06-20-2009, 11:02 AM

Hi,

My dad has an old G4 desktop with OS X 10.1.5 he hasnt used for many years.

He wants to use it for the internet - so we powered it on and did the sw updates - however web content is not displayed properly, and I cannot download anything.

It looks like the SW is way out of date - do you think this is the problem?

If i got hold of some disks what level of SW can I go to, and how do you install it?

Thanks.

06-20-2009, 11:38 AM

You should put OS 10.4 Tiger on that G4, Tiger is getting old but still able to run most modern software and the latest versions of the main browsers

06-20-2009, 08:01 PM

Thanks - l managed to load an old version of Mozilla which works with most websites and most importantly gmail.


Just need to find a copy of 10.4 now!

06-20-2009, 08:16 PM

Can you give us a few of the Specs on that G4? How much Ram? CPU Speed?

I would go with Tiger also but am curious just which machine you have there.

06-29-2009, 12:40 PM

Ooops - missed your post sorry.

I had to leave my Dads shortly after posting this up. I got him up and running - but I am not happy with the setup.

Most websites are not displayed properly - making things un-pleasurable for my parents when they are learning how to surf the web.

They live in Wales and I am in England so I dont get much chance to pop back and forth.

What I want to do is to Get myself a copy of Tiger [still looking] and do a fresh install.

Do I need a copy of Tiger that is specifically used for a iMac G4

Specs: [bear in mind all my parents do is surf the net]
However they have over £1k of software! [that he got when he first got the mac.].

MAC OS X 10.1.5
MEMORY - 256MB
PROCESSOR - POWER PC G4

06-29-2009, 01:28 PM

If you are running 10.1.5 I am not surprised at all at sites not displaying properly! That 256Megs RAM though should be upgraded for Tiger. Maybe 512Megs at least.

On Tiger be sure you get the Black DVD Retail and it will work on any Power PC Mac from a G3 and up but the machine does need a DVD drive. If you up the RAM a bit and install Tiger for just web browsing, your folks should be happy.

06-29-2009, 01:37 PM

Agreed on the RAM. The minimum system requirements for Tiger state 256MB of RAM as a minimum. That said, running the minimum is not going to make for a pleasant user experience. My recommendation would be to insert as much as you can but use dtravis7's advice of a minimum of 512MB as a starting point.

Also, Flash is going to be brutal on that machine. Do your parents view a lot of Flash content, such as YouTube?

06-29-2009, 02:14 PM

Agreed with Van. Flash videos can be very slow and demanding on especially the really old Power Mac G4's. You never listed your Specs, but seeing it came with 10.1 I have a feeling it's an older model G4.

I have 10.4.11 on a G4 Digital Audio 667 Mhz with upgraded ATI Radeon (First Mac Radeon) video card and 768 Megs RAM and it's pretty smooth on You Tube videos, but anything less starts to jerk and lag.

06-29-2009, 02:15 PM

Thanks guys,

Sorry - I had to get my mom [not pc literate] to get that info over the phone - so didnt bother trying to get more detailed info.

I'll have a look for some RAM, I am guessing that the G4 will not have a DVD drive. Can I boot it from USB?

06-29-2009, 02:19 PM

Originally Posted by chrismac

Thanks guys,

Sorry - I had to get my mom [not pc literate] to get that info over the phone - so didnt bother trying to get more detailed info.

I'll have a look for some RAM, I am guessing that the G4 will not have a DVD drive. Can I boot it from USB?

Some of the Power Mac G4's came with a DVD drive. Some with a DVD/CD0R/W, some with just a CDROM and some with a CDR/W. You can check that in the specs.

If it does have a CDROM you can either purchase a DVD drive and install it or look on Ebay and try to find a CD ROM version of the Tiger Retail OS.

To boot from an external DVD drive on the older Macs you need a Firewire external. USB would not boot on older Macs.

06-30-2009, 05:58 PM

Cool - Thanks alot for your help.

07-01-2009, 10:30 AM

I'm Not surprised that 10.1 is having problems at all. You really need to upgrade it. And I believe that your parents computer can take 1Gb Ram, All G4 I believe can. (I think, maybe not for such a old one.). Upgrading it shouldn't cost much. especially for what your parents want. Hope everything works out