2022 PowerPC Challenge!

[Branchus]

Introducing the 2022 PPC Challenge!​

The gang from Mac Yak have been running the PPC challenge for a few years now, and the 2022 challenge is almost here!​

THE GOAL​

Use a Mac powered by a PowerPC CPU as much as you can for your day-to-day computing. Everything you usually do on your Intel or M1 Mac, use the old Mac for it instead. Or at least try. We’ll show the nay-sayers that these machines still have plenty of usable power left in them and of course it’s a ton of fun!

THE RULES​

Every year there are questions, so many questions, sigh… So here they are, the “rules”:

• PowerPC CPU, it has to be an Apple Mac / Macintosh, or Macintosh Clone (no Hackintosh)
• Any OS goes, if you want to run Mac OS, have at it. If you want to run Linux, have at it. As long as it runs on a PPC Mac.
• Using multiple eligible Macs is fine! One to run iTunes, one to run a browser and one to run Netscape? No problem.
• No vintage Mac emulators running on modern hardware allowed (e.g. SheepShaver, Basilisk, Mini vMac etc.)
• Hardware upgrades are allowed as long as the CPU upgrade is a PowerPC.

YOUR EXPERIENCES​

We want to know how it goes for you. Please share info on the hardware you chose, the software you use, the struggles, the tips and tricks, the frustrations! We ask participants to log their experiences on this thread. Or maybe you'd prefer to make a YouTube vid of your experience? Go for it, and please include the #PPCChallenge hashtag and include a link to your video in this thread.

HOW MUCH DO I NEED TO DO ON MY PPC?​

As much as you can! We don't want anyone to lose their job, so if you need to use a modern computer for that, no problem. We just want to encourage people to use their PPC as much as possible.

BE PREPARED​

January is just around the corner and if you want to participate in the challenge along with everyone else, get your stuff in order before the challenge begins. Inspect your hardware of choice, get the OS up and running, install the software you need, configure your email etc etc. For tips on this you can check out the pages from previous years:

• 2020 PPC Challenge
• 2019 PPC Challenge

These pages will link to posts about the Challenge experiences which contain tips, issues participants ran into etc. This may help you be better prepared.
The Mac Yak Discord server will host a brand new channel called #2022-PPC-Challenge where you can help each other out, share tips, stories and more.

You can find a lovely selection of period appropriate Macintosh software on the wonderful MacintoshGarden.org.

CHALLENGE START AND END DATES​

It starts immediately after the first Mac Yak show of the new year (January 6, 2022) and ends right before the third Mac Yak show of the new year (2 weeks later, January 20).

Looking forward to hearing all about your experiences! We’ll pick some and talk about them on the January 20th show.

 

[MacAttack]

Can't wait. This is 4 years running now!

 

[The House of Moth]

Looking forward to it! Thinking of a dual-machine setup this year. G3 for old games and G4 for the more day to day stuff.

 

[JDW]

And a "challenge" it certainly is, at least if you do a lot of web work and need to connect to modern websites with SSL. One of my 1.3GHz 1.5MB RAM G4 Cubes has sat right next to my 5K iMac at the office for years, but I use it less and less these days because I like to use OS 9.2 on it and the Classilla web browser (most modern of the bunch) complains about nearly every site now (due to HTTPS), including Github. So to see how folks are overcoming the "web browser" challenges is of interest!

 

[BitterBlitter]

Sounds like a good oppertunity to dig the MacMini G4 out of storage and drop MorphOS on it since i think i have a key kicking about

 

[eric]

Well I'm having a hard time deciding what to play with - the most practical may be the iMac G5 - but I do live my 9600, and then there's the Pismo if i need something on the go.. gah! I think I'll start getting the iMac G5 ready with Sorbet Leopard OSX...

Also we should schedule some UT/UT2k4 WAN parties in Jan.

 

[haydonbeagley]

I'd be tempted to do this - as for the most part I use my Macs for mostly general internet browsing and alike if I'm not working. Though I would need to use my Intel iMac for the day job as I don't think the old PPC versions of RDP would like talking to Server 2016 and newer! Though again I could test this out as I do run a Home Server running Server 2016.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I'll be using a quicksilver down stairs, my ibook g4 upstairs and a pmg5 cheesegrater out in the garage. Might swap my QS out for another pmg5 (or maybe my graphite) I have mid week just for giggles. Regardless its always a fun distraction and excuse to slow down.

 

[GVD]

My plan is to use my G4 Pismo mostly in OS 9. There are certain tasks I need to complete on my modern work laptop, but there are actually many tasks I can complete without the internet. I will use OS X Sorbet Leopard (10.5) for some basic internet related tasks. Otherwise, I think using OS X is almost too easy. I will continue to use my phone for email and YouTube like I usually do. As much as I would like to commit to this full throttle but it is just not practical for me.

 

[JDW]

@Branchus
The description of this challenge says the following...

The challenge is to stick with PPC, don’t run right back to your Intel when a website doesn’t load as fast as you’d want it to...​

But like I said in an earlier post, most websites have modern SSL incompatible with even the latest version of the Classilla web browser. Since "a website" is mentioned in that description of the challenge, is there a web browsing trick that most of you are aware of, which I am not, that allows you to view modern websites like GitHub on your OS 8/9 PPC Mac?

Being able to open most modern websites really is the key to making PPC usable for work related tasks for the 1 week duration of this challenge.

Or is the answer to my question, "Nope! That's why it's A CHALLENGE!"

 

[JDW]

It would seem that the greater challenge is to get replies during the holidays!

Of course, I understand why. It's freezing here in Japan right now (snowed today), but in Australia I see the weather is just fine! Enjoy those warm days, Bruce!

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Below is Dosdude1's PowerPC discord client github.

https://github.com/dosdude1/discord-lite

Discussion is over here on MR.

 

[JDW]

Below is Dosdude1's PowerPC discord client github.

https://github.com/dosdude1/discord-lite

Discussion is over here on MR.

Since not a single person took time to answer my previous mentions of the fact that PPC Macs have SSL issues when browsing modern websites today, I take it from your post that most people don't really care about that now because we have Discord? Seriously, it would seem no one has a real solution to the SSL problem. If there was one, I'd expect some kind of reply about it. Which again raises the question about how useful PPC machines are these days. I still love my G4 Cube, but browsing the web is not something I can do now. And yet, doing that is important.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Since not a single person took time to answer my previous mentions of the fact that PPC Macs have SSL issues when browsing modern websites today, I take it from your post that most people don't really care about that now because we have Discord? Seriously, it would seem no one has a real solution to the SSL problem. If there was one, I'd expect some kind of reply about it. Which again raises the question about how useful PPC machines are these days. I still love my G4 Cube, but browsing the web is not something I can do now. And yet, doing that is important.

I don't use older system 7-8-9 macs so I really don't have an answer for you on that front - THIS conversation was kind of interesting and showed potential of bringing TLS 1.2 & potentially 3 to the likes of Classilla, Icab etc. but I haven't read about any movement forward. If you're using OSX, you could build a custom JDW TFFx broswer HERE which would fix the security cert issues of legacy browsers. Wicknix put together a very nice Interweb rebrand of TFFx HERE which is what I have been using on my Tiger and Leopard PowerPC macs and works very well. I recall a while back some folks using a WPR server and connecting their legacy classic macs to it to gain basic modern web functionality. Maybe something like this could help you with your cube. Best of luck to you.

 

[GVD]

I don't use older system 7-8-9 macs so I really don't have an answer for you on that front - THIS conversation was kind of interesting and showed potential of bringing TLS 1.2 & potentially 3 to the likes of Classilla, Icab etc. but I haven't read about any movement forward. If you're using OSX, you could build a custom JDW TFFx broswer HERE which would fix the security cert issues of legacy browsers. Wicknix put together a very nice Interweb rebrand of TFFx HERE which is what I have been using on my Tiger and Leopard PowerPC macs and works very well. I recall a while back some folks using a WPR server and connecting their legacy classic macs to it to gain basic modern web functionality. Maybe something like this could help you with your cube. Best of luck to you.

I second the use of InterwebPCC https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/interwebppc-browser-a-rebrand-of-tenfourfox-the-future

You can also use a proxy https://github.com/ttalvitie/browservice

Personally, I plan on trying to stick with OS 9.2 for the challenge. I have to make certain exceptions though such as continue to access email from my iphone and use my phone for internet browsing and youtube. However, I can use a PowerPC in OS 9 for many of my work related tasks that do not require an internet connection.

 

[The House of Moth]

Every year I use PPC and every year there are ways around the SSL certificate issue. I don't live my life online so could not care less if websites don't work ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Plenty of other good uses for my PPC Macs.

 

[JDW]

...there are ways around the SSL certificate issue.

I've tried the latest version of Classilla, but that isn't a solution for modern SSL. Could you offer one of the your current ways to get around the SSL certificate issue, such that an OS 9 browser can access modern sites?

 

[The House of Moth]

I've tried the latest version of Classilla, but that isn't a solution for modern SSL. Could you offer one of the your current ways to get around the SSL certificate issue, such that an OS 9 browser can access modern sites?

Can you list some of the websites you're having issues with?

 

[eric]

The challenge started with a bit analysis paralysis. I just have too many PowerPC machines to choose from. I first started thinking of trying Sorbet Leopard as all the cool kids are talking about it these days and gave me an excuse to pull my iMac G5 out. Unfortunately as you can see in this thread the PSU caps gave up the ghost so that one was out.

Then I got a G3 card for my 6115/CD so I thought I'd use that! While I did get it up and running I ran into a few stability issues that I'll resolve but would take too long as we're already in January.

So on the last day of my holiday break I pulled out the trusty Pismo to play some Escape Velocity Nova. Of course my trial had expired so I spent half the day digging through old posts and asking around, finally finding the right combination of steps and serial numbers to get the game going again (and yes I've updated the Garden page with the steps).

So Pismo it is running MacOS 9.2.1!

The first task I needed to do was Print out some BlueSCSI instructions on my Image Writer II. I do have a USB to Serial adapter so I installed that, but MacOS 9.2.1 doesn't seem to have the Image Writer software installed. I grabbed ImageWriter_7.0.1.sea.bin off archive.org but upon restart it crashed. Disabling the extension got me going again.

I found another Image Writer driver called MacPalette+II, but it needed registration. Though I did notice that Chooser showed it right away when I dropped it in the extensions folder and it did work (with nag). I put the Image Writer extension in the extensions folder without a restart, and it worked! I added a little apple script Startup/Shutdown to move it in and out. Not perfect but good enough for now.

tell application "Finder"
    activate
    select file "ImageWriter" of folder "System Extensions (Disabled)" of folder "System Folder" of startup disk
    move selection to folder "Extensions" of folder "System Folder" of startup disk
end tell

I did look at the browserservice proxy. It looks like no OS9 capable browsers currently work in it. Someone recently opened and issue and I posted my findings and will help debug/gather info.

Lastly I installed Word 98 here to write up this post. I'll save it as a txt file and put it on the RaSCSI AFP Share to get it to a modern computer to post.

 

[The House of Moth]

I read that running Squid on a more modern machine on the network, then point the http proxy on OS 9 to it, solves a lot of issues. http://www.squid-cache.org/ I have no experience with compiling and all that jazz though so haven't tried it.