.

My question is (the common one), which GPU do I need to run MorphOS with the most feature rich graphical environment?
I am ok with the concept of flashing cards if needed.

Thanks.

It seems the best gfx card for MorphOS and your machine is (still) an Ati Radeon X1950.

Thanks Koszer. G5 versions seem very sparse.
What is the experience of using a flashed PC/MacPro one?

Quote:

No need to flash one. The only downside is you won't be able to enter Open Firmware or Apple boot menu with standard PC version of this card. You will still be able to boot MorphOS from live CD by pressing 'C' key after the gong though.
If you really need to access OF sometimes then just keep the Apple gfx card it came with (you could keep it in second slot if you don't have a better place).

That said - you could try flashing. I heard someone managed to succeed in that.

You'll also need some Realtek PCIe network card for internet - at least for now, as the built in NIC is not currently supported by MorphOS.

Thank you.
Would a Mac Pro x1900XT work unflashed in the way you describe above?
Is the airport card supported?

>> Ati Radeon X1950

> G5 versions seem very sparse.

There is none, to be precise. G5 version would be an X1900 (GT).

> It has an NVidia GPU which I know is not supported. I have an ATI HD4850
> GPU in PCI-e slot two. [...] i get no video output from the HD4850.

If you put the Radeon HD4850 in the primary slot, MorphOS should give a display when booting from CD by pressing 'C'. No 3D support, though.

> Would a Mac Pro x1900XT work unflashed in the way you describe above?

Unlikely. You may try if you have one at hand.

>> the built in NIC is not currently supported by MorphOS.

> Is the airport card supported?

The AirPort card is what's considered the "built in NIC" ;-)
Edit: This statement is nonsense of course, thanks Kronos for noticing.

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 03.02.2025 - 20:42 ]

Thanks Andreas.

I thought built in NIC was referring to the mobo Ethernet ports.

I tried hd4850 in primary slot, no output.

Re a Mac x1950xt. I guess flashing one will be needed. If so, is it better to flash with a G5 bios or a PC bios?
I know the G5 bios flashed card is reported to work with OSX 10.5.8 but what about with MOS?

In my case the flashed x1900gt card randomly freezes the system. Unflashed was working well.

Quote:


I'm pretty sure all those G5 that did not have the optional BT/WIFI card (aka AirPort) still had working ethernet ports.

But thats just me.....

Thanks for the support so far.

Seems I am SOL today. The 4850 did not give any output (granted, it may be dead).
I also tried an HD5450, no output either.

Feels like I am shooting blind here. The Live CD seems ok - shows up in early boot and contents seem good on MacOS.

Any further tips before I switch off for the day?

Quote:

As a matter of fact - it is (after all - it's the same card that works in Mac Mini).

But do you have one that fits in Power Mac 11,2? You'd need a Runway card to use an Airport/Bluetooth combo card (AKA the A1127) in the built-in slot...

...or you could use a standard A1027 (mind you, A1026 doesn't work and will crash the system when turned on) and hook it up to some kind of external antenna (as the built in has got different connector).

But! I'd take Ethernet over WiFi anytime when using MorphOS. WiFi sometimes misbehaves and the newer networks don't really like old standards.

Quote:

We're talking about A1117 (PowerMac 11,2), so it's dual core 2,3 GHz model (the "unsupported" one). Built in ethernet won't work on this one, unless something changed recently and was left out of release notes...?

Thanks under macOS I have WiFi and Bluetooth.
As to which card this is, I’d need to go check. I am also a Mac beginner.

If built in WiFi and Ethernet are unsupported on A1117 then I am sure I can dig out a network card..

My primary issue is getting a video output.

[ Edited by PADx1000 03.02.2025 - 19:47 ]

@koszer

Nah your just been Wolfed.

Buildin NIC is build in even if there is no AirPort card.
Buildin NIC does work without the AirPort card, is needed for registration , just can't be used in MorphOS.

Now is the AirPort card that can be installed in those late G5 supported by MorphOS? Or is too different to let's say the one in the iMac (which is supported)?
Well, I don't know but that is what PADx1000 asked.......

> I'm pretty sure all those G5 that did not have the optional
> BT/WIFI card (aka AirPort) still had working ethernet ports.
> But thats just me.....

That's hopefully not just you, but everybody except me ;-)
(Nonsense statement transparently retracted.)

> I thought built in NIC was referring to the mobo Ethernet ports.

Yes, that's correct. I was out of it when I equated NIC and AirPort :-) Sorry for the confusion.

> Re a Mac x1950xt. I guess flashing one will be needed. If so, is it
> better to flash with a G5 bios or a PC bios? I know the G5 bios flashed
> card is reported to work with OSX 10.5.8 but what about with MOS?

A flashed card may work fine, may work partially (i.e. fail under certain circumstances), or may not work at all. You won't know before actually trying. Flashing with PPC ROM will benefit OpenFirmware and OSX, while AtomBIOS will benefit Linux. I'm not aware of differences regarding MorphOS.

Great system for MorphOS.

Keep in mind if you can find a dead quad motherboard, you can pull the 2.5 GHz processor and swap out the 2.3. This is really the best MorphOS has to run on for productivity. There are videos on YT concerning the processors and getting morphos going on this system.

As others have said ideally getting a PPC rom will really simplify the entire process for getting going. So you can ask around here and discord to see what others have done. I bought mine off ebay and the sell is out of them now.

The only options at this point is the X1900 GT. It is a great card and works well. I assume at some point when Bigfoot finishes the drivers we will see more cards compatible...

Just to reinforce the ethernet. The onboard ethernet does not work with MorphOS yet, as this system is technically unsupported still, so if you wish ethernet you have to purchase a compatible pcie one. I would watch Chris Edwards YT on MorphOS install on the PCIe macs.

Good luck!


Quote:



[ Edited by matt3 03.02.2025 - 15:07 ]

> The 4850 did not give any output (granted, it may be dead).
> I also tried an HD5450, no output either.

It's kind of a gamble to have Radeon HD cards working on G5 Macs (PCIe and AGP alike), especially with MorphOS (Linux has some better support in this regard). Some cards work and some don't, even with the same chip on it. A pattern is yet to be discovered. So if you tried to no avail with holding 'C', then your cards are unsupported as of now (or dead). There's also no guarantee that a random X19x0 with AtomBIOS will work, but chances are much higher.

Quote:

If you have a working WiFi and Bluetooth under OSX then consider yourself very lucky. Most probably you've got the extremely rare Runway card and A1127 installed on top of that.

In that case, WiFi should work under MorphOS. Bluetooth will not (although the already paired devices like mouse and keyboard should work still).

Quote:

Thanks.
I can get a MacPro X1900 XT which can be flashed to a G5 compatible bios that works with OSX.
I am wondering if the odds of it working with MOS will be better if flashed to G5 or to PC bios?
Perhaps MOS can boot with the MacPro bios?

[ Edited by PADx1000 03.02.2025 - 22:12 ]

> I am wondering if the odds of it working with MOS
> will be better if flashed to G5 or to PC bios?

All I can say about this is what I wrote in comment #18. Maybe someone else can give a recommendation here.

> Perhaps MOS can boot with the MacPro bios?

With cards without PPC ROM, MorphOS needs AtomBIOS, which those cards don't have AFAIK. "MacPro bios" seems to be yet another type of BIOS/ROM.

Quote:

Does it matter if it's PCIe, PCI or AGP?

Quote:

It surely does... at least to some extent.

I once had an AGP Power Mac G5 and the AGP version of Radeon X1950 worked well in it, but there was no way to get the machine booting from the CD and that made updating MorphOS quite challenging (as there was no OF to boot from USB and no working optical drive to boot from CD).

The Dual-core, late G5 doesn't have this problem, so updating from a CD is always an option. Besides - you can enter working OF using nVidia plugged into second slot, enter the boot string and just plug the video cable into Radeon.