Uses for G5 Mac Tower?

[J-Golden]

My college is selling off Mac G5 towers for $175.  Is there anything cool I could do with one or two of them?  Specificly, are there any OSs that I can install onto them?

[save2600]

What are their speeds? G5's came in 1.6ghz + models and some even have dual or quad cores. I'd guess they're the lower models though, maybe 1.8-2ghz if you're lucky and it that's the case, I'd recommend Tiger (10.4.11) run on it. Leopard (10.5) SUCKS on a G5 - avoid at all costs. All the software fixes and patches released (called Snow Leopard) do not work on a PowerMac    

Great system and price btw! If I didn't already have a nice G5 that I use as my main system, I'd surely want to snag one up.

Sure be nice to use MorphOS on my iMac G5, but I guess that's not in their plans.  

[Hell Labs]

My college is selling off Mac G5 towers for $175.  Is there anything cool I could do with one or two of them?  Specificly, are there any OSs that I can install onto them?

It already has the best one around on it. Well, atleast the best unix.

[beller]

I'm still using a twin G5 1.8 mhz PowerMac that I bought new in 2004.  I'm not pushing the envelope but it's plenty for most tasks.  However, Apple quit providing support for the G5 in their latest OSX.  I'm stuck with 10.5.8....

For $175 it would make a great server....

[mindprober]

Is your college selling to the public?

[Karlos]

It already has the best one around on it. Well, atleast the best unix.

:roflmao:

The only present-day OS in the world that requires Objective C.

*snigger*

(actually, it isn't that bad. ObjC's runtime binding is quite nice)

[tone007]

You can use them to alert the internets!

[BlackMonk]

My college is selling off Mac G5 towers for $175.  Is there anything cool I could do with one or two of them?  Specificly, are there any OSs that I can install onto them?

http://www.lowendmac.com/deals/best-power-mac-g5-prices.html

There's some prices from around the 'net along with a rating for reliability.  Even the cheapest is $100 more than what you're lookin' at.  If anything, you may be able to look on eBay or Craigslist and see if you can resell them at a profit if that's your thing.

[BlackMonk]

Leopard (10.5) SUCKS on a G5 - avoid at all costs. All the software fixes and patches released (called Snow Leopard) do not work on a PowerMac    

I don't understand this at all.  Leopard runs fine on my 1.25 GHz G4 with 1.75 GB of RAM.  How does it run worse on what would undoubtably be better hardware?  I mean, you have a better memory subsystem, automatically it'll have a better video card, and I think all models support SATA which will give a little boost over older models that sport only IDE.

Snow Leopard (10.6) isn't really "software fixes and patches".  That's what 10.5.1, 10.5.2, 10.5.3, etc. are.  10.5.8 was released in August of 2009 so it's not like 10.5 is an abandoned platform.  Certainly Tiger (10.4) is far closer to being on its way out from mainstream support for Apple.  And 10.5 was when Apple pretty much solidified their APIs--before then, 10.4, 10.3, 10.2, that stuff was in flux so programs written for one version of the OS might not work on a later one.  I'd think 10.5 would be a better bet in that regard.

10.6 is smaller because Apple ditched the "fat" binaries and PPC support.  There's some multi-core performance tweaking, too, which I suppose would have been useful to a quad-core G5 but probably not much of a gain for dual-core G5's and G4's.  10.6 is not a "fix" of 10.5.  The many updates and patches for 10.5 are.  10.6 is more of a performance and finetuning update.

Maybe you had bad luck with 10.5 on your G5, I dunno.  But I haven't really seen much backlash about Leopard on that platform and just wanted to clarify lest other people reading this think that 10.5 is completely buggered on the G5 platform.  

[save2600]

I know a few G5 users that feel the same way I do about Leopard. The performance hit you take running it is not worth the hassle. If you're saying it's "fine" on a G4, then my guess is that you're not noticing the hit as much or are into some of the features it offers to care. I had ALL of the updates and patches for Leopard and was starting to really hate my iMac. Didn't take me long to realize why. The OS had everything to do with that. It's super-sluggish compared to previous versions.

Same with the latest iTunes (version 9). I went back to a previous version because of it's horribly sluggish feel. Have you not noticed that? There's some major performance issues there now, especially with the iTunes store. It's as if the program was completely re-written in Flash or something. Scrolling through music was akin to bathing in molasses on my computer.  lol

Not saying Leopard is completely buggered, just seems unnecessarily bloated to me. I have been told by other users that Snow Leopard did indeed address some of that bloated feel. And they're completely aware of the difference between PPC and Intel as many hardcore Mac users have multiple machines. This particular friend though noticed a speed increase on his Intel machine going from Leopard to Snow - and I believe him.

I stand by my opinion that Leopard on a single core G5 sucks and am not the only one that feels this way.  

[save2600]

BTW: I'm surprised nobody here has mentioned using a G5 tower as a door stop! :lol:

Before someone does, I just snapped a picture of a proper doorstop (and yes, I really do use it as one)...  lol

[Speelgoedmannetje]

:roflmao:

The only present-day OS in the world that requires Objective C.

*snigger*

(actually, it isn't that bad. ObjC's runtime binding is quite nice)

I just wanted to say something about this, mister PHP

[Karlos]

I just wanted to say something about this, mister PHP

That's Mr C/C++ to you; I only write PHP code to pay the bills

[Nlandas]

My college is selling off Mac G5 towers for $175.  Is there anything cool I could do with one or two of them?  Specificly, are there any OSs that I can install onto them?

We use them for the following.....

#5 - Car garge stop marker - Helps keep the Mrs. from running into the back wall.
#4 - Exercise - put one in each hand and lift and lift, just be sure not the strain your back
#3 - Mac in Toss competition - who can throw the tower the furthest.
#2 - Doorstops - they are extremely heavy and even strong winds won't move the door.
#1 - Boat anchors - We boat a lot and they really tend to sink and grab onto the bottom of the lake really well.

[ElPolloDiabl]

Unless AmigaOS or MorphOS was going to be ported to it there is no point. Spend your money elsewhere. Get a nice AROS rig set up.