What's the best OS for my PowerMac G5

Ramon,

I take it you don't do any updating of your apps? Support for Tiger is almost near nil, while Leopard is holding on. On my G5 Quad, like yours.. I have no problems running Leopard at all and its fast and lightning quick. Why is it not so quick on your system?

Then again I have a Nvidia Geforce 7800GTX 512MB card and 12GB of DDR2 memory. Perhaps if you upgraded the video card and memory maybe Leopard then would make you want to go to it and drop Tiger. Not saying you should, but consider that Leopard at least provides some applications to work on it.

Although it has grown quite long in the tooth now, Power PC processor powermacs are still capable machines depending on what you want to do with them. However, 10.4 and 10.5 are sort of like continuing to run an end-of-life Windows XP system with the security vulnerabilities, old Javascript, and out of date Flash player.

I'd recommend you transition your computer to Linux. Your two best options would be Lubuntu (currently at release 14.04) if you're new to the platform, or Debian (currently at release 7) if you're an experienced computer user. My first Apple was a ][+ running DOS 3.3 so I am pretty comfortable issuing terminal commands.

Just this week I replaced my 18 year old daily driver Blue and White Powermac G3 with a dual processor G5 and installed Debian Wheezy on it. Runs great.

Hello,

At the Apple Icon at top left>About this Mac.

Then click on More Info>Hardware and report this upto *but not including the Serial#*...

Hardware Overview:

Machine Name: Power Mac G5 Quad

Machine Model: PowerMac11,2

CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (1.1)

Number Of CPUs: 4

CPU Speed: 2.5 GHz

L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB

Memory: 10 GB

Bus Speed: 1.25 GHz

Boot ROM Version: 5.2.7f1

If a G5, 10.5.8 is the latest OSX you can run, & may be availble by calling Apple...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4720126?tstart=0

You can get the install DVD for it at http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Version-10-5-6-Leopard-VERSION/dp/B000FK88JK/ref=pd_ cp_sw_1 for $175.

Allan

Yes, 10.5.x is the hiest OSX version you can use...

Leopard requirements/10.5.x...

* Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor

minimum system requirements

* 512MB of memory (I say 1.5GB for PPC at least, 2-3GB minimum for IntelMacs)

* DVD drive for installation

* 9GB of available disk space (I say 30GB at least)

Classic/OS9 Apps no longer supported.

jpascone wrote:

Here's what my machine says, so

which OS is the latest/greatest for this machine???

Thanks guys,

Hardware Overview:

Machine Name: Power Mac G5

…

While it is true that Leopard 10.5.8 is the latest OS your machine can run, I would personally NOT recommend it.

No PowerPC G5 ever shipped with Leopard, and I absolutely hold Tiger 10.4.11 to be the optimal, snappiest and most stable OS for a G5.

I happen to have separate bootable Tiger/Leopard internal drives in my G5Quad, and I can assure you that Tiger 10.4.11 is optimal for my machine. It's rock-solid stable, faster and more efficient than Leopard. I have not booted into Leopard for a very, very long time.

Additionally, Leopard dropped Classic support and totally broke SCSI. The only reason to run Leopard is if you use the iTunes store a lot, which I understand requires at least 10.5.x. I've never used either the iTunes nor the Apple App store.

These are the specs of my G5 Quad:

2.5 GHz Power Mac (PPC) G5-Quad; 16GB RAM; mutant, flashed 550MHz nVidia GeForce 7800GTX 1,700MHz 512MB VRAM; ATTO ExpressPCI UL5D LP SCSI card; Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11 and Leopard 10.5.8 boot drives; intrusive Spotblight, Dashboard and Time Machine permanently disabled; dual 22" CRT monitors; USB wireless 'n' available but connected to the Internet via wired Ethernet; FW flatbed scanner; 2 SCSI scanners (one tabloid-size transparency scanner and a film scanner); various internal & external HDs; FW Epson 2200 and Ethernet Samsung ML-2850ND printers; 2 X Back-UPS RS 1500 XS units.

Why is Leopard so much money? I can understand through Apple it is 129.00, but really? 200, 300, even 400!!! On Ebay etc.. Whats so great about it to cost so much?

It is no longer being made by Apple, so those who have Leopard install DVDs are attempting to get as much as they can from for them. Simple.

Allan

Romko,

romko23 wrote:

…I take it you don't do any updating of your apps? Support for Tiger is almost near nil, while Leopard is holding on. On my G5 Quad, like yours.. I have no problems running Leopard at all and its fast and lightning quick. Why is it not so quick on your system?

Obviously there are applications I use that will not run under Tiger, most notably Photoshop 13.0.4 ("CS6"), but then they don't run under Leopard either. 😀

So that factor doesn't militate in favor of Leopard at all. 10.5.x has way too many disadvantages and glaring faults, as I found out after using it for a few months. It dropped Classic support and totally broke SCSI.

I have way too much money invested in irreplaceable and un-upgradeable custom software that runs only in straight Mac OS 9.2 or Classic, and a sizable investment in SCSI hardware too, including a high-end tabloid-size Epson 836XL graphic-arts scanner that originally cost somewhere between $6,000 and $10,000 (have to look that up, as it's been a long time) and which could only be replaced by a $3,000 modern Large Format Epson 11000XL PS unit that's not built nearly as rugged. There's also my Nikon film and negative scanner, etc.

For Photoshop 13.0.4 and ACR 8.1, which are 64-bit only, I have been running a Snow Leopard 10.6.8 system on a dinky Mac Book with 4 GB of RAM, of which applications can only see 3 GB. I share my keyboard, mouse and tablet—as well as my dual, side-by-side 22" CRT monitors—between the Snow Leopard Mac Book and the PPC G5 Quad.

Fortunately, over the weekend I have also acquired—for peanuts—an Apple Mac Pro (1,1) Xeon 2.66 GHz Quad-Core (2006) with 13 GB of RAM, upgradeable to 32 GB, and that will replace the Intel Mac Book. It should be a huge improvement over the puny Mac Book, or so I hope.

In any event, I have yet to decide whether to run the new Mac Prom when it arrives in the course of the next week, under Lion (reluctantly if I'm forced to) or under Snow Leopard, which is way more likely. At any rate, it will not be under Leopard, which doesn't support Photoshop13.0.x, and the machine can't even run Mountain Lion.

I don't need any of the features of Leopard at all. You may remember that I have both the intrusive Spotblight and the Dashboard permanently disabled under Tiger, and in the Snow Leopard system I have Time Machine disabled. That is also the case in with my Leopard boot volume, which, as I've just mentioned, have not needed to boot in a very, very long time,

Incidentally, I never said Leopard wasn't quick on my G5 Quad. What I've said, and I'll reaffirm this any time, is that Tiger is definitely snappier, faster and more efficient on the very same machine. There's not the slightest doubt in my mind about this.

The end result is that I have no incentive to run Leopard and, therefore, I cannot in good conscience recommend that OS to anyone on a PPC G5 Quad—if they have the option to run Tiger instead.

I realize that Leopard is required for things like iDisk and the iTunes stores, but I have no interest in any of that myself.

romko23 wrote:

…Then again I have a Nvidia Geforce 7800GTX 512MB card and 12GB of DDR2 memory. Perhaps if you upgraded the video card and memory maybe Leopard then would make you want to go to it and drop Tiger…

LOL !

Hah! You're way out of line. I have 16 GB of RAM on my PPC G5 Quad, Romko, and have the most powerful video card you can get for a G5 Quad: the very same, mutant, flashed 550MHz nVidia GeForce 7800GTX 1,700MHz 512MB VRAM. 😎

Drop Tiger? When shrimp learn how to whistle ! 😀

Thanks! 🙂

I prefer older OSes myself, less bloat & more of what I want to, whilst less of why Apple wants me to do! 👿

Pardon my ignorance, but what programs can you run under this "Debian Wheezy" thingy?

Can it run Adobe Photoshop, illustrator and InDesign like i can under Tiger?

Another source for Leopard is the LEM Swap List: http://lowendmac.com/2014/lem-swap/

You can submit a post that you want to buy it, if nothing turns up quickly. But in the meantime, you can look for Tiger (OS 10.4) on eBay. Much easier to find for a reasonable amount. You may even find an auction for the install disks for your G5 model. Of course, you would need to be sure that they are the correct disks for your G5.

if you expect to do any browsing with it, you can use TenFourFox, which still gets security updates. But it will be somewhat slow.