2025 PowerPC Challenge

[iBookSpeedster88]

This is what the retail Leopard DVD sees (or so far anything that ISN'T the USB enclosure):

I plugged the OWC Electra 3G SSD in to the external USB enclosure at the request of @phunguss :

The drive mounts to the desktop, appears in Disk Utility and in System Profiler successfully. There is my 17.4GB partition with Sorbet Leopard installed to it and the remaining disk space. So far, this has been the only way I have seen the PowerMac G5 mount the drive and access its contents:

 

[Arbystpossum]

It shouldn't be a surprise, but the retail Leopard DVD doesn't recognize the SSD either and only gives the option to install itself to the hard drive.

OtherWorldComputing used to have a page recommending the OWC Electra 3G SSD as a great drive with guaranteed compatibility for all models of the PowerMac G5. Here is an archive of the webpage in question from 2023:
https://web.archive.org/web/2023100...ales.com/craftcmspreview/ssd/ssd-power-mac-g5

Curiously, the webpage was removed in 2024, and if you attempt to access it today, you'll get a "page not found" error. The SSD is still sold even now, though.

They may have changed something in the 3Gs that make them incompatible with old SATA1. I've had issues getting many SATA SSDs working in my PCIe G5. I doubt the 6Gs will work either.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I’d ask them if it’s still guaranteed to work with a pmg5 as to your point it seems they no longer make that claim publicly as of 2024. I can see them updating the SSD for compatibility/performance with newer Intel Macs vs PowermacG5s that are now 20+ years old. Anyhow I’d ask them and see what they say.

good luck

 

[scj312]

I have a 250GB OWC SSD in my 2003 G5 and it works without issue. Certainly seems like something is up with either your drive or the SATA controller. Do you have any other SSDs or Mac-flashed SATA controllers available to test with?

 

[Nycturne]

It shouldn't be a surprise, but the retail Leopard DVD doesn't recognize the SSD either and only gives the option to install itself to the hard drive.

OtherWorldComputing used to have a page recommending the OWC Electra 3G SSD as a great drive with guaranteed compatibility for all models of the PowerMac G5. Here is an archive of the webpage in question from 2023:
https://web.archive.org/web/2023100...ales.com/craftcmspreview/ssd/ssd-power-mac-g5

Curiously, the webpage was removed in 2024, and if you attempt to access it today, you'll get a "page not found" error. The SSD is still sold even now, though.

Yeah, this gets weird, because the SATA card I have in my Quicksilver likes my two OWC SATA SSDs, an Electra 3G and Electra 6G. I really don’t know what’s going on here, but HrutkayMods did mention forward compatibility issues with early SATA I chipsets, which is about the only thing I can think of at play here.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Not a big deal for me, been using PPC for my Graphics work in OS9 all along since its intro. Never switched to OSX because I've got tens of thousands of dollars worth of Graphics and CAD/CAM software/hardware, much of which never made the jump to X before I closed up shop in 2004.

Very nice to never have a worry about the RentWare plague!

Son (finally) gifted me with his first Mac during my Christmas/Hanukkah visit. For some reason or other he thinks I'm a hoarder.

Migrated AI8 and GraphicConverter from the Lombard rig I've been using for quite some time. It's a TiBook/1GHz/512MB (PowerBook3,5) with a clean OS9Lives 9.2.2 install. Maximum memory upgrade and SSD Disk On Module are the only upgrades I'm thinking about. That and a need to lavish some TLC on the damaged right back corner of the case.

Everything looks so much smaller on the displays above, but there are soooo many more pixels on the playing field of the Ti.

Dedicated, quarantined Win10 and Ubuntu Firefox workstations are my only vice. Did some SpreadSheet work in OpenOffice, but that'll probably migrate to AppleWorks ere long. I cannot abide by the overly complicated, shortcut menu infested windows of modern apps.

Very happy, grateful and proud, daddy here!

 

[HrutkayMods]

Here’s my third project of the month… I made a touchscreen eMac

 

[phunguss]

Day 20

Still trying to piece together more iBooks. I pulled a 1.0GHz motherboard from a 14" iBook and solder swapped the battery terminals so it will fit into a 12" iBook frame.

Seems to work so far. Just have to finish pulling together the rest of the parts.

I stopped by Free Geek Twin CIties and got a bag of misc screws for 25 cents. Lots of iMac hard drive screws, some eMac side screws, and some 2.5 iBook drive screws.

Then I spotted this demon. A 15" PowerBook G4 DLSD 1.67GHz project for $25, listed as a bad screen.

Why not? I could use more projects and troubles...

Day 21

Assessing the damage on the DLSD: funky screen

Mashed up power corner

Bent screen frame

External monitor shows:

If I wiggle the screen, I can get it to clear up, so obviously its an issue with the LVDS cable.

Disassembly of the entire screen to straighten the frame, and I find the right hinge full of crud. Obviously the crud has been damaging the cable.

Back to the 3rd iBook G3 500MHz... I disassembled and reassembled a couple more times, finally stuck some padding under the GPU and was able to get it stable. Hillbilly fix, but it works for now.

 

[PowerRCP-G3]

Just to recap, here's what's been going on within the last couple of days. I am on my final week for this video series.

Day 15

I started processing some clips from Final Cut Express for my upcoming video project and then I started watching King of the Hill on my iMac G4 to pass the time.

Day 16

I got more clips processed and ready to go. This project is time-consuming due to the fact that FCX is a lot different from my main M1 laptop. But, that's what this challenge is all about. Learning new stuff. I also started drawing on the iMac G4.