# Good uses for old Macs



## #1 Rhapsody (Sep 29, 2008)

What can you do with old Performa 6360 macs?  I have three to do something with.  One has a G3 upgrade card inside.  Another might not work, I need to test it.  If I get enough RAM is it possible to install Mac OS 10.1 on the G3?

Thanks in advance


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## nixgeek (Sep 29, 2008)

There's a lot of stuff that you can do with old Macs.  I'm using my Quadra 650 (Moto 68040 CPU at 33 MHz) to host my family homepage.   There are some other Macs that are even older than this hosting pages as well.  Check the following link for more:

http://www.ld8.org/servers/

You'll also find more tips on retro Macs on the following sites:
http://www.lowendmac.com
http://www.68kmla.com
http://www.ppcmla.com/
http://www.applefritter.com/
http://jagshouse.com/
http://www.mac512.com/macwebpages/mac512.html

If I think of any others, I'll post them here.


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## Giaguara (Sep 29, 2008)

It's a gorgeous piece of history.

9.1 is the maximum it can deal with though. Thousands of colors with 800 x 600 resolution... not for 10.1.

http://lowendmac.com/ppc/performa-6360.html

requires System 7.5.1 through 9.1
CPU: 160 MHz PPC 603e
RAM: 16 MB (8 MB on motherboard), expandable to 136 MB using two 8, 16, 32, or 64 MB 70ns or faster 168-pin DIMM
VRAM: 1 MB
Video: thousands of colors to 800 x 600, 256 colors to 1024 x 768

I would probably run one (if they work) with eiter 7.6.1 or 8.6.
And a second one with some flavor of Linux.. Lowendmac has good start pages
http://lowendmac.com/stotler/06/0726.html


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## nixgeek (Sep 29, 2008)

Yes, the 6360 is the best of the Power Macs that used that form factor.  It's basically a desktop-shaped 6400.  All of the ones prior to the 6360 in the same form factor were horribly crippled by Apple (we owned a Performa 6220CD back in the mid-90s so I speak from experience ).


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## fryke (Sep 30, 2008)

I loved my Performa 630 (68K), though. It was my first own desktop Mac. Before that, I only owned PowerBooks and used the Macs at school. 800x600 with thousands of colours was fine for OS X Public Beta on my iBook 300, though, Giaguara.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Sep 30, 2008)

Two of the macs do work and I just heard I will get another tomorrow.  From the one that doesn't work I will take out the RAM and the G3 card and try to make one really fast.  Also what linux distros would you recommend  The max RAM I'll probably get is 64MB and a G3 processor.

Thanks a lot


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## nixgeek (Sep 30, 2008)

For the 6360?  I recommend Debian.  Ubuntu has too much overhead.  Do a base installation and then install Xorg and <insert-favorite-DE-here>.  I did that on a Compaq Presario that was comprised of an AMD K6-300, 64 MB RAM, 4 GB hard drive, and S3 Virge video.  Did a basic installation of Debian Etch and then installed Xorg, XFCE, and some other apps.  I was quite surprised at how usable this meager system was, although browsing "Web 2.0" sites did bring the machine to a bit of a crawl.  But for general use it was quite usable.

Consider also that since this Mac is considered an "Old World" Mac, you'll need to have a small Mac OS partition somewhere and use BootX as the bootloader to Debian.  You'll also need it during installation.  It's not as trivial as installing it on a "New World" Mac, but it's definitely a fun process.  Best place to check for installing Linux/ppc is the following site:

http://www.penguinppc.org

I installed Debian Sarge (the previous version of Debian, 3.x) on an old Motorola StarMax 4000 Macintosh clone and it ran wonderfully on it.  I even installed Ubuntu 5.04 once on it but it was too much for the StarMax to handle compared to Sarge.

You could also try one of the BSDs.  NetBSD runs on practically anything.  There is also a FreeBSD for PowerPC, but I don't know that it supports "Old World" Macs.


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## VirtualTracy (Oct 1, 2008)

nixgeek said:


> I'm using my Quadra 650 (Moto 68040 CPU at 33 MHz) to host my family homepage.



This is really neat!  I'm listening to the music at the moment and it's good.

I'm amazed that all that is on what would be otherwise considered a redundant piece of hardware ... The Quadra 650 initially sold for $2,700US!


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 1, 2008)

The new mac I got was a Power Mac 7100/60AV but I think something is wrong with the HD connection.  I'll check it out tomorrow.  Nixgeek, how much much slower is your intranet connection because of your server?


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## nixgeek (Oct 2, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> The new mac I got was a Power Mac 7100/60AV but I think something is wrong with the HD connection.  I'll check it out tomorrow.  Nixgeek, how much much slower is your intranet connection because of your server?



Not that much since my other computers are switched and the laptops are wireless.

Thanks for the compliments, VirtualTracy.   Yeah, it's amazing that an almost-20-year-old Mac can still have such usefulness.  I long for that part of Apple to return once again.


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## VirtualTracy (Oct 2, 2008)

Are you the musician nixgeek?


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 2, 2008)

nixgeek said:


> Not that much since my other computers are switched and the laptops are wireless.



What do you mean by switched?


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## nixgeek (Oct 2, 2008)

VirtualTracy, yes I play the piano and keyboards.  I have a Kawai K4 and a Yamaha S08.  I'm currently just using GarageBand for the tones but I do plan on using the sounds from both keyboards in future songs once I'm able to find a decent sequencing package.  I'm giving the FLOSS solutions a chance (Qtractor so far looks promising on my GNU/Linux desktop).  I'm also hoping to use Ardour for recording the tracks on the Mac, but I need something to mixdown through to the Mac first.  I could use my Quadra with Master Tracks Pro for sequencing as I did in the past, but I don't want to pull it from its current task. 

#1 Rhapsody, I meant that they are all on a switch with the exception of the laptops which are on wireless.  So everything connects at the speed that it requires.

BTW, I have some more songs uploaded on my MySpace Music site if you're interested in checking it out.

http://www.myspace.com/claudiomirandamusic

I'm thinking of setting up another page for my more "classically instrumental" stuff where it's just piano with possible some light pads in the background, but I need to make sure that those particular compositions are officially registered for copyright purposes.  The electronic ones are under Creative Commons.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 2, 2008)

Nixgeek, how much RAM is in your Quadra 650 and how much RAM is allocated to MacHTTP?  I tried MacHTTP on a Performa 6360 with 24MB RAM with 10MB allocated to the program and it ran out of memory on startup.


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## nixgeek (Oct 2, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> Nixgeek, how much RAM is in your Quadra 650 and how much RAM is allocated to MacHTTP?  I tried MacHTTP on a Performa 6360 with 24MB RAM with 10MB allocated to the program and it ran out of memory on startup.



I've maxed out the RAM to 136 MB on the Quadra 650.  I've allocated 4096K to MacHTTP.  The minimum amount I've allowed is 1024K.

That said, MacHTTP doesn't require that much RAM allocated to it (it can run on slower hardware than my Quadra and with very little RAM).  Make sure that you aren't allocating too much to anything.  Remember that Finder requires a certain amount of RAM, as well as anything else that's open.

I've also disabled virtual memory (I never found a need for it in OS 8.x on the Quadra).


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 3, 2008)

Does anyone know where to get RAM cheap for the Performa 6360 like a 64MB stick for under $15?  Also, I need to get a replacement HD for my Power Mac 7100/80AV cheap as well.  Could you make MacHTTP just allow access for a couple of users?


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## nixgeek (Oct 3, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> Does anyone know where to get RAM cheap for the Performa 6360 like a 64MB stick for under $15?  Also, I need to get a replacement HD for my Power Mac 7100/80AV cheap as well.  Could you make MacHTTP just allow access for a couple of users?



MacHTTP relies on the permissions of the directory you want to host.  It also has other options but I haven't really delved into them as much..it's just a matter of going through the configuration file.

As for RAM, check out ramseeker.com.  LowEndMac.com should also have some information on RAM purchasing and whatnot, especially information on the kind of hard drive you can use on the 7100.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 4, 2008)

Thanks for the help.  The RAM I found from that link was a lot cheaper than the other places I've seen.  The only problem with it is that all the RAM I can find that says it compatible with the Performa is 60ns RAM.  Apple's specifications say that it requires 70ns RAM.
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP373


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## nixgeek (Oct 4, 2008)

If I'm not mistaken, it should still work.  I've used faster RAM than specced on my Quadra and it's still worked.  No lock ups or anything.  Think of it as using PC-133 RAM on a system that originally used PC-100.  It would still work due to the backwards compatibility of the RAM design.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 4, 2008)

Oh,  I didn't think of that.  I was thinking that 60ns RAM was slower than 70ns RAM.
Sorry


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## icemanjc (Oct 6, 2008)

I wish I had heard about MacHTTP a long time ago before I tossed all my classic computers, I waited till I got a hold of Mac OS X server before I set up a web server.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 8, 2008)

Help!  I can't find a place to buy for $15 or less a SCSI drive that will fit in the Power Mac 7100/80AV.  Everywhere I look, they cost at lest $50.  I just want a small one like the one that came in it.


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## VirtualTracy (Oct 8, 2008)

I'm afraid I don't know a whole lot about SCISI drives ... do the SCISI drives for sale at this link meet the criteria?


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## nixgeek (Oct 8, 2008)

Most of the older Macs use 50-pin SCSI, some might use 68-pin SCSI.  Though it's hard nowadays to find decent-sized 50-pin SCSI hard drives, you can purchase an adapter that will convert some from either 68-pins or 80-pins to 50-pins.  I have a 68-pin to 50-pin SCSI adapter so that I can use a 68-pin SCSI hard drive on my Quadra 650 which has a SCSI bus that uses 50-pins.  The following link from the site that VT linked to also has them, but I'm sure that you can find them elsewhere as well:

http://www.mcpb.com/html/scsi201.html


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## Jeffo (Oct 8, 2008)

There is another webserver program that i used way back in the day and liked it quite a bit.  it is called NetPresenz.


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## nixgeek (Oct 8, 2008)

Jeffo said:


> There is another webserver program that i used way back in the day and liked it quite a bit.  it is called NetPresenz.



Yes!  I actually only use the FTP function of NetPresenz since MacHTTP seemed to fulfill the needs I had.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 8, 2008)

Could you use a USB flash drive, a SD, or CompactFlash some how connected to the SCSI connector in the Power Mac 7100/80AV as a boot up disk?  Could you get the adaptors for under $15?


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## nixgeek (Oct 8, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> Could you use a USB flash drive, a SD, or CompactFlash some how connected to the SCSI connector in the Power Mac 7100/80AV as a boot up disk?  Could you get the adaptors for under $15?



This page on Low End Mac might be of some help regarding CF adapters.  As it stands, they are only CF to IDE, but it is said that you could also use them in conjunction with a SCSI to IDE adapter.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 10, 2008)

I also will be getting some older PCs as well (a i486 and several Pentiums).  Do they make good web servers?  I have the 98 install disk but I lost the registration card but I do have the card for my 95 disk.


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## nixgeek (Oct 10, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> I also will be getting some older PCs as well (a i486 and several Pentiums).  Do they make good web servers?  I have the 98 install disk but I lost the registration card but I do have the card for my 95 disk.



With something like GNU/Linux (preferably Debian IMO, or Slackware if you REALLY want to learn GNU/Linux) or any of the free BSD derivatives, it should run just fine.  If it's for server purposes, make sure you do a base installation and then install the services that you need.  You don't want to give such an old box the extra overhead of X Windows and a desktop environment.

However, if you must install a desktop environment, I recommend XFCE.  I did a base installation of Debian on an old AMD K6-300 system with only 64 MB RAM, followed by Xorg, XFCE, and some needed apps (Iceweasel and Pidgin) and I was pleasantly surprised at how usable this old system actually was.  Mind you, Web 2.0 sites made Iceweasel crawl, but it should handle light web browsing, IM, and e-mail just fine.  Don't even bother with Flash-based sites like YouTube. 

Since you are getting multiple PCs, you might also want to tinker around with creating a Beowulf cluster just for kicks and that extra geek factor.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 16, 2008)

I know I am off the subject but does anyone know where I can get a copy of CrossBasic or REALBasic cheap.  It can be any version, Mac or Windows (for REALBasic).  

On topic again, one of my Performa's ethernet cards won't work.  Either It is not secured properly or Mac OS can't recognize it.  I'll mess with it soon.

Thanks in advance


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## Dewey (Oct 16, 2008)

I am assuming that you guys are using a cable or broadband connection to host with? Will the ethernet connection on the back of my Quadra work with with a cable modem? How about my Power mac 7600?
Any body use this older machine as a work station to record music? I record my instuments with a digital recorder now I just want to experiment with it and a larger screen like a monitor would be an improvemnet over the small sreen on it. There is no way to hook a monitor to my digital recorder.
This is fun stuff especially for a tinker like me
Dewey


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## nixgeek (Oct 16, 2008)

Dewey said:


> I am assuming that you guys are using a cable or broadband connection to host with? Will the ethernet connection on the back of my Quadra work with with a cable modem? How about my Power mac 7600?
> Any body use this older machine as a work station to record music? I record my instuments with a digital recorder now I just want to experiment with it and a larger screen like a monitor would be an improvemnet over the small sreen on it. There is no way to hook a monitor to my digital recorder.
> This is fun stuff especially for a tinker like me
> Dewey



I'm using the AAUI connector on the back of my Quadra 650 to connect to my network.  The AAUI connector is using an AAUI-to-RJ45 Ethernet converter, and that can be purchased from the vendors highlighted on Low End Mac.  You can also purchase Nubus Ethernet cards from those vendors if they sell them.  Mind you, these will probably be no more than 10Mb/sec., but at least it works.

I've also used my Quadra with Master Tracks Pro 6.0, which is a MIDI sequencer software package.  I haven't done any audio recording on it, mainly because I don't have a large enough hard drive.  However, you could possibly put in a larger hard drive with the aforementioned adapters in previous posts.  The only thing you would need is an serial-port-based MIDI interface if you want to do MIDI sequencing.  Fortunately, you can still purchase some of those interfaces online or you can build your own from schematics found on the Internet.

Your 7600 is even better off because it uses standard PCI slots.  All you need to make sure is that you find one that supports Mac OS 9 or earlier.  If you plan to put Linux/ppc on it, then practically any PCI network card that the vanilla Linux kernel supports would also be supported.  However, you then would not be running Mac OS.


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## RacerX (Oct 16, 2008)

Dewey said:


> Any body use this older machine as a work station to record music?


I don't do music, but I capture video using an 8600/300 (with a G3/450 upgrade) that has both a VCR and DVD Player connected to it (it also serves as my TV). Add to that some of the other stuff that I still do on my PowerBook 3400c/200 (like 3D modeling) and I get a lot of use out of my older systems.

Of course the key isn't just having the hardware... you need the software too. But if you have it, you'd be surprised at what you can create. Like this video which was made using Strata Studio Pro 1.5.2 and Strata VideoShop 3.0, both from 1994.


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## nixgeek (Oct 17, 2008)

RacerX said:


> I don't do music, but I capture video using an 8600/300 (with a G3/450 upgrade) that has both a VCR and DVD Player connected to it (it also serves as my TV). Add to that some of the other stuff that I still do on my PowerBook 3400c/200 (like 3D modeling) and I get a lot of use out of my older systems.
> 
> Of course the key isn't just having the hardware... you need the software too. But if you have it, you'd be surprised at what you can create. Like this video which was made using Strata Studio Pro 1.5.2 and Strata VideoShop 3.0, both from 1994.



Well, well, well!  Good to see you back, RacerX.  Missed you, man.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 17, 2008)

RacerX, Is there any other free software for Mac like Studio Pro and Strata VideoShop?  That was pretty good animation for such old software.  I had VideoShop but accidentally deleted it and I can't find the install disks.  Where did you get the G3 acceleration card and for how much?


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## RacerX (Oct 17, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> RacerX, Is there any other free software for Mac like Studio Pro and Strata VideoShop?  That was pretty good animation for such old software.  I had VideoShop but accidentally deleted it and I can't find the install disks.


I'll have to go back through my old software, but the three software titles released for free by Strata include the following...
 Strata Vision 3D 4.0 (basically a free version of Strata Studio Pro 1.5... I actually created my original models using it)
 Strata VideoShop 3.0
 Strata MediaPaint 1.1.2 (for adding special effects)




> Where did you get the G3 acceleration card and for how much?


With that I actually got both the 8600/300 itself and the G3/450 upgrade together for the cost of shipping (about $35). I added two video cards and an ethernet card which I already had on hand.

This system has effectively replaced my older 8100av which means my wife will be selling the parts on ebay soon (the G3/500 Nubus upgrade and the AV Card are the two main items).

I just happen to really like the the 8600/300... which is why I have two up and running right now (one with Mac OS 8.6 and the other with Rhapsody 5.6). Both are wonderful systems and both are set up with dual displays. 





nixgeek said:


> Well, well, well!  Good to see you back, RacerX.  Missed you, man.


I've been mainly doing math related stuff in my spare time, so I haven't been playing with my computers as much.

I'll try not to be as infrequent a poster.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 18, 2008)

Does anyone know where to get a cheap, working Clamshell iBook battery because I found a cheap one off eBay but it doesn't have a working battery.

Thank you


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## nixgeek (Oct 18, 2008)

I believe WeLoveMacs has them, but I can't guarantee that they'll be cheap.

http://welovemacs.com/ibclshpa.html


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 18, 2008)

Thank you NixGeek but the batteries are $99.99 and up.  I don't want to spend that much on an older computer.  RacerX, is your site hosted by your own web server or is hosted by some service.  If it is the latter then what is the service and if it is the 1st option what computer is it and what specs.  Also, can you load VideoShop 3.0 and MediaPaint 1.1.2 on your site?  Tell me please when you sell your Power Mac on eBay. 

Thank you


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 22, 2008)

Which would be better and faster with 96MB RAM?  Mac OS 8.6 with MacHTTP or Mac OS 10.0/10.1?


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## Giaguara (Oct 22, 2008)

with 96 MB RAM, definitely 8.6.

10.0 was painfully slow no matter what. 10.1 with less than 512 MB was also nothing I would call with any other adjective than slow. (also funny, 10.0 was Cheetah, Cheetah being the fastest of the big felines...).


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 22, 2008)

Actually Mac OS 10.0 and 10.1 ran really fast when I installed it before.  If I go with Mac OS 8.6 can I have PHP support?


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## fryke (Oct 22, 2008)

Già: But Cheetah *sounds* like "Cheater", doesn't it.


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## nixgeek (Oct 22, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> Actually Mac OS 10.0 and 10.1 ran really fast when I installed it before.  If I go with Mac OS 8.6 can I have PHP support?



PHP support in what sense?  Are you trying to run an HTTP server in 8.6?  MacHTTP doesn't support PHP parsing.

If it's for PHP support in browsers used in classic Mac OS, the only one available is iCab.  You could try WaMCom, but it's REALLY outdated since it's based on Mozilla 1.3.1 code.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 22, 2008)

I am trying to run a HTTP web sever.


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## nixgeek (Oct 22, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> I am trying to run a HTTP web sever.



Nope, it won't work.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 23, 2008)

I'm thinking of buying a Power Mac G4 for my web server instead of my iMac G3 233MHz.  Is the video out the same as the video out for an iMac?  What I'm saying is it (the Power Mac) compatible with a Performa monitor?


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## nixgeek (Oct 23, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> I'm thinking of buying a Power Mac G4 for my web server instead of my iMac G3 233MHz.  Is the video out the same as the video out for an iMac?  What I'm saying is it (the Power Mac) compatible with a Performa monitor?



Are you referring to the DB-25 connection that the older Macs used before using standard VGA?  I don't believe the iMac ever used DB-25.  If anything, you can get a DB-25-to-VGA adapter to use with the PMG4 and that particular monitor.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 23, 2008)

How much would the adaptor cost and where can I get it?


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## nixgeek (Oct 23, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> How much would the adaptor cost and where can I get it?



They used to have them at Radio Shack, but I don't know if that's still the case.  Check the links provided on the Low End Mac page I posted in this thread.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 24, 2008)

NixGeek, what is your server's upstream speed and where did you get your domain name and for what price?  Because my iMac G3 233MHz should be faster than your server but it was really slow.  Would not having a domain name have anything to do with it?


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## nixgeek (Oct 24, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> NixGeek, what is your server's upstream speed and where did you get your domain name and for what price?  Because my iMac G3 233MHz should be faster than your server but it was really slow.  Would not having a domain name have anything to do with it?



I'm using the free DynDNS dynamic hosting service.  Once I signed up there for the free account, I configured the domain name using one of the free available domain suffixes they had available.  For the dynamic DNS updates, my WRT54G router has built-in support for sending updates to DynDNS when my IP changes.

My connection at home is just your standard Comcast cable internet connection.  IIRC, my plan was for 8 Mbps downloads and I believe it's 768 kbps uploads, but don't quote me on that.


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## RacerX (Oct 25, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> RacerX, is your site hosted by your own web server or is hosted by some service.  If it is the latter then what is the service and if it is the 1st option what computer is it and what specs.


I use DreamHost... there is a link to them on my home page.




> Also, can you load VideoShop 3.0 and MediaPaint 1.1.2 on your site?  Tell me please when you sell your Power Mac on eBay.


Here ya go... software titles released for free by Strata:
 Strata Vision 3D 4.0
 Strata VideoShop 3.0
 Strata MediaPaint 1.1.2


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## icemanjc (Oct 25, 2008)

nixgeek said:


> I'm using the free DynDNS dynamic hosting service.  Once I signed up there for the free account, I configured the domain name using one of the free available domain suffixes they had available.  For the dynamic DNS updates, my WRT54G router has built-in support for sending updates to DynDNS when my IP changes.
> 
> My connection at home is just your standard Comcast cable internet connection.  IIRC, my plan was for 8 Mbps downloads and I believe it's 768 kbps uploads, but don't quote me on that.



Is their a way to use DynDNS with an Airport Wireless Router, because whenever I restart it because it runs slow, I have to get the IP address again and input it into my domain name host website.

Also is their a way to host your own domain name with Mac OS X Server 10.5?


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## nixgeek (Oct 26, 2008)

icemanjc said:


> Is their a way to use DynDNS with an Airport Wireless Router, because whenever I restart it because it runs slow, I have to get the IP address again and input it into my domain name host website.
> 
> Also is their a way to host your own domain name with Mac OS X Server 10.5?



Depending on the Airport basestation version, this might be possible.  There would be a section in there that would have to do with Dynamic DNS resolution (sometimes abbreviated to DDNS).  At least this is how it shows up on my WRT54G.  I'm not exactly sure how that would show up on the Airport as the last Airport I had was an original Graphite one.

If you don't have that option, the DynDNS page has a list of various types of software updaters that you can run on Mac OS X, Windows, and GNU/Linux.  These apps run in the background and update DynDNS whenever your IP changes.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Oct 29, 2008)

Which would be faster?  My iMac G3 233MHz with 96MB RAM running Mac OS 8.6 with MacHTTP or it running linux with Apache (or some other hosting program)?  If linux what distro would you recommend?


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## nixgeek (Oct 29, 2008)

I would say it depends on how you're going to run it.  Let's consider the following scenarios with only 96 MB RAM:

*Scenario 1*

iMac + Mac OS 8.6 + MacHTTP
iMac + GNU/Linux + Apache (no GUI)
Outcome: Possibly a tie.  You'd have more options with Apache than with MacHTTP.  However, OS 8.6 would give you a GUI as opposed to the command line in GNU/Linux.

*Scenario 2*

iMac + Mac OS 8.6 + MacHTTP
iMac + GNU/Linux + Apache (GUI)
Outcome: Mac OS 8.6 would be faster.  Today, Xorg on GNU/Linux with a desktop environment would run quite sluggishly on only 96 MB RAM compared to Mac OS 8.6, even if you were only using a light window manager.  That extra layer for the GUI on only 96 MB RAM would not leave enough for Apache to work with IMO.  But again, you're faced with the limitations of MacHTTP.

None of this is scientifically precise, of course.   This is all just from my experience with the two operating systems.

As for a Linux/ppc distribution, Debian hands down.  It just works on all PPC Macs that I've come across.  Ubuntu, while much nicer, would not even install with that little memory and has been riddled with problems since 7.10.  You can also try Yellow Dog Linux which is tailored for server use, but expect the packages to be even less current than those in Debian "stable".

You can also look into running Lighttpd (pronounced "lighty") instead of Apache.  Lighttpd is much leaner than Apache and has been picking up steam in the last year or so.  Lighttpd should be in the Debian repositories, so it's just a matter of pulling it with either aptitude or Synaptic (CLI and GUI, respectively).


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## CharlieJ (Nov 3, 2008)

I use a G3 at work as a web server/print server.

and I also use one at home as a media server which streams all my tunes to XBMC (xbox media centre)

G3's are great machines

P.S. Both G3's run MAMP and my stripped version of tiger (no dock, dashboard, and OpenGL effects e.t.c)


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## nixgeek (Nov 3, 2008)

BTW, I've installed Ubuntu 8.10 on my iMac G5 and save for two small issues, I was finally able to install it successfully.  The first issue was that the optical drive was not detected upon bootup of the installation.  That was solved by Alt-F2 to a command prompt and typing "modprobe -a ide-scsi", and once I hist Alt-F1 to go back to the installation, the installer was able to detect the optical drive after I chose the language and keyboard setup.

The second issue was post-installation where I needed to do the following:

Type "video=ofonly nosplash" at the boot: prompt in yaboot.  That got me to the login screen, where I was able to login.
Launch a Terminal session after logging in.
Type "sudo -s" to become root.
Modify the "append=" line for the default boot option in /etc/yaboot.conf to read "quiet video=ofonly nosplash" (I added the nosplash option due to the fact that the boot splash does not work with XFS filesystems) and then save the /etc/yaboot.conf file.
Type "ybin -v" to finalize the changes to yaboot.

Aside from that, everything was detected properly and even Compiz Fusion was working with my RADEON 9600 graphics on the iMac G5.  The only side issue is my M-AUDIO MIDIsport 2x2 which requires the firmware to be loaded each time.  I've installed the midisport-firmware package but udev isn't loading the script to load the firmware.  Still working on that one.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Nov 12, 2008)

Could I make my iMac G3 233MHz a web server for multiple people if I upgraded it to max RAM?  The site that is currently being hosted on it is here (I'm still working on it).


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## nixgeek (Nov 12, 2008)

Absolutely.  The amount of concurrent connections can be configured on whatever web server software you use.  Even MacHTTP has a setting for concurrent connections to the server in its configuration file.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Nov 13, 2008)

But will it be fast enough?  Right now it runs slow in my network, I don't know how fast it runs outside of my network.  Also are both memory bays in my tray-loader the same size (they look different)?  I am actually thinking of having my own really cheap hosting service for beginning webmasters.  It could be partially ad supported.


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## nixgeek (Nov 13, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> But will it be fast enough?  Right now it runs slow in my network, I don't know how fast it runs outside of my network.  Also are both memory bays in my tray-loader the same size (they look different)?  I am actually thinking of having my own really cheap hosting service for beginning webmasters.  It could be partially ad supported.



What are you using for your web server?  I disabled DNS resolution on MacHTTP and it helped speed things up a bit.  There's an option in the configuration file to disable that.


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## #1 Rhapsody (Nov 13, 2008)

I'm using my iMac G3 233MHz currently with 96MB RAM as my web server via MacHTTP.  I'm thinking of upgrading my internet connection if I can do this web hosting service.  I know it it won't be that fast but I think it would be OK for beginners.

Is there any possible way to serve PHP files on Mac OS 8?


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## nixgeek (Nov 13, 2008)

#1 Rhapsody said:


> I'm using my iMac G3 233MHz currently with 96MB RAM as my web server via MacHTTP.  I'm thinking of upgrading my internet connection if I can do this web hosting service.  I know it it won't be that fast but I think it would be OK for beginners.
> 
> Is there any possible way to serve PHP files on Mac OS 8?



That I know of, no. I think I did mention that earlier in this thread.  You would probably have to install OS X, a PPC port of GNU/Linux, or a PPC port of the free BSDs.  That way, you could use Apache which does support PHP.


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