I found a G4 Mac (Installed MorphOS)

General hardware issues and troubleshooting etc

Moderators: terriblefire, Terriblefire Moderator

Post Reply
terriblefire
Moderator Team
Moderator Team
Posts: 5362
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:56 pm
Location: Glasgow, UK

I found a G4 Mac (Installed MorphOS)

Post by terriblefire »

I was clearing out my loft as part of my house move and came across a G4 Mac Mini in a box. Mac used to be my wifes until she upgraded.

So being a geek i grabbed a MorphOS CD from https://www.morphos-team.net and installed it... and well i'm v impressed. Seems to be AmigaOS on PPC for hardware that is less than £100. You can still get the G4s on ebay for pennies.



I really like.
———
"It is not necessarily a supply voltage at no load, but the amount of current it can provide when touched that
indicates how much hurting you shall receive."
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 10385
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: I found a G4 Mac (Installed MorphOS)

Post by rubber_jonnie »

terriblefire wrote: Sun Feb 07, 2021 11:30 am I was clearing out my loft as part of my house move and came across a G4 Mac Mini in a box. Mac used to be my wifes until she upgraded.

So being a geek i grabbed a MorphOS CD from https://www.morphos-team.net and installed it... and well i'm v impressed. Seems to be AmigaOS on PPC for hardware that is less than £100. You can still get the G4s on ebay for pennies.



I really like.
I have a 1.5Ghz G4 17" Powerbook, and I have to say that even with 1.5GB RAM MorphOS didn't run very well at all. Might have to give it another try, but the thing I REALLY want for my PBG4 is a new battery. Oh, and to work out why the right hand speaker doesn't work. Problem is, all the damn screws you need to pull out to get inside the damn thing!
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
Aeberbach
Posts: 148
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:24 pm

Re: I found a G4 Mac (Installed MorphOS)

Post by Aeberbach »

Nice - what G4 mini do you have? There was a "secret" upgrade toward the end of the G4 mini's life. Instead of 1.42GHz the CPU was 1.5GHz, but the bigger upgrade was 128MB graphics instead of 64MB. This shows up in system information but not is not printed on the box.

You can also run OS 9 using a community-modified installer, it is the fastest way to run classic System. Everything but sound works, easily fixed with a cheap USB DAC (i.e. one made for Raspberry Pi).
User avatar
alexh
Posts: 690
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:51 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: I found a G4 Mac (Installed MorphOS)

Post by alexh »

I'm curious to know if there are MorphOS equivalents of most of the AmigaOS4.x software?

(e.g. is there anything to run?)
Principal ASIC Engineer - SystemVerilog, VHDL
Thalion Webshrine - http://thalion.atari.org
STf,STfm,STe,MegaST,MegaSTe,Falcon060
A500+,A600,A4000/060,CD32,CDTV
terriblefire
Moderator Team
Moderator Team
Posts: 5362
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:56 pm
Location: Glasgow, UK

Re: I found a G4 Mac (Installed MorphOS)

Post by terriblefire »

Aeberbach wrote: Mon Feb 08, 2021 8:58 pm Nice - what G4 mini do you have? There was a "secret" upgrade toward the end of the G4 mini's life. Instead of 1.42GHz the CPU was 1.5GHz, but the bigger upgrade was 128MB graphics instead of 64MB. This shows up in system information but not is not printed on the box.

You can also run OS 9 using a community-modified installer, it is the fastest way to run classic System. Everything but sound works, easily fixed with a cheap USB DAC (i.e. one made for Raspberry Pi).
I'll just use my macbook pro for MacOS>
alexh wrote: Mon Feb 08, 2021 9:45 pm I'm curious to know if there are MorphOS equivalents of most of the AmigaOS4.x software?

(e.g. is there anything to run?)
You can run all normal 68k software thats system friendly i believe.

In terms of native stuff...

I've had https://wayfarer.icu/ running no probs.

Also have quake going really nicely.
———
"It is not necessarily a supply voltage at no load, but the amount of current it can provide when touched that
indicates how much hurting you shall receive."
terriblefire
Moderator Team
Moderator Team
Posts: 5362
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:56 pm
Location: Glasgow, UK

Re: I found a G4 Mac (Installed MorphOS)

Post by terriblefire »

I recommend the SDK being installed right away.

Gives you access to gcc, make, cmake etc. As well as the gnu utils.
———
"It is not necessarily a supply voltage at no load, but the amount of current it can provide when touched that
indicates how much hurting you shall receive."
User avatar
arkadiusz.makarenko
Moderator Team
Moderator Team
Posts: 1207
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2019 7:36 am
Location: Edinburgh

Re: I found a G4 Mac (Installed MorphOS)

Post by arkadiusz.makarenko »

terriblefire wrote: Sun Feb 14, 2021 9:41 am I recommend the SDK being installed right away.

Gives you access to gcc, make, cmake etc. As well as the gnu utils.
This is best selling point for me.
If MorphOS has decent editors and targeting 68k works out of the box, and you can hotswap sd or compact flash then it would be best Amiga development gear available.
Do not trust people. They are capable of greatness.
~ Stanislaw Lem
terriblefire
Moderator Team
Moderator Team
Posts: 5362
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:56 pm
Location: Glasgow, UK

Re: I found a G4 Mac (Installed MorphOS)

Post by terriblefire »

TBH i just use VS Code and WSL. Amiga GCC and VBCC/VASM.

It gives perfect modern IDE for amiga development.
———
"It is not necessarily a supply voltage at no load, but the amount of current it can provide when touched that
indicates how much hurting you shall receive."
Post Reply

Return to “AMIGA HARDWARE HELP”