OSX 10.0.4 Apps

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giantgreengoat

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I am running OSX 10.0.4 on an iBook G3 500 and am having a hard time finding applications since everything that I come across (Abiword, OpenOffice, Firefox, Camino, VLC, etc) all require 10.3 or higher. The os is nice; very nice. It does me no good if I cannot run anything on it though. Can anyone suggest anything besides purchasing a new release of OSX or switch it into a Linux box; I will do the later if OSX can do nothing for me besides look stunning and act stable becuase that is not enough.

prethanks!!
 
OS X 10.0.4 is a pretty old operating system -- about 5 years old. There were many "under the hood" changes from 10.0 to 10.3, and as such, would be pretty difficult to find software that works under 10.0.

I would highly recommend using Linux or purchasing a more modern version of OS X (10.3 or 10.4) to use on that iBook. 10.0 was barely usable in most people's opinion. Apple later offered all licensed users of 10.0 to upgrade to 10.1 for free, possibly as an admission that 10.0 was not intended to be used as an everyday operating system. I still have a few of the 10.1 upgrade sets -- it's much easier to find software that works on 10.1.x than it is with 10.0.x. Still, 10.1 is quite old as well, and I would really recommend going with at least Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther".
 
An iBook G3 500? I would get Panther because that computer should be able to run it with hardly no problem (with a least 1gb of RAM installed).
 
9.1 fixed all my issues. The box runs like a peach. Browsing still sucks due to IE . Netscape and iCab; I am trying to find something better. I think there was a project for mozilla on OS9. Not sure though. I prefer the OSX front end, but OS 9 is working so...
 
giant, don't ask a question if you don't want to hear the answer you know is coming. :)

If you add up all the free software that's out there for 10.3 and up, don't you think it's worth it to spend the $130 or so for the Panther or Tiger upgrade? If you look at it this way the upgrade pays for itself.

And no, I'm not sending any money to your paypal account. ;)

Oh, and I wouldn't say OS 9.2 is anywhere near Linux in capability. Go Linux if it's a choice between the two because apple is providing less and less support for OS 9. In fact, you'll find it's slowly disappearing.
 
the newer the OS, the faster that machine will run. it's a proven fact, as apple improve the optimisation of the code. it's not windows, after all.

the ram upgrade was a suggestion. to run panther you barely need 256mb, but 512mb is reccomended. as much as you can afford is always best, of course

My iBook G3 has 640mb ram, and runs 10.4.8 very nicely. UI-wise, it feels as brisk as this dual G5.
 
If you need RAM for your iBook, check RAMSeeker for some good prices on RAM.

WHile you could do OS 9 on it, the only browser you can use that's still being developed for OS 9 is iCab. Mozilla had a port to OS 9 and it was further developed under the name WaMCom (Web and Mail Communicator), but that only went as high as 1.3.1 concurrently with the Mozilla Suite 1.3.1.

If you do decide to use Linux, you will be running the latest Firefox and other open source applications. The only problems you might have are Flash support and Java support (but IBM has a Java Runtime on their developer's site which only requires a free registration).

I'm actually running Ubuntu Linux on a 600 MHz snow iMac G3 and it runs sweet. See my Flickr page for the pictures.

If you still want OS X, I would say Panther (10.3) would be the way to go, but as mentioned previously you'll need a good amount of RAM to run it decently.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. I may order the RAM and get a copy of Panther/Tiger, but I'm really a Linux guy. One problem I had when I installed 6.06 Xubuntu there was a strange flickering/artifacting going down the screen in a column. That made me really nerveous. I may try another Ubuntu flavor and see if the problem repeats itself. As far as PPC goes, I'm guessing Ubuntu is choice...

As far as the RAM goes; I will probably do this regardless just to improve the overall performance and stability, 128 is kicking my butt. Thanks for the URL. I am very greatful. I checked it out and am unsure which RAM to get. I am running the iBook (Late 2001) transluscent. I found a great HOWTO on faqintosh, but no specs. Any suggestions?
 
The more I look, the more questions I have. Sorry...

I noticed 512MB was the last on the list. Is that my cap or are there two slots on the mobo?
 
giantgreengoat, if you download the Alternate Install disc you'll have better results. The Live CD is still not ready for prime time in my opinion. I used the Alternate Install and it worked great on the iMac G3 I installed it on. Also remember that the latest version is 6.06.1, so make sure you download that one as it includes about 300 or so updates since 6.06.

One thing I noticed when installing Ubuntu on that iMac was that I had to disable DRI in the xorg.conf, otherwise the X Windows session would lock up and make everything super slow. Disabling DRI and changing the driver to "r128" from "ati" also helped (this iMac has a Rage Pro LT chipset).

Hope this helps.
 
Awesome, thanks!! I tried out 10.3.9 Panther and everything is working like a champ. A little slow sometimes, but 128mb of ram will do that. I'm going to drop the 512 and see what happens next. Thanks!!!!!
 
Actually, I'd say Mac OS 9.x would be quite a fine OS on that machine. Sure: You won't get much of the newer software, since OS 9 has been largely abandoned, but depending on what you want to accomplish... That iBook can make a _great_ computer for writing *AND* surfing the web. OS 9 will make better use of the resources available than both linux or Panther.

If, however, you merely want to play with the machine and try out new software every day, then linux might be the better choice.
 
It depends what you want to do. Obiously, it won't be as fast as a new machine, but if you just want to run Office, answer e-mail, browse the net, it'll be fine. That RAM will help a lot.
 
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