Linux has been the solution for bringing reasonable performance back to old hardware. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was installed on a 2.8GHz Celeron (the worst, slowest processor) alongside Windows XP SP3. 10.04 was chosen due to its lower "bloat" factor, yet it is still modern and user friendly. As expected, Windows XP was painfully slow. Ubuntu 10.04 was much more usable, even with only 512MB of RAM, and an old 80GB IDE drive.

We will be testing the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (long term support) on the Power Macintosh G4 systems. Although OS X Tiger (10.4.11) runs nicely on G4 Macs, Apple has stopped supporting Tiger, so newer, improved and more secure versions of software like Java will not be available.

But the long term support versions of Ubuntu can make your old macs useful again. Macs Plus has installation CDs available.

Apple Certified Support professional (ACSP)
Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC)
Linux certification is in progress.

Other Desktop Systems