Tell me about MorphOS

[Tenacious]

I have 4 PPC Macs: G3 Tower, G4 eMac, G4 Quicksilver, and G5 single 1.8 Mhz.  I have been trying to like OS10.4 for a couple of years, now.  It's alright for the most part, but, I have some glaring frustrations with it from time to time.  

I cannot seem to write an ISO (even with tutorials from the net).

It is hit and miss to add commodity hardware to this system.  Some of it kind of works and some doesn't at all.

When exploring new programs or features, the whole finder (not just the process!) can lock up for 30 minutes or indefinitely.  Very annoying for a multitasking machine.

You can probably discern that I'm pretty frustrated right now.  I am impressed with the hardware quality, but, some of Apple's philosophical choices in the OS annoy me.  Other OSes seem to me to be less proprietary, allow multiple ways to get things done, and are much less finicky about hardware add-ons (drives, ports, etc) from other manufacturers.  I'm ready to move on.

So, the reason for this post is to ask seasoned Morph people how it runs on Mac hardware.  It is my hope that my G4, when installed with MorphOS, will not still retain the poorly outlined disappointments above.  What limitations were revealed after trying to live with Morph?

[Matt_H]

First thing to be aware of is that (currently) MorphOS will only run on your G4 Quicksilver and maybe your eMac - depending on which model it is.

Second thing to note is that MorphOS is, at its core, an Amiga. So it has all the pros and cons that come with running an Amiga system. The main advantage is the incredible resource efficiency - you'll get much better performance out of the system under MorphOS than under MacOSX or Linux. The main disadvantage, of course, is a lack of applications. The MorphOS version of OWB, however, is probably the best browser on an Amiga-like platform today. It has a modern rendering engine and a GUI that retains the best features of IBrowse.

Personally, I've found MorphOS to be more stable and to have better 68K compatibility (system friendly programs only, of course) than OS4.

Give it a try - there's a free demo. If you don't like it, you'll be out nothing more than a few hours time and a CD-R. Burn is a good basic CD-burning program for OSX. You'd burn the MorphOS ISO from Burn's "Copy" tab.

[commodorejohn]

I'd recommend giving OS9 a shot on that G3, if you're not that fond of OSX. Classic Mac OS has its own issues, but it's much less resource-intensive, more flexible (OS8-9 don't have quite the amazing third-party system-extension ecosystem that System 7 did, but there's still some interesting things you can do with them,) and seems to me to be more of a coherent, unified system than OSX, which despite its technical merits is basically a Mac-like UI and a custom library selection grafted onto BSD.

[Iggy]

I'd recommend giving OS9 a shot on that G3, if you're not that fond of OSX. Classic Mac OS has its own issues, but it's much less resource-intensive, more flexible (OS8-9 don't have quite the amazing third-party system-extension ecosystem that System 7 did, but there's still some interesting things you can do with them,) and seems to me to be more of a coherent, unified system than OSX, which despite its technical merits is basically a Mac-like UI and a custom library selection grafted onto BSD.

John's answer is the most practical.
Heck, OS9 was so popular that they re-introduced a 1.25 MDD just for people that wanted to run it
.
But I'd try MorphOS on the Quicksilver.
You obviously are familiar with the Amiga.
Load it up and run OWB.

That's the configuration and the software package that hooked me.

[magnetic]

Tenacious

You will love Morphos. Its more stable and compatible than Amiga os4. Better browser too. I cant believe this guy's advice is to run OS9 on your g3 LMAO. Go on Morphzone.org many will help you there and there are good threads on what machines are compatible with morphos.

[commodorejohn]

I cant believe this guy's advice is to run OS9 on your g3 LMAO.

Well it's not like you can run MorphOS on it, unless they dropped their "G4 and up" policy, and OS9 is certainly a better fit for G3 and lower hardware than OSX. 'Sides, who knows? He might like it.

[Tenacious]

Thanks to all for the quick replies.  Sadly, it appears that the eMac is only a 1Ghz model, and not compatible.  The Quicksilver is a 933Mhz 3,5 model (good, right?), but, it has the Nvidia card.  I will have to find another video card.  So, is there a huge performance difference in the various ATI Radians?  How would 3D acceleration benefit an Amiga-like OS?

I have to agree with Commodorejohn & Iggy about the biege G3 tower.  It was a transitional design with ADB but no USB.  Apple seemed to abandon it quickly.  It would run early OSX versions only very slowly.  When I booted into OS 9 alone, OTOH, it was comparitively speedy.  I liked its built in audio/video, especially with Audion.  What other OS option is available for it?

[commodorejohn]

Oh, it's a beige G3? (I figured it was a Blue & White.) Even more reason not to run OSX on it. As for other OSes, there's OS8, which isn't quite as featureful as OS9 but is a good bit lighter and speedier (particularly if you only have < 128MB RAM in it.) Other than that, it's pretty much various Linux/BSD distros; AFAIK the PowerPC BeOS versions never supported G3 or newer Macs.

As for the Quicksilver, here's a tip: if you get an 8x AGP Radeon 9600-9800 intended for a G5 (see here for compatible models; you might also be able to re-flash a PC equivalent, but the Mac ones aren't too difficult to come by,) and you do a simple hack to work around an issue with Apple's proprietary ADC video cards, that's about the most powerful video card you can get in a G4. Serious MorphOS users could better tell you what you'd gain from that, but it seemed to get along with MorphOS when I booted it on my G4.

[magnetic]

Commodorejohn

Ok I see your point. You were trying to have him get use of the g3 so yeah thats good advice. If you want to do soemthing really funky you could install Debian on the G3 and run Mac On linux with OSX! Hahha that was the original intention of the MOL project iirc

For sure run morphos on the g4 you will have tons of fun with it and it will be SUPER FAST.

[nicholas]

Be careful when buying a Mac Radeon.

I bought one from eBay a few years ago and it wouldn't physically fit in either of my G4 towers (Both are MorphOS compatible machines).

[Tenacious]

I'm getting that any compatible ATI Radeon is generations ahead of the performance of my old Picasso IV.  Also, those Apple Radeons originally intended for G4 towers will require NO modifications or flashing to work in my Quicksilver.  And, the 8x AGPs pointed out by Commodorejohn (thanks for the link,   will require no mods or flashing if installed in my G5.

So, what applications or MorphOS features will make use of the those Radeons that offer 3D hardware acceleration?

I find myself looking forward to the MorphOS release that runs on G5.    Anyone heard of a time frame?

[commodorejohn]

Also, those Apple Radeons originally intended for G4 towers will require NO modifications or flashing to work in my Quicksilver.

True, but (provided that MOS can get a significant benefit from the GPU) I'd highly recommend hacking a 9600 or 9800. The hack isn't difficult to perform, and the difference between the 9000 and these is pretty vast, performance-wise. (Had to knock Halo down to 640x480 and medium settings to get a really decent framerate on my G4 with the 9000, whereas it runs well at high settings in 1280x1024 on my 9600.)

[zylesea]

So, the reason for this post is to ask seasoned Morph people how it runs on Mac hardware.  It is my hope that my G4, when installed with MorphOS, will not still retain the poorly outlined disappointments above.  What limitations were revealed after trying to live with Morph?

Read http://via.i-networx.de/wim.htm to get a first impression about MorphOS. Even better: just run it and try out yourself. Demo version is free.

[Iggy]

...their "G4 and up" policy...

Their is no such thing.
G3 Pegasos 1s should work.
And the Efika's processor is sub-G3.

And magnetic's comments are a little off base.
I don't advocate OS9 for the Power mac.
But its not a bad system for the other two.

Definitely about the only thing for the G3.

[commodorejohn]

Their is no such thing.
G3 Pegasos 1s should work.
And the Efika's processor is sub-G3.

As I've been told, those are exceptions because it was already done, but they've said that they don't think G3 Macs are worth the bother...