Member Avatar for myounus17

Hi guys,

I recently bought used Apple machine G4, Specs are:
800 MHz
1 GB SD RAM
80 GB HDD
DVD Drive

The problems is that it does n't has Os installed just an little icon displays.

Anyone can help me on this..from where I can find OS and how can I install on it.

Please...

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by dioioib

Dani AI

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A concise, practical add-on to the thread.

As observed, Power Mac G4 systems use PowerPC CPUs. That Intel-vs-PowerPC distinction noted by is the important piece; however, ’s statement that PowerPC machines can only use 10.4 is incomplete — is correct that many G4s will run Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard while some earlier G4 revisions are limited to 10.4 Tiger. Exact model identification is the deciding factor.

With no OS installed, identify the exact G4 model first (check the label/serial on the case or use Open Firmware on boot with Command-Option-O-F to read hardware info). If another Mac and a FireWire cable are available, FireWire Target Disk Mode (hold T at power-on) is an easy way to mount the G4 drive on the other Mac and install from retail Tiger/Leopard media. Intel-only installers (Snow Leopard 10.6 and later) will not boot on PowerPC hardware.

When running an official installer, use Disk Utility to erase the target disk as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and set the partition scheme to Apple Partition Map (APM) — PowerPC boot requires APM rather than GUID. Many G4s are picky about boot sources: internal or FireWire optical drives are most reliable; USB optical drives often won’t boot. If the installer can’t see the internal disk, test the disk on another machine or try a replacement; older G4s use IDE/PATA interfaces and later ones use SATA, so interface/adapter problems are a common cause.

If retail OS media cannot be obtained, used Tiger/Leopard discs are commonly found secondhand, and PowerPC-oriented Linux distributions remain an alternative where Apple OS isn’t practical. For machines kept running on Tiger/Leopard, TenFourFox provides a maintained browser option for safer web access.

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Member Avatar for jordan0420

The most important thing for you to figure out is if your computer has an Intel or a Power PC processor, crack your computer if you need to but you need to be 100% sure. if you are running a Intel processor than you can go ahead and get snowleopard at ,

if however you are running a Power PC (ppc) processor you cannot buy an OS higher than 10.4 because of your processor you should be able to order 10.4 over the phone or do some digging on ebay.

also there are a lot of great ppc linux distros available at

Member Avatar for Dani

The G4 towers were PowerPCs.

Member Avatar for dioioib

If you are getting an icon on your boot screen and no HD is found then hold the "C" key to optionally boot to another disk [ CD or HD ]. If this does not show the boot volume you might be in some trouble.

Try holding down the left shift key while booting which brings you into safe boot. Safe boot will do a disk integrity check for you while booting.

If you still have issues reinstall the OS, from disk. As jordan0420 said you will be limited to your install version on a G4 but you can actually install OSX 10.5 on a G4. I can verify this as I have it running on my backup computer an old G4 powerbook.

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