Using a 1999 Power Mac G4 in 2020

Fasthosts Techie Test competition is now closed! Learn more about Fasthosts here: www.fasthosts.co.uk/danwood
I take a nostalgic look back at the Apple Power Mac G4. The history of the machine and a look back at the roots of MacOS X, the transition from NeXT and some classic OS9 applications and games!
My retro gaming podcast: theretrohour.com
My Twitter: / danwood_uk
My Facebook: / danwooduk
Sources in this video:
Steve Jobs: OS 9 and OS X Preview - Apple WWDC 1999: • Steve Jobs: OS 9 and O...
Macworld 1999: Apple introduces new and colored Power Mac G3: • Macworld 1999: Apple i...
Power Macintosh G4 Introduction (Paris 2000): • Video
The Computer Chronicles - The Macintosh Computer (1985): • The Computer Chronicle...
The Computer Chronicles - Mac Update (1998): • The Computer Chronicle...
Steve Jobs WWDC 2002 - Death Of Mac OS 9: • Video
Legally Blonde (2001) - I'll show you how valuable Elle Woods can be: • Legally Blonde (2001) ...
Apple PowerMac G4 Commercial - Super Computer (Tanks): • Video
#retrogaming #retrocomputing #apple

[@blakestone75]

Apples incompetence at designing mice is absolutely legendary.

[@jeremykothe2847]

That particular mouse... the designer must have drawn it but never actually used it. "Looks good!"

[@stevenp6761]

Magic mouse is insanely good

[@msciachero]

@@stevenp6761 Except that you cannot use it when you charge it

[@Mattia_22]

Magic mouse 1 buttons are hard af

[@wendysremix]

Steven Magic mouse is good if you have baby hands

[@marshal7969]

Imagine in 20 years from now, "Using an ryzen 3950x in 2040"

[@MegaManNeo]

"16 cores and 32threads? Oof... We were so poor in 2020"

[@Tore_Lund]

@@MegaManNeo "WTF, That's like my phone, but only with a 2D display?"

[@elenchus]

and Intel will still be trying to overclock a processor they designed in 2008 and requiring a new motherboard for it

[@lodestarlondon8850]

remind me in 20 years!

[@danieltanuwijaya7675]

"Actually, this is kind of usable today, just don't expect to do anything heavy."

[@ct1660]

Actually, the gigabit ethernet model is called “Mystic”. The “Sawtooth” model was the first revision with AGP graphics, but unlike “Mystic”, it did not have gigabit ethernet or ADC support.

[@TheFakeVIP]

Seriously, this video and channel are rediculously and criminally underrated! The production quality of this video is amazing. A great overview of this legendary machine.

[@AutistCat]

I'm so happy to see more posts from you, just wanted to express my love. I subscribed because I'm already a Retro Hour fan and you're an incredible presenter.

[@Kenny-bw2cz]

You upped your game on this video sir. Great and interesting content!!! I wanted to see the first macosx in action but you topped that by showing us stuff I had never seen like the server! I would like to see more of this type of videos for sure. Great work Dan!

[@andrewclegg9501]

Got a B&W G3 the month after they were released to replace my A4000 as my daily driver, upgraded it with a G4 processor later. Got a Voodoo 5 for it when PC world were practically giving them away, best Unreal Tournament machine ever. Later I bought the rereleased 1.25 MDD which was the last model to dual boot. Then a G5, and then a mid-2011 iMac, upgraded with a SSD, still snappy enough for me. Couple of years ago I picked up a FW800 dual 1.42 MDD, and used the hacked version of OS9 so it dual boots OS9, Tiger. The onboard audio has failed and I fitted a 2 quid USB audio dongle internally, and amazingly it also works in OS9. Of all those machines the 2 I wish I still had are the A4000, and the Voodoo B&W with G4.

[@studiokadaver]

Dan I have the “YIKES!” Model. I still love the tiger/ 9 combo. I agree 9 is a great system & totally with you on using old software.

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

What a beautiful machine, it was my first Mac too, I was so excited when my friend bought it for me! Before then Macs were so mysterious!

[@NeonEUC]

Brilliant day today dan. New podcast and new video. Love these rare treats that comes along at the same time 😀😀

[@bencekiss4693]

Thank you! This was a really handy and informative video! I’ve just bought a PowerMac G4 for $47. I love old Macs. It’s really good to see how far technology has come since the late 90’s.

[@inwork1]

11:20 Agreed, still using Office 2007 to this very day :)

[@detechie]

@@Lothairecliquennois I use Office 10

[@amnottabs]

office 2010 here, if weren't for how bad 2003 handles .dotx format I wonder for how long I could've used it

[@1tristan247]

i use MS Office XP with FrontPage on Win 10

[@jnel4238]

I've got MS 365 from school, but bcs all teachers can see my Office account, i've still use to this day Office 2003 with FrontPath and Visio 2003!

[@Handskemager]

I have one of these in storage atm, 2x 800 MHz, love it, so fun to play with! Really hoping my daughters will like it when they get older.

[@NicksLocker]

i love the nostalgia so much! Nothing compares to late 90's/early 2000's apple computers. This video was so cool to watch. I feel like the only thing stopping me from using my ancient old macs for my office documents, which is what i basically do all day, is that everything i have is saved in google drive and it's hard for these computers to access my google drive folder. if at least tiger or leopard could then yeah sure that would help. they were so ahead of the game with the software virtualization, the dock and kind of the interface of the mac desktop...

[@SandyDiVa]

This brought back so many great memories of college! I miss OWNING apps instead of having to be bled monthly by these greedy corporate aholes. CS2 was the last version of the adobe suite i owned. I now use alternative apps that i can still pay for (like ArtStudio on my ipad) because i refuse to pay Adobe for photoshop every single month. Thanks for sharing!

[@TheCoachZed]

Seconded. I bought one of these about a decade after they came out, and used it for a lot of freelance work in my mid-20s. Built a career off a NOS copy of InDesign 2.0 that I bought off eBay. Those days are long gone now....

[@j.m.7580]

A great video here - love so many things about the PowerMac G4 series from the design to how functional they continue to be. They make great platforms for OS 9 - mine is a Quicksilver G4 that I’ve managed to pair up with a later Studio flat panel, the Pro Speakers and even the venerable iSub which I had stashed away all these years. There is a lot to be said for all that swoopy clear-plastic. Sound quality is really lovely too.

[@bobfromsoireegames4309]

Amazing video Dan. Goes to show there's more to Dan than fantastic voice and rugged looks!

[@Vanessaira-Retro]

Thank you for doing more videos again Dan.

[@mrt.7146]

Great video Dan, thanks!

[@_chipchip]

Great video mate. Big trip down memory lane too! Just in the process of acquiring my mates g5 with dual procs... 😄

[@rwdplz1]

I drooled over these in magazines when they came out, and finally got one in college in 2008, a 'Digital Audio' Server with dual processors. Maxed out the RAM, added a large IDE hard drive and DVD burner, and a NOS zip drive kit, and a USB 2.0 PCI card. It was still very usable in the late 00's, and still works today if a bit slow.

[@w0rdsandstuff]

incredible video. i just picked up a g4 for a very good price. i learned a lot, thank you so much.

[@DesignerSlashGamerPlays]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I just picked up a Mac Pro 5,1 that I’m gonna restore 😃

[@theblubus]

So excited for this video. [Looks down at my Powermac G4 and smiles] I have mine tied into my home network so I can mount software images directly off the network and enjoy all the retro mac gaming goodness

[@BollingHolt]

Nice! I actually just fired mine up last weekend. A friend rescued it from a trash pile for me late last year. Zip drive still works and everything ;)

[@funnbuntv]

Salutations from Minnesota! What a fantastic Channel yeah! great video I was considering purchasing one of these to tinker with as I have never worked on macs only pcs thax this was usefull to know about some of the software usability.

[@shaunhall6834]

I love these deep dives in hardware and software. My first computer was the Sinclair ZX81.

[@WiBitnet]

I'm not in the UK. But the answer to your question is the 3DO. Also, I have a few of these. They are awesome! You can put Linux on them and use them as a web server. A few years ago I did a job for a company and they had a "server room" where they had about 200 of these running Linux. When I asked about it they said that, they were cheap to find and did the job. So, there are some shoe string companies that actually run on these.

[@backmaskmetal]

My absolute favorite Mac of all time. That era was so incredible.

[@rars0n]

I love the power of the G5, but the case design of the G4 absolutely destroys it. The G5 is an absolute pain in the ass to work on, and honestly the G4 is better in every way. It looks cooler, it's a bit lighter, the handles are way easier on your hands, etc.

[@Davehaha2001]

I like how you explain your wallpaper situation 😂 looks good

[@sonsofblades]

I used a G4 Digital Audio. Such a wonderful machine. Makes me want to go hunt another one down.

[@bryo4321]

So weird, instantly recognized your voice from the podcast. Thanks algorithm! lol

[@Smithscout]

I have one of these running at 1.8ghz as it has a Sonnet Encore ST processor upgrade in it and its running Mac OSX 10.4.11 .Great video Dan

[@kitsunemetal]

The powermac series is really well made and it still holds up really well in terms of software.

[@jamesburke2759]

The G4 sticks in my mind the most as it was my own first modern PC as a 14 year old in 2002. Picked up 2 at a garage sale for $100 and apple actually helped me to fix it with free advice from my local store.

[@be236]

Ah.. this brings back memories of the older years with these Macs and OSes.

[@lactobacillusprime]

I have a similar one. A digital sawtooth G4. This and my iMac Snow will be in my possession as long as I can.

[@Surferchicusa]

When I took classes at CompuServe, prior to becoming a Certified Apple Tech, this was the machine I learned to take apart & rebuild. The design made it sooooooo easy to work on! Nowadays I refrain from taking apart anything newer than 2014-2015 …. Apple took the fun out of working on them and amplified the frustration.

[@secretlycanine]

your wallpaper is beautiful - don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

[@nonsensicalfox]

"you can pick them up for almost free" That was true until recently, I bought one at a garage sale for $20 last year, earlier this year I sold it on ebay for $200. Absolutely insane, idk what popular KZbinr mentioned the G4 to spike the price so much, but it helped me pay my rent so I guess I appreciate it, shame I can't get another one though

[@mechamania]

Keep hitting garage sales, if you haven’t been. Some folks check eBay, to price their stuff, but I picked up a 20”, .1ms, 16:9 Toshiba monitor, for fitty cent, last summer...

[@rars0n]

I've got a couple PowerMacs sitting around my house, I think one is a G3 and the other is a G4. I also have a dual CPU PowerMac G5 (pretty sweet machine) and a G5 iMac that I've yet to even turn on. I've also got one of the black Macbooks running Snow Leopard and a 2011 11" Macbook Air on High Sierra that I often use in bed for watching Bob's Burgers (my girlfriend falls asleep to that show every night). I didn't pay anything for any of these machines. Up until last year I had been working at a local computer repair shop and we'd often get computers brought in to recycle or occasionally someone would just abandon a computer and never pick it back up again. It became a fairly regular occurrence that I'd see hardware I liked too much to let it get shredded so I'd just take it home. I used the G5 PowerMac for a bit a while back after setting it all up with Tiger (on an SSD!), and I gotta say I kinda really like that machine, although its power supply makes loud screeching sounds (coil whine), and surfing the internet was pretty difficult with TenFourFox. It also generated a lot of heat. I do intend to use that machine for something, I might even try Linux on it. The G4 PowerMac I only booted up for a fairly brief period of time. It has OS 9 on it. I have to say that I really like the aesthetics of older Mac operating systems. I find it a little frustrating when I have to learn the earlier OS quirks, but it just takes a little adjustment. I'm NOT a Mac guy at all, and until about 4 years ago I steered clear of them completely. It wasn't until I realized that I needed to start repairing them that I really started learning about the OS and became familiar with it. The earlier Mac OSes, especially OS 9, feel more direct and less bloated, while the newer ones generally look nicer, but it doesn't really add to the user experience. In a lot of ways I like OS 9 more than OS X. Tiger and Snow Leopard both have their strong points though, and I feel like Sierra was the modern equivalent of those two, albeit it's far more feature-bloated than any of them. Tiger might be my favorite just because it's a PowerPC Mac OS X with the ability to run OS 9 software in Classic Mode. I really think this was the pinnacle of Apple as a company making genuinely good machines for pro users: OS 9 still has a lot of great, useful software for it but Tiger can run even newer software that takes advantage of the more powerful hardware. Tiger will be what I put on the G5 iMac. There's also a free G3 iMac at my current job, a green one with early specs, I think it's 333 MHz? It's such a cute little machine, I can't help but save it from scrap. I WILL find a use for it! These old machines are just too nice to throw away. Again, I'm not an Apple guy but I've come around to love some of the old hardware designs and the old operating systems. It's hard to go wrong with a G4 PowerMac, too. The case design alone is brilliant, and unlike the G5 it's super easy to work on (I have another, clean power supply for the G5 PowerMac, but in order to replace it I have to remove the entire motherboard and everything attached to it and I'm just not willing to do that yet). I also have one of the 17" Apple Studio Display CRT monitors, the last CRT they made in the series with the clear chassis. Another freebie I saved from the dump. It looks really nice, but takes up a lot of space, so it's been sitting on the floor since I got it. The best part about these machines wasn't surfing the internet, but the huge amount of quality software, especially in the professional realm, that they ran, and they still can run that same software. There's also a lot of legacy hardware that is still useful, stuff like Firewire audio interfaces which aren't even supported at all on modern operating systems but work great on older ones (you can bet I'm going to be using at least a couple of these machines for making music). What was industry standard 20 years ago is now available for practically nothing. You can't ignore that.

[@bgimusic]

such a good video!!

[@opensourceisnotcommunism4639]

Thanks a lot for sharing this valuable info! I have been playing around with AmigaForever for quite some time and have started delving deeper into the MorphOS topic! I would appreciate seeing more videos on MorphOS capabilities on a G4 system! I am seriously thinking about purchasing a G4 on eBay, incl. a legal license of MorphOS.

[@jamesdecross1035]

Loved exploring the early versions of Mac OSX, back in the day.

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

I love the system, and the wallpaper!

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

The Cinema Display, Harmon Kardon speakers, sweet!

[@MegaManNeo]

Here in Germany, we have never been all that much into Apple computers on a large scale. But I always loved the iMac G3 myself. Also while their single button mice felt weird to me when trying it at stores, I have always been fan of the idea to hook up the mouse through the keyboard. These days, I know only of the Raspberry Pi 4 keyboard that could do same.

[@akaimagez]

I still run OS9.2 on an iMac G5 with Photoshop 5.0 and Kai's Power Tools. Awesome and so retro. The Sawtooth was great. I had about 5 of them.

[@caseytwill]

I had a Dual 533MHz Power Mac G4 with a 17" Studio Display with the ADC connector. Used it as my main computer for almost 10 years and then used it as a server for another 10 years. Sold it a month ago in a yard sale for $100. Absolutely fantastic computer!

[@turbolenza35]

excellent video

[@chrisridenhour]

I had the predecessor of this, the beige G3 with OS9. That was a game changer at the time.

[@FloppydriveMaestro]

I love the case on these. Best case design in years.

[@TheGamingCircle]

I love the wallpaper, reminds me of them glorious days:-))

[@patchso]

I think I might be the only person in the world who actually liked the 'hockey puck' mouse!

[@steve293]

HATED THAT THING. IT WAS THE DEVIL! 👿👿

[@MechaFenris]

I had one of these (mine was a 733mhz). I got it when they first put out the Mirrored Drive Door versions, IIRC. (I got it on sale at CompUSA). I bought it solely for Mac OS X. I had to send off for 10.0.4. :) I loved it... and it was still working when I relegated it to a file server :)

[@simonj48]

I got my first mac (and all in one performa) running system 7 and it reminded me a heck of a lot of the amiga workbench. My school used Windows so that was the end of that for me. However, for those who want to try Mac OS 9 in an emulator on their PC, look into SheepShaver. Plenty of videos on youtube on how to set it up. Unfortunately there is little in the way of support for OpenGL, so you're pretty much stuck with running applications, or (much) older game.

[@flibblesan]

How well does MorphOS run on that G4?

[@RasVoja]

Fast enough, 128mb min, 256-512mb ram optional, max 1.5gb

[@johncate9541]

I dated a woman in the early 2000s who was a college student and had a Sawtooth G4. She still has it today and starts it up occasionally to access programs she used back then. I put a bunch of customizations into her OS 9.1 back in the day, and when I saw the machine last year, everything I had done was still on there. She's still using the same OS installation that she was 19 years ago.

[@protocetid]

I miss translucent electronics and you're right Aqua still looks gorgeous. Probably naive of me to have some hope those hardware and software design cues make a return. Have seen cases with partially see through colored plastic, but it's never for modern PCs.

[@mechamania]

You should write Apple. If they do it, again, then every electronics manufacturer will do it, again, iToo...

[@protocetid]

@@mechamania Apple hasn’t been innovative in ages, not even in the area they used to place great importance: aesthetics. They’re a dominant megacorp largely resting on their laurels (yes I know there a small amount of exceptions) because consumers prefer overpaying for a brand name over having healthy markets.

[@ripp3rjak934]

I remember my first Dell pc. Man that thing opened up a whole new world to me. Spent a lot of my time reading on wiki, KZbin and new ground games. Plus Habbo Hotel lmao

[@markwilkinson294]

Maybe I missed it in the video, but how do you run 68K era software in Mac OS 9?

[@zincChameleon]

I am using the same machine running Kubuntu Linux 12.04 and all the software works, but it is slow, as slow as an Apple IIe. Is that because Linux is running on virtual machine, rather than making direct calls to the hardware?

[@stevew8513]

I really loved Mac OS 8 and 9. I really knew how to get under the hood and keep everything running smoothly. I loved some of the third-party user interface stuff, like Kineticon (great for making animated icons for folders), and Kaleidoscope (crazy GUI alterations promised with OS 8 Copland but never delivered). And there were a decent amount of games made for the Mac back then, I had loads of them. Good times.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

That was an awesome machine in its day. I still have mine. You can also replace the hard drive with a modern ATA DOM.

[@xnonsuchx]

I still have a G4 Mac mini (1.42GHz/1GB RAM/Radeon 9200 AGP 4x vid) on my desk running OS X 10.4 Tiger w/ Classic Environment and Debian 8

[@cytro]

Ayee I used to have this PC! We used to play UT GOTY, Quake III and Marble Blast on my G4 533mhz, until the system corrupted and i didn't get around to fixing it. Eventually gave it away to a techy friend who is going to use the case to put a gaming PC in it.

[@kaiMurchison]

Could I use the mac psu and hard drive in a modern build ??

[@arti040]

Got it too! It's my primary retro-3D-game machine. Running MorphOS, obviously :D

[@005AGIMA]

Is this the same era as the lamp stand iMac Dan? I ask as I was recently given one and I'm trying to figure out where it fits lol. It's my first Mac. Until now I've claimed I have an allergy against Macs lol.

[@harrietjahr-philips1879]

Does anyone know what I need exactly to add AirPort card for wifi connection on Power Mac G4 (mine has 2 hard drives ..OS 9 and OS 10)...Ill have to download Gassilla if I get internet to work

[@mohamadabdaala5917]

In the computer mac5 os8.6 What is the reason not to enter the system (appears on the question mark and Mac face)

[@alex09384]

OMG! I totally forgot about that burial shenanigan, at the mac press show. haha

[@foxyloon]

On, neat! I'm currently playing around with an old Sawtooth G4 that I upgraded with a motherboard from a Mystic machine. It's currently running Mac OS 9.22 and Tiger 10.4.11, but it chugs with the latter OS. I've learned that the upgraded third party processors for these machines are made of unobtainium nowadays, going for "collectors" pricing on eBay when they show up for sale.

[@RCTUN748]

My first computer is Power Mac G4-400, I love it.

[@guspaz]

A convenient way to play 68K and PPC classic Mac OS games is a Mac Mini G4. The community has gotten OS 9 running on it with bootable install ISOs pre-prepared, and while there are still a few caveats (ex: can't adjust volume, which is stuck at line-level, so powered speakers are required), the compact nature and the modern connectivity (USB, ethernet, HDMI and VGA via DVI-I) make it a pretty neat way to get some retro gaming on your desk.

[@basspig]

I remember installing a whole bunch of these in the broadcast Studios of a major University radio station in the Northeast how about some 21 or 22 years ago.

[@dgurevich1]

Does anyone know how to adapt an ATX power supply to this mac's motherboard? I got a graphics card upgrade and the 120 watt PSU can't handle it.

[@Valientlink]

i'm trying so hard to get my G3 to boot up, the screen keeps flashing off :(

[@defektfilms]

I had a Dual processor 450Mhz machine, it was a beast at that time. Further I upgraded the processor to a Gigadesigns dual 1,8Ghz and the ATI Rage to a ATI Radeon 9800. I had it running until the power supply blew up about 9 years later.

[@wanderingfool6312]

Yes I remember the G4 was quite a step up from the performa 5200 I had been working on.

[@alexflores7652]

I'm still rocking an iMac G3 400 running Mac OS 10.3.9 Panther. It still boots up and chime so long as I can get my hands on Pram Batteries. I've got about 13GB of music but need a new mouse to get things on it.

[@Plasmacore_V]

We had these in the high school computer graphics lab. When we updated them to OS X many of them got corrupted, to this day the only computers I've seen that have done this.

[@Isthatchicken01]

I really love the powermac g4 towers, I just built a sleeper gaming pc out of one of the sawtooth cases.

[@jamesdecross1035]

I like the pebble-mouse! It has a track ball, so it works on all worktops, unlike the optical light.

[@TheFlyingScotsmanTV]

I used one of those for a year in Soho - developing WebObjects software as a contractor back in 2000. All on OSX Server which was out then . As I'd been working on NeXSTSTEP and OpenStep for the last 6 years if was all pretty much the same to me. I had to go into OS8 for a proper browser as at the time omniweb was pretty bad.

[@allan.n.7227]

Thanks for uploading.. PS: Meguiars ScratchX 2.0 works really really well on these PowerMac G4s and G4 Cubes.. I know this as I happened to get a 4 HDD, dual cpu Power Mac with studio display along with a Imac Mini and it needed some love as did my Cube.. I really like this machine even though I didn't use one back in the day..

[@BlackfireProductionsmusic]

Thanks just needed to feel ok about throwing mine out lol

[@victoriabydrone120]

Where do you get those old games from??

[@Roberto_79]

I had a 1999 G4 dual 800 with 23” cinema screen. It ran OS 9.2 and..... OS X. I saw it in a computer shop and immediately fell in love with it I spent just short of £2000 on it And also got the Karman Hardon speakers and Subwoofer. I ran it for 11 yrs until the connector for the monitor frayed and died and the machine was unable to be upgraded as Apple switched to Intel chips. My big mistake was replacing it with an iMac rather than a G5 power Mac. Now on my eight-year-old iMac is in need of replacement and I am looking at building a Hackintosh as £6000 for the new Power Mac is ridiculous!! I never used it for gaming but bought my first DV camcorder are use that to produce and create DVDs of my skiing holidays with my mates. I miss those days greatly as I find my current iMac system not as user-friendly as back then

[@pkf4124]

I have a last run Quicksilver, such an iconic case design. Ripe for Morphos, but runs OSX quite well.

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

I had one of these, the new "Aqua Interface" was "Insanely great!"

[@mccrh7737]

[@noelohashirodriguez]

I miss it! And it's Platinum Sounds!

[@realStefanLowe]

Cool Vid! Still have a Mac Mini G4 (2005)

[@EvLoutonian]

very cool!

[@10minGameplay1]

Have a silver G4 as a foot stool under my desk. Quite a lot of years since I used it but remember it being annoyingly loud.

[@dwayne_dibley]

I recently acquired both an IMac G5 and a PowerMac G5 2.3DP with the sole purpose of reducing the amount I pay Adobe each month. I do have to wonder how much more electricity I’m using though over the course of a few years.

[@stephanemignot100]

Nice tribute to Lars... ^^ I've just bought a 1.25ghz eMac, best buy ever!

[@ethicalcompanies]

I always wanted one of those big old Macs. Maybe I should go see if I can grab one on eBay now they're cheaper.

[@philipproedig]

Did you try MorphOS as well?