Installing Graphic Drivers on A G4...

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To All:
Let me stare out by saying I'm an Apple newbie. No, let me begin by saying I'm a Linux man. Debian to be specific. Been using it for years. But I've always found Macs seductive. And now I've been completely seduced.

I've recently purchased an older G4. For the price, I couldn't resist. And I now have the Apple I've always wanted!!! Well, not that specific model. But I've got an Apple.

Here's my hardware:
Machine Name: Power Mac G4 (AGP graphics)
Machine Model: PowerMac3,1
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.9)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 450 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 1.5 GB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.2.8f1
ATI Rage128Pro

My problem: I can view all streaming video - MSNBC, Fox, Apple Trailers, CNN, etc. But it's choppy. I don't think I have the video drivers install. Being new to Apple I don't know how to check for this. Or how to install the drivers for my old video card.

Question 1: How do I go about installing drivers for the old card?
Question 2: Can I upgrade the AGP ATI card to something better or newer and how?

Any and all info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
AliOop.
 
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Not so much the drivers but a slow old processor and the machine probably comes fitted with the standard Rage 129 Pro graphics card. Whilst the processor will still be slow, look for an ATI Radeon 9000 Mac Pro card with 128MB memory.

That will be a big improvement on the Rage card. Do not expect too much however as these machines are now a decade old - and that is like dinosaur ages to computers. Even my G5 Dual Core at just over 3 years in antiquated lol! Here are the machine specs:-

Apple Power Macintosh G4 450 (AGP) Specs (Power Mac G4 - AGP - M7232LL/A*) @ EveryMac.com
 
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Not so much the drivers but a slow old processor and the machine probably comes fitted with the standard Rage 129 Pro graphics card. Whilst the processor will still be slow, look for an ATI Radeon 9000 Mac Pro card with 128MB memory.

That will be a big improvement on the Rage card. Do not expect too much however as these machines are now a decade old - and that is like dinosaur ages to computers. Even my G5 Dual Core at just over 3 years in antiquated lol! Here are the machine specs:-

Apple Power Macintosh G4 450 (AGP) Specs (Power Mac G4 - AGP - M7232LL/A*) @ EveryMac.com

Harryb, thanks for the input. I'll look for the card you recommended. But still, how do I check for drivers? Are they installed, if not how to?

Thanks.
 
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Macs aren't like Windows when it comes to drivers. There is no need to install any drivers since the Mac automatically detects the hardware and assigns the correct extension to use it. This is because Macs only use certain hardware and the OS does not need to work on thousands of possible configurations. The extensions for all possible Mac configurations are stored in the OS.
 

pigoo3

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My problem: I can view all streaming video - MSNBC, Fox, Apple Trailers, CNN, etc. But it's choppy.

Like Harry already mentioned...the 450mhz CPU & the graphics card are your limitations.

Your Mac will be able to surf most websites ok...but sites with a lot of video content will not do so well. Don't even go to You-Tube...because the video quality will be terrible.

A better video card may help some...but no guarantees.

Good luck,

- Nick
 
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And the Apple operating system contains your drivers.
 
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If I'm not mistaken, a G4/450 is right at the minimum system requirements for Flash Player. I doubt a better GPU will make any difference.

As a Linux guy, you are probably aware that Flash does not work as well on Linux as it would on Windows. It is much the same on OS X. Only Adobe can fix this.
 

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