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Hi, Guys,

I have just switched to Mac, with a Power Mc G5 - the biggest computer I have ever had - the thing is huge. But cheap - got it used, to test the water, so to speak. I am completely ignorant of all mac knowledge - don't know a thing about them, but am hoping that it is better in any way than the PC that I suspect will kill me by stroke one day.

So far I have figured out how to get my usb mouse to work how I expected it to, and how to make the keyboard work - the G5 came with nothing but a powercord, so I am using the usb keyboard and mouse from my pc.

I would very much appreciate suggestions for making my Mac experience better, so please comment. ;)
 

pigoo3

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I would very much appreciate suggestions for making my Mac experience better, so please comment. ;)

Welcome to Mac-Forums.:)

It would probably be easier...if you asked specific questions. Then we have something to focus on.

- Nick
 
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First, don't expect it to be your Windows PC
Second, Keep in mind that the computer is not new
Third, Upgrade to 10.5 soonish it's the closes to it's 2 soon to be three successors
Fourth, Flash sucks and you need a hack to make it work with anything contemporary.
Fifth, Old Version Downloads - OldApps for Mac is your friend
Sixth, I love PowerPC more than is rational, but the user experience of a new Mac is worlds different than an older one.
 

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As a former G5 owner I can tell you that the blast of hot air coming out of the rear fan is wonderful in winter .lol

Seriously, those were great machines. Feel free to ask any questions that come to mind.
 
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chas_m

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I hope you enjoy your experience, but Germany_chris's statement "it's not new" is a severe understatement. Even if you got the last G5 that ever rolled off the production line, it's six years old now and may be considerably older than that (they were made between 2003 and 2006). That's at least two product cycles ago in production Mac terms.

If you want to get anything remotely like the current experience, you'll want to increase the RAM, add an SSD (or at least a fast HD) and upgrade to Leopard (10.5.8).
 
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I have Leopard (10.58.8) ram is 4 GB, and have a new HD. It seems great, but next year I will be replacing it with the latest version.
 
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I tried to download Firefox, and then Opera, and both of these, though for mac, would not run, giving the message "You can't run the application "Firefox" because it is not supported on this architecture."

The same message is displayed for Opera, and the logitech trackball software. Any ideas why, and tips to find a solution?

Thanks.
 

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I think what is happening is that you have downloaded the versions for Intel Macs. When searching for software make sure to grab items identified as PowerPC, PPC, or Universal Binary. The Universal binaries have code for both Power PC and Intel Macs and will install the correct version as needed.

Mozilla Firefox Web Browser - Easy upgrading from 3.6 I think this is the last Firefox version that runs on your system.

http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/ This is a Firefox alternative that you might like.

I think this is the correct link for Opera. http://arc.opera.com/snapshot/mac/Opera_10.70_9034.dmg
 
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Thank you for the links - I am now running the TenFourFox, with the favorite ext and themes.
 
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Anyone know of a logitech old version that will allow me to configure my trackball on the G5? None of the sites I found had any non x86 versions.
 

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The Logitech one you are going to have to search for. I ran the Logitech driver on my G5 iMac so I know there was one. Let me see what I can find and will get back to you.
 

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Glad I could help. This was the first I had heard of that browser. I always ran Safari.

Can't believe I forgot to look for the Logitech driver. That driver might have been called Logitech Control Center.
 
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Glad I could help. This was the first I had heard of that browser. I always ran Safari.

Can't believe I forgot to look for the Logitech driver. That driver might have been called Logitech Control Center.

IMHO TenFourFox doesn't run as well as Safari but I download and use it too support the dev.
 

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I've always used Safari unless some site demands otherwise. Which happens less often now that you can change the identity. I used to keep whatever version of Firefox was current around for emergencies but I've never really like the FF interface.
 
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I am using safari for my YouTube viewing, as it works, whereas the TenFourFox does not, particularly when I clicked on the link does the beta thing.. It didn't work at all, froze and got me frustrated for a while, but it was survivable.

I am having no luck with the logitech driver - it would be nice to have the functionality, but I am not going quibble over it - the G5 is too much fun to worry about a mouse driver.
 

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What did you want the Logitech mouse to do? You can set up the buttons in OSX for Expose and Dashboard and other things without that Logitech panel. If you need help ask away. I stopped using the Logitech software after 10.5 came out as I could assign the buttons I wanted right in OSX.
 

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If I remember correctly some G5 owners had an issue with some of the Logitech driver software. You might want to check out SteerMouse

According to the download page it supports OS versions 10.4 and above. It does not say whether the current versions supports the G5 but I know some of the earlier versions did as they came out before the switch to Intel chips.

The site also has a support e-mail where you could contact them about which version you need and whether it works with your device.
 

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