New old equipment: Apple Powerbook G4

A friend provided me with an old Apple PowerBook G4. It's been sitting on the shelf for a while, staring at me. I decided to do something about it.

Examination showed that the unit was in good shape, except the keyboard. No scratches or dents, or other signs of abuse. But the keyboard was not firmly attached to the underlying layer -- the top two rows of keys had rolled away and were floating in air. This position is not untenable, but it does mean that the key hinges would come loose. More troubling is the missing keys for F1, F2, and F12.

Super-glue helped get the keyboard back in line, although the result is not perfect. The edges are still up a bit, so the ESC and F11, F12, and EJECT keys are floating up. And F1, F2, and F12 are still missing. But its workable.

The unit needed a power adapter, so that was the next order of business. It had to be -- i could not test anything else without it. So off to the good folks at macbookadapter.com! They provided me with a genuine Apple PowerBook adapter with the proper plug.

Testing showed that it would not boot from the hard drive. I could boot from a CD-ROM, and I used Ubuntu 12.10 for the PowerPC. Ubuntu came up and found the video card and the network adapter, but it could not install on the hard drive.

On the assumption that the drive had failed, I ordered a replacement. Finding drives for a PowerBook G4 is a little tricky, as it uses IDE (or PATA) drives, not the SATA drives in today's laptops. Persistence paid off, and I found a nice little 40 GB drive for $20.

Installation of the drive was challenging but not impossible. Opening the G4 requires removing quite a few small screws (about 20) all but two being Phillips head, the other two required a hex key. Carefully lifting the keyboard tray reveals the innards.

Removing the old drive was simple, once I recognized that a small bracket held the drive in place. Remove two screws, lift out the old drive, unscrew the four mounting screws, screw them into the new drive, and attach the cable and insert into its position.

Then replace the keyboard tray and its 20-odd screws.

Now for an operating system. I could install Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). I have a copy, and it is the latest version of Mac OS X that supported the PowerBook series. But Apple ceased supporting 10.4 quite some time ago, and the old software and Safari provided a poor experience. Also, modern software for Mac OS X doesn't want to install on 10.4. So I needed something else, and I chose Ubuntu.

The PowerBook G4 uses a PowerPC CPU, not an Intel chip. Therefore, the standard (Intel) issue of Ubuntu won't do. I needed the PowerPC version, which is available. Ubuntu PowerPC 12.10 is the last version that has an install that fits on a CD, so that was the one I selected.

Ubuntu installed without difficulty, but needed some assistance. It found drivers for video, Ethernet, and touchpad, but not for wifi. Those had to be installed from the legacy broadcom package.

There is a later version of Ubuntu (14.10 LTS) but it cannot talk to the video card. (I tried the upgrade and it failed, leaving Ubuntu in an inconsistent state. I re-installed 12.10 and left it there.)

The experience, so far, is tolerable but not excellent. The Apple PowerBook G4 has a nice 15" screen but is heavy, and it runs a bit warm. The screen is bright and clear but Ubuntu doesn't recognize the brightness controls (F9 and F10, if the keys are to be believed).

Ubuntu 12.10 LTS for PowerPC has Firefox (version 39) but not Chrome.

Performance is sluggish. Web pages load, but I guess I've been spoiled by newer computers. Yet it's a nice machine, one I'd like to use more.