Help! just bought a Iphone 4 but have a G4

I've just bought an iphone 4, got home and my trusty old G4 wont see it, it says i need osx 10.5.8, i'm only on 10.4.11, my processor speed is only 733. from what i can tell i cannot upgrade to 10.5. is there anything i can do, i suppose jailbreaking it will let me bluetooth things to my phone-mac but did'nt wanna do that. any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks Jake

Sadly you have been caught like so many by what I would consider is a nasty oversight by Apple to be honest.
There are plenty of Tiger users out there in the same situation.
The only way around that may be possible for you is to run something like Parallels and have Windows XP running via that, as it's still supoorted.
Of course you need to buy Parallels and Windows XP.

Sorry to correct, but Parallels / Fusion / Virtualbox won't run on a G4 - they're Intel only.

There are some apps like Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac or Guest PC which are for PPC architecture but be aware with your machine specs Windows will run very slowly.

Cheers

Hugh

Thanks, I've installed virtual pc and that works on my mac but I need to install windows, any idea which version will work best on my mac, i'm guessing XP as it was used on pc when my mac was in its hayday. can i just use an xp disk image? i may also have an xp cd from my old pc. any help will be a godsent!! tahnks for your help so far.

BTW i understand windows will run slowley but as long as i can get it to run occasionally to upload music/movies to my iphone i'll be happy (even if i have to leave it going overnight) using my phone as a remote to play my itunes library through wifi would be nice but not necessarily as important. Thanks again.

hugtheslug said:

Sorry to correct, but Parallels / Fusion / Virtualbox won't run on a G4 - they're Intel only.

There are some apps like Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac or Guest PC which are for PPC architecture but be aware with your machine specs Windows will run very slowly.

Cheers

Hugh

Click to expand...

My bad there, didn't think of that, however as the OP has found virtual PC works.
To the OP, you will need XP, as it's the OS currently still supported and you won't get anything later to run at all I reckon. You can install from an image or a disc.

jake25uk said:

I've just bought an iphone 4, got home and my trusty old G4 wont see it, it says i need osx 10.5.8, i'm only on 10.4.11, my processor speed is only 733. from what i can tell i cannot upgrade to 10.5. is there anything i can do, i suppose jailbreaking it will let me bluetooth things to my phone-mac but did'nt wanna do that. any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks Jake

Click to expand...

Think about what you're trying to do...you have an 8-9 year-old Powermac G4 computer...and you're trying to use it with a 2010 4th generation iPhone...you're bound to have issues.

In regards to OS 10.5. Technically Apple says you need a minimum of a 867mhz cpu (you have a 733mhz). If you use this program:

LeopardAssist

...you may be able to install 10.5 on your Powermac G4. Use at your own risk (I personally have not tested it).

- Nick

Would have suggested LeopardAssist but thought it would be frowned upon, have used similar myself on a G4 700 iMac with success.
It would be the best way to go, as the Apple iPhone 4 page states minimum requirements for Windows as XP Service Pack 3, which would be unthinkably slow.
I have trouble running Windows ME through Guest PC on my current iMac, a G4 1.25ghz

Cheers

Hugh

hugtheslug said:

Would have suggested LeopardAssist but thought it would be frowned upon, have used similar myself on a G4 700 iMac with success.

Click to expand...

I think that it's ok...I've seen it mentioned before.

- Nick

Thanks, I'll see how i get on with vpc then try leopard assist if thats no good, BTW i have a Leopard disk which is for the G5, will this work on my G4 with leapord assist or will i need a disk for the G4?

Leopard Assist is not an illegal utility at all and can be discussed. I used it to get 10.5 Leopard on my 733 G4 Quicksilver. Really wanted to see how Leopard would work on an under specked machine. Not bad for general usage. BTW I own a Family Pack of 10.5 and have 5 licenses.

Is this Leopard DVD a Black Retail DVD? No G5 ever came with Leopard. Tiger was the last OS that was shipped with a G5. Where did your 10.5 DVD come from? If it is a retail 10.5 DVD (Black) you can use it but if it's a single license version, you can only install it on one machine at a time. Just a note.

Given the low prices of used machines that can run at least Leopard, did nobody besides me think to suggest to the OP that it's well past time they got a new(er) machine?

Hint to the OP: Your problem with the iPhone 4 (which could have been avoided if you'd read the box, btw) is the handwriting on the wall ... if you don't upgrade a little more often, you're going to run into this problem again. And again. And again ...

The OP did not ask about a new machine though. He asked a question which was answered.

I agree an Intel Mac would be better, but there are some who simply can't afford one but love OSX.

I have a 2 grey retail disks which i was given which i am told is 10.5, i would love to upgrade my mac but my wife n kids want a pc laptop and i still want to keep a mac does everything i want apart from work with this iphone, i know a pc laptop will work with my iphone but as all my music etc is on the mac and its connected to my home stereo system it would be nice to be able to use it with the iphone. btw i have read up on leopard assist and one review says the dvd player and vlc wont work properly on a quicksilver g4 running leopard, is this true?? when i get a chance i'll try using virtual pc on it. thanks for all the help n i'll report back when i have tried.

have just checked n the person who lent me the disk gave me the wrong disk anyway!! its 10.3! he has 10.5 retail disk so i'll get thet if need be.

The 2 Gray DVD/CD's are not retail at all. The Gray discs come with a new Mac and are very model specific. You need a Black Retail 10.5 DVD. And if the Gray discs are 10.3, that would be a serious downgrade.

On the DVD player in 10.5, they fixed an Interlace issue that a lot of people used to complain about in 10.4 and before. To work properly it really needs a G5 or faster (Intel). It's useable on my G4 with 1.8Ghz CPU but might have issues on a 733 Quicksilver. VLC should be ok though. I will try a DVD with both VLC and DVD Player on my stock 733 and get back to you.

Thanks

jake25uk said:

Thanks, I've installed virtual pc and that works on my mac but I need to install windows, any idea which version will work best on my mac, i'm guessing XP as it was used on pc when my mac was in its hayday. can i just use an xp disk image? i may also have an xp cd from my old pc. any help will be a godsent!! tahnks for your help so far.

Click to expand...

BTW i understand windows will run slowley but as long as i can get it to run occasionally to upload music/movies to my iphone i'll be happy (even if i have to leave it going overnight) using my phone as a remote to play my itunes library through wifi would be nice but not necessarily as important. Thanks again.
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