G5 Power PC problems, please help!!

Hi there, my brother has given me an old MAC as he isnt using it anymore. I am new to macs and dont really no what i am doing on them. I have tried to install a number of programs, Steam, Utorrent, origin etc as i use them reguarly for the PC but it wont run them and says that my OSX is not compatable. I have done some research and have found the following out about the mac i have:

Its a mac powerpc G5 tower version
It has OSX 10.4.11 installed which i think is tiger.

Now all i want to do is install utorrent, and update the version of the operating system. I have a dmg file for this purpose and it is "leopard" which i think is next after tiger. My new mac has no cd drive so i cant use cds so have put the .dmg file onto a memory stick and was hoping i could boot off this.

So, is this possible? And what else do i need to do to get utorrent and steam running etc?

Thanks in advance

Nick

Do you have a Mac OS "Leopard" install DVD?

No not anymore,, my brother just gave me this dmg file on a usb stick
..as the mac has no dvd/cd drawer

LoveDon said:

No not anymore,, my brother just gave me this dmg file on a usb stick
..as the mac has no dvd/cd drawer

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info...and yes...I realized from the 1st post that the computer has no optical drive.

Technically speaking...you are supposed to own your own version of the OS you are trying to install (original DVD disk). Since this .dmg file came from a brother's DVD...we may be in a "gray-area". Typically we do not allow discussions of this type on Mac-Forums if it appears someone is trying to install an OS without an original disk(s).

As far as the other programs. You need to find versions that are compatible with the Mac OS version you are trying to install. If they are not available...you are either out of luck...or need to find substitute/alternative programs.

Good luck.

ok, how do i access the bios so i can set to flash drive boot? would be really helpful to now that

LoveDon said:

ok, how do i access the bios so i can set to flash drive boot? would be really helpful to now that

Click to expand...

Just so you know...Mac's don't have "bios".

As far as booting from a USB stick drive on a Powermac G5...two things:

1. I seem to remember that booting from a USB thumbdrive on pre-Intel Macintosh computers (which a Powermac G5 is) is more difficult than it is on "Intel" Mac's.
2. The USB thumb drive must have been setup as a bootable drive...it cannot just have a .dmg file on it.

Here is an article that explains how to boot a pre-Intel Mac from a USB drive:

Boot PowerPC Macs via USB 2.0 drives - Mac OS X Hints

HTH

p.s. It would be MUCH easier to boot the computer from an external hard drive...or from a 2nd internal HD (a Powermac G5 can have 2 internal HD's). Of course these hard drives need to have an OS installed on them to be bootable.

I have to ask, what happened to the CD/DVD drive in the machine?