On Jan 6, 2012, at 5:14 PM, Len Gerstel wrote:
This list is the G3-5 List. It is usable software agnostic. Since
MOST people on the list run Mac OS, that is what the main knowledge
base is. There are other lists with more knowledgable *nix people on
them.
That being said, *nix talk is allowed, but remember, most people on
the list don't have a lot of knowledge or interest there.
Just remember, this is not the Swap List.
Len Gerstel
List Nanny
That is good to know. I am just trying to be a good list member and
not step on anyone's toes here, so that is why I am being careful with
any discussions about alternative OSes for these G4 Mac models.
I'll try to keep this as brief as possible, with respect to others on
the list that have no interest in using an alternative OS on their G4
Mac computers, after all MacOSX is the best OS available on any
hardware. ;-)
The alternative OS that I am a strong supporter of is called MorphOS
and is currently at version 2.7. It is based on a micro-kernel called
Quark and is tightly coded to make it extremely fast and efficient.
It has been dubbed "The Lightning OS" by many reviewers, and if it is
setup as the primary OS on a G4 Mac computer, it can reboot in less
than 10 seconds to a fully functional desktop environment. MorphOS3.0
is late and should be released any day now. It has been developed by
a small group of mostly European members who are all former Amiga
users who wanted to create a modern Amiga replacement operating system
that would run on PowerPC CPU's. The last and highest performing
Amiga hardware was created by a third party company named Phase5.
They made a few different models of accelerators for Commodore Amiga
computers that had both a Motorola 68040, or 68060 (remember when
Mac's only had Motorola 680x0 CPU's?) and a 603, or 604e PowerPC CPU.
The accelerator came with a modified OS that could run certain
software on the PowerPC CPU, but would then task switch back to the
Motorola 680x0 CPU to run the rest of the Amiga software. It was a
clunky solution and came too late, as Commodore was already on the
ropes and about to go bankrupt, but still development continued long
after Commodore died and these people from Phase5, along with many
other Amiga users/developers that would not let the platform die,
began the MorphOS project. It was first hoped that the new owner of
the Amiga IP would buy their work and it would have become the new
AmigaOS, which would have been version 4 (as the official AmigaOS
ended at version 3.9). It was not to be and another company won the
negotiations to write AmigaOS4.x and we now have competing products in
the Amiga community.
Enough on the history lesson. All you need to know about it is that
MorphOS has been under development for over 10 years now and has
become a very polished and efficient operating system, but it still
lacks in sheer numbers of developers and native software, even though
it can run most of the thousands of software titles that were
originally written for the Amiga line of computers through a JIT (Just-
In-Time) 680x0 to PPC translator that is built into the MorphOS
operating system. The only Amiga software that does not run without
an emulator on MorphOS, is mostly games and a few other applications
that do not follow the system guidelines and hit the old Amiga custom
chipset directly, as these custom chips do not exist in the computers
(like G4 Mac's) that are supported today by MorphOS.
MorphOS is not intended as a replacement for MacOSX (except perhaps
for only the most hardcore old time Amiga users). It is what is
commonly referred to as a "Hobby OS" that a few thousand users and
developers enjoy using and mostly only has interest for people that
were former users of the Amiga line of computers, or others that just
enjoy exploring alternative operating systems and software, like the
"nix" users.
This list is a perfect place to promote MorphOS, because it is made up
of people that appreciate older PowerPC hardware and because over the
last few years the MorphOS Development Team has ported MorphOS to
several G4 Mac computer models, such as:
All G4 MacMini's
1.25GHz & 1.42GHz G4 eMac's
All G4 PowerMac's with AGP video card slots that are 500MHz or faster
(might even work on 400MHz & faster models)
When MorphOS3.0 is released (any day now) it will also support 4
models of the G4 PowerBook and will be the first portable MorphOS
compatible systems (big deal for us). The models that will be
supported are model 1107, 1109, 1138 & 1139, which are all 1.67GHz G4
PowerBooks in 15" and 17" sizes. None of the 12" G4 PowerBooks are to
be supported with the MorphOS3.0 release due to unsupported video
cards used in the 12" models. MorphOS only supports Radeon video
cards in G4 Mac models, so if you have an older G4 PowerMac that has a
different AGP video card, it would need to be swapped for one of the
supported Radeon video cards to be able to run MorphOS on that system.
Proof of concept screen shots and public demonstrations of MorphOS
booting on a Dual 2.7GHz G5 PowerMac and a 2.1GHz G5 iMac have been
shown, but the MorphOS Development Team has stated that no work on a
version to support G5 computers will be done until they are finished
supporting all of the G4 Mac computer models that make sense to
support is completed.
MorphOS is a commercial OS project (used to be free until about 4 or 5
years ago) but it is available as a free download for a time limited
demo that allows you to run it unrestricted for 30 minutes at a time,
before it slows down to a crawl and you must re-boot so you can use it
for another 30 minutes at full speed. In this way you can evaluate
MorphOS as much as you want before you decide if it is something you
want to buy.
If you have read this far and would like to know more, check out the
official MorphOS website at "http://www.morphos-team.net/index.html";
or visit one of the main English MorphOS forum sites at "http://www.morphzone.org/modules/news/
". Why am I promoting an OS which only has a tiny user base and
limited software availability? Well, the only way to grow is to
promote it to more users and hope to interest a few new developers, so
that is my purpose. I am also teaching myself how to program so I can
contribute with new software, so my favorite "Hobby OS" will succeed
and grow in the future.
Take a look at MorphOS. It is free to try and you might like what you
see, but I don't expect it to replace your use of MacOSX, as MorphOS
still needs a few more years of development and tons more native
software before it could be considered as a replacement for anything,
but with Apple and all third party software developers abandoning your
PowerPC Mac computers, isn't it nice to know that there is one group
of users and developers who are still supporting G4 Mac computers?
Thanks for your patience in reading this long post and for any
interest you may share in my favorite hobby.
David
aka AmigaDave
Dual booting MacOSX & MorphOS2.7 on 1.5GHz G4 MacMini & Dual 1.42GHz
G4 PowerMac MDD, plus dual booting MacOSX & MorphOS3.0 beta on 15" &
17" 1.67GHz G4 PowerBooks & dual booting MacOSX & Ubuntu PPC v10.10 on
a Dual 2.7GHz G5 PowerMac.
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