Comments on: Mac OS X Leopard on a Power Mac G4 Cube

By: Antonio

Antonio — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:13:47 +0000

Hello again !

My original Cube’s motherboard passed away but I could get a new one from ebay at a fair price. The problem is that I sold the 1.5 GHz processor before and I’m back to the 450 Mhz cpu.

I reinstalled Leopard using the open firmware trick and upgraded to a better video board, a NVIDIA. This video board gets a bit hot, be advised.

I made a nice experiment with the cube. Sometimes you can find a FW-400 to SATA converter on eBay for about $30 and the good news is that you can break the 120 GB disk size limit. Actually I’m running a 450 GB sata disk, mounted inside the cube, just plugged to the converter and then to one of the FW ports.

I’m wondering about using a SSD disk =)

By: Antonio

Antonio — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 03:13:33 +0000

Yes I use it, I ordered a Lacie FW DVD burner and it’s working very nicely. I tried san odd solution for the USB… Just plugged the cube to a time capsule via an ethernet cable and I instantly got a reasonably fast USB port from the TC. Not lightning fast transfer but better than USB 1.1. The only thing that makes me mad is the fact that I can’t put the Airport Card to work with Tiger or Leopard. I’m using the TC as an access point.

By: Richard Mondello

Richard Mondello — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:28:16 +0000

Antonio, Onyx is great for making a system just a little faster by disabling effects. USB 1.1 is a pain, but it’s amazing how far the cube can go with Firewire.

By: Antonio

Antonio — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:19:15 +0000

Oh, and of course you can tweak the system, ate least using the onyx software, disabling useless effects et al. And if you’re crazy enough, there are IDE solid state disks. They’re very expensive but may give a tremendous performance boost. Well, I’m talking about having fun, not to be very cost effective hahaha …

There is even a crazy dual G4 at 1.8 GHz upgrades !!!

IMHO, the best deal is the 1.5 single cpu upgrade. Remember two things: USB 1.1 is a pain to use for anything involving data transfers like disk/dvd/flsh drives. Use the USB for a webcam, usb audio, keyboard, bluetooth or things like this, and the two firewire ports for an external DVD/RW and hard disk.

I think that changing the internal CD-RW drive for a DVD burner is a waste of money. They are very expensive for what they are. Use an external FW one instead for 1/3 of the price.

Well, please forgive me for some English mistakes. Not my native language.

Cheers !

By: Richard Mondello

Richard Mondello — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:25:15 +0000

Awesome, awesome, awesome information, Antonio! Thanks!

By: Antonio

Antonio — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:36:13 +0000

Well, I have a Cube running Leopard quite well. Actually running smooth. First of all you need memory. At least 1 GB and 1.5 GM would be even better. Mine has 1.5 (3 x 512 PC133 from Kingston).

Memory will have much more impact in the Cube performance rather than the video card alone. Mine still have the original ATI card and works great. I can play any kind of videos in full screen mode using the VLC player. Please don’t use that ridiculous Quick Time Player.

I aldo made a killer upgrade later (actually 5 days ago). Now the CPU is a G4 7747 1.5 Ghz from PowerLogix. Works like a dream, very very fast.

Here is the link:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/PowerLogix/PF47S1500CN/

Oh, I also changed the HD for a 80G Seagate Barracuda, 7200 RPM. The only thing that I don’t like are the darn USB 1.1 ports.

Have fun and enjoy your Cube.

By: Richard Mondello

Richard Mondello — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:01:31 +0000

Robbie – Those sound like nice upgrades! Did you get the RAM for cheap? Last time I checked, the PC133 or PC100 sticks are expensive.

In terms of CPU upgrades, the G4 Cube mailing list at themacintoshguy is the best place to ask the upgrade gurus for help – http://listserver.themacintoshguy.com/mailman/listinfo/cube

The problem with syncing an iPhone with it is that the Cube only use USB 1.1 and not USB 2.

My cube is now running Tiger, 10.4.11, and works as a server. It’s great.

By: Robbie

Robbie — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:25:10 +0000

I upgraded my Cube to a 60GB 7200rpm drive. I also added more RAM. I put in 2x 512MB PC133 sticks. (says OK in About My Mac) and should down rev to PC100.

I would like to put a better graphic card in. Is there some list to go by? Eventually running Leopard would be good..

I also am interested in how the CPU upgrade works out…is that a whole new motherboard that some third party makes? combo cpu/board?

I am about to install iLife 08 on my Cube. My Cube right now runs Tiger 10.4.7 (i think thats the latest one).

My main issue right now is iPhones. I have a 1st Gen iPhone that I am trying to sync with iTunes and it mostly works but if you dont connect it a certain way, you get the message saying there is an error. A few times last night, the system crashed and a backtrace popped up asking it to send to Apple and made me reset the box.

Anyone have experience with an iPhone on a G4 Cube running Tiger? How did it go? Anything special to get it to work properly? Any trouble? Thanks!

By: Richard Mondello

Richard Mondello — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 02:38:54 +0000

Max – I recommend signing up for the G4 Cube mailing list at http://themacintoshguy.com/lists/MacCube.html to pose your question. I don’t have any real experience modding cubes, but these guys do.

By: Max

Max — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:02:37 +0000

Can anyone here tell me how the upgraded there processor and graphics for the G4 cube as im trying to find a different graphics card that will fit to run leopard.

Thanks