OS X 10.3.9 web browsers?

Joined
May 19, 2010
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hi first post - thanks for any help!

am looking for where best to post about navigation problems, hope I've got the right forum (I think it's a OS X problem) ... got a

Mac OS X 10.3.9
Processor 1.5GHz PowerPC G4
Memory 512 MB DDR SDRAM

currently with Safari 1.3.2 & it's getting hellish navigating on the web (more and more things don't work, keeps crashing on me).
Used Firefox before but stopped working recently so ditched it, tried Opera briefly but update crashed, been all over looking for what do and even serously started considering getting a cheap PC (yep, that desperate.. :p)

I'd like to change as little as possible as am a little anxious about loosing anything that is still working (my beloved PowerBook is my office & livelyhood, and 90% of my work needs smooth and quick internet navigating, using wikis a lot, etc.).

Dont' know if my best bet is to go to Linux or try upgrade to 10.4 etc. Am fairly new to all this so would apreciate some basic instructions, either way.

I hope this is the best forum to post this!

Thanks so much for your help,


:) Stella

(Canary Islands)
 
Joined
May 25, 2010
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Often the longer you maintain and use an older OS and the browsers that it will run, developments in software for the internet content you want to access surpass the capabilities of your OS & browsers to handle.

10.3 is pretty outdated, despite being quite functional on the Mac you're using. My advice would be to try to locate an installer CD for the latest OS your Power Book can run.

My wife has a Power Book of about that vintage... she had similar experience running 10.3.x so you're not at all alone.
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
G'day and welcome to the forums Stella.

As advised, older OS are often the cause with Flash and other applications. Have a look at this link for suggested cures:-

Apple - Support - Safari

Think your best shot would be upgrading the memory and going with Tiger. Panther is getting on and you will find this problem with a lot of applications.
 
Joined
Apr 9, 2009
Messages
2,073
Reaction score
68
Points
48
Location
Ithaca NY
Your Mac's Specs
13 inch alMacBook 2GHz C2D 4G DDR3, 1.25GHz G4 eMac
Get a new OS. Your machine will run up to leopard. Then you can run recent browsers... and have access to the whole web. Seriously... Panther still? When that OS came out, it was the bomb... but it came out in 2003. I remember getting my Power Mac G5 with 10.3.7 shipping on it... that computer was awesome, and it'd still run Leopard like a dream had I not burned out the logic board.
 

dtravis7


Retired Staff
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
30,133
Reaction score
703
Points
113
Location
Modesto, Ca.
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini M-1 MacOS Monterey, iMac 2010 27"Quad I7 , MBPLate2011, iPad Pro10.5", iPhoneSE
Exactly what Mac model do you have? You said 1.5Ghz G4. Is it a Mac Mini by chance? If so, upgrade to at least 10.4 Tiger and don't bother with 10.3. Safari in 10.3 can not be upgraded to a later version and has many issues with todays sites on the web. The newest Firefox that can be installed in 10.3 is 2.?.?. It will work much better especially if you get the very last update to Firefox 2, but with Tiger you can use Safari and newer Firefox versions and have no issues on the Web.

Tell us exactly which Mac model you have is you would. If your Mac is the 1.5Ghz Mini, I would up the RAM to 1GB which is the maximum for the G4 Mini.
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
1,466
Reaction score
47
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
2.8 GHz 15" MacBook Pro OS X 10.7.x & some old Macs
Stella, you should also think about getting an external hard drive if your don't already have one and then do a backup. You should do this before any upgrades.

What some people don't realize is that the internet is a constantly evolving system. Websites ever so often update their sites with new technology that are not supported by old web browsers. Some websites are very quick adopters of new internet technologies so you usually have to use the most recent web browsers for those sites.
 
Joined
May 18, 2008
Messages
3,612
Reaction score
95
Points
48
Location
Amberley, Canterbury, New Zealand
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
It's a PowerBook dtravis. The first two and last models will accommodate 2 Gb RAM, the third in the 1.5 series (12" screen) can only take 1.5 Gb [source: Mactracker].

As advised, a G4 PBook will cope with Leopard, which opens up a whole realm of browser possibilities.

In the meantime, whilst still with Panther, I can tell Stella that the Camino browser works satisfactorily, including Flash. It has problems with javascript, in which case I use Safari.
 
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
3,308
Reaction score
58
Points
48
Location
Whangarei NZ
Your Mac's Specs
27 iMac+Thunderbolt, iMac 21,
My take on the situation - if HD storage will become critical then upgrade the OS to Tiger 10.4 with one of these;


Click for full size

if storage will not be an issue you could go for one of these but invariably they will be more expensive;;


Click for full size
 
OP
S
Joined
May 19, 2010
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
1
thanks!

thankyou so much for the time and information!! ... still reeling a little, cant quite understand some of it...

am not sure if its ok to take the mac to any PC repair shop to have the memory expansion thing done.. will look around... (live on a small island, no mac dealers anywhere near and the idea of sending it off anywhere makes me nervous... post service is also pretty dodgy..)

nor am I quite sure where is the best place to get the new OS software (or how long it will last as usable given the specs of my hardware and the fastmoving web worlds... same prob with mac dealers, can they b brought online and downloaded?) / and seems there are diff. opinions as to which OS to get..

now practically nothing will work on internet so am using another pc for this.. major disruptions to my work going on (also reason not been able to reply to this thread sooner)

these are the full specs of my mac>

Modelo de ordenador: PowerBook G4 15"
Tipo de CPU: PowerPC G4 (1.1)
Número de CPU: 1
Velocidad de la CPU: 1.5 GHz
Caché de nivel 2 (por CPU): 512 KB
Memoria: 512 M
Velocidad del bus: 167 MHz
Versión de la ROM de arranque: 4.8.6f0

yes am running it in spanish..


are there people here who run linux on their macs? am wondering if this would give quicker changing capabilities as (am guessing) the linux software will advance more or less at same rate as the browsers.. but b free to upgrade
as well as using up less resources which I gather is the major point in favour of linux use (making old machines better runners)

mayb there is a mac linux specialist forum somewhere?


for everyone who chipped in here, thanks again for all the very kind help!!

Stella
 
Joined
May 18, 2008
Messages
3,612
Reaction score
95
Points
48
Location
Amberley, Canterbury, New Zealand
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
am not sure if its ok to take the mac to any PC repair shop to have the memory expansion thing done

Inserting RAM is not a difficult task, most technically-able people should be able to do it, but I understand your situation (I lived on a remote pacific island for two years). You may in fact do as I did re RAM and just .... try it (not in my case with a powerbook though).

nor am I quite sure where is the best place to get the new OS software

There is one answer to that - and I think most respondents will agree - and it is OWC Performance Upgrades; FireWire USB SATA Storage; Memory, more at OWC. Online purchasing, and their service is excellent, I've found.

seems there are diff. opinions as to which OS to get.

As advised, a 1.5 GHz processor will cope with Leopard. The question is really how well it will cope. If you want lightning speed, then you're likely to be disappointed. That said, Leopard will operate more modern software than Panther or Tiger.

maybe there is a mac linux specialist forum somewhere?

Right in this very Mac-Forums! Windows, Classic, Linux, and Other OS - Mac-Forums.com.

Buena suerte!
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
1. DO not take your PB to a PC shop as you do need Mac compatible memory modules.

2. Buy Tiger/Leopard OS X.4/X.5 etc online at auction sites, or through the trade forums here, and expect to pay over $100.00 and as advised buy the full retail install version ONLY..
 
Joined
Apr 9, 2009
Messages
2,073
Reaction score
68
Points
48
Location
Ithaca NY
Your Mac's Specs
13 inch alMacBook 2GHz C2D 4G DDR3, 1.25GHz G4 eMac
You have a 1.5GHz powerbook? For the love of God, go get yourself a Leopard CD. It will run Leopard VERY well, even with minimum RAM. If you Don't do anything too intensive on your computer, my fiancee has a slower clock speed G4 running Leopard just fine right now. It's a good OS.

How much hard drive space do you have left? It can be found by opening a new finder window and going to your home folder (the house/username folder), then looking at the bottom of the window. It should be measured in gigabytes.

And for linux, yes there is a dedicated community of ubuntu users and you can find a message board specifically for them at the ubuntu forums. I am currently in my Ubuntu 10.04 virtual machine on my MacBook, but you are talking about running it natively. They will be better equipped to help than I. If you do choose to run ubuntu, these forums will become your home. I recommend ubuntu as it is the easiest to use distribution and with very little configuration can be made to resemble OS X. Fedora 13 looks nice, but it's still a bit more technical. The ubuntu forums are here.
 
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
3,308
Reaction score
58
Points
48
Location
Whangarei NZ
Your Mac's Specs
27 iMac+Thunderbolt, iMac 21,
Stella Do the RAM yourself - it is simple to do.
Always touch the metal frame before inserting removing RAM and follow directions that came in the handbook, as i recall it even gives a picture.
Seems you have 2 x 256 Chips in there - go for 2 x 512 and there is a number of threads on the forum as to where to buy units for the Mac at a good price.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top