I own a 1.33Ghz iBook G4 with 1.5Gb RAM. I would say it is too slow
for state of the art java development. OpenJDK 6/7 runs on it, but is
too slow for real practical use because it does not have a JIT
compiler for powerpc. IBM does have a usable jdk with a JIT, but that
is only version 6. Java IDEs like Eclipse or NetBeans are particularly
demanding applications and completely unusable with OpenJDK (without
JIT) (even running maven is unbearably slow with that configuration).
If one insists on doing Java development on these aging powerpc
machines, it's probably better to go old-school and use Emacs/Vim and
javac/ant/maven.
Aside from Java development however, other stuff (including
development) is definitely still doable on that machine.
Ruben
On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 11:28 PM, Brian <cymraeg...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have 500mhz and 1.5 ghz G4 PowerBooks and corresponding similar
> Powermacs.
>
> I can easily give several examples from my personal experience and my
> associates where any of these are too slow
>
> For instance I basicly had just two things I wanted to use with the last
> version of Debian stable where I got stuck because my machines were too slow
> but I could easily do on a late '06 core2duo $300 MacBook. Java IDE and Krita
> to be precise. I tried doing an optimized build of Java for better speed - it
> was almost useable, probably fine on a G5 I'd imagine - but after compiling
> for hours and hours it was such a complex build and huge filling up my hard
> drive I stopped and gave up.
>
> But even so I am considering trying the
> Krita build on new Debian stable. Just for something to do and PowerBook can
> be left alone to build while I am away at work / study. But if I were serious
> I would definitely get a dual G5, they are cheap these days. Power hogs but
> for builds much better why suffer
>
> By the way all these G4s I own have 1GB ram
>
>
>
> On Aug 27, 2013, at 11:14 PM, Rick Thomas <rbtho...@pobox.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> An 800MHz G4 with a stripped down system is plenty "quick enough" for
>> development or just about anything not too computationally intensive. I
>> have a couple of them that I use for testing.
>>
>> But an older machine like that can be seriously memory-constrained ("No sane
>> person could possible need more than 64K of RAM!" -- designers of the
>> original IBM PC) so you have to be extremely carful what software you try to
>> run on it. For example, there are packages that aren't available for the
>> armel architecture because the build machines run out of memory trying to
>> compile them.
>>
>> Rick
>>
>> On Aug 27, 2013, at 10:27 PM, Super Bisquit <superbisq...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> The iBook g4 had a processor rating between 800 MHz and 1.42 GHz. Now, I
>>> ran Debian on an iMac with an 800 MHz processor and a Powermac QuickSilver
>>> with a 933 MHz processor with both having a recompiled kernel of 1000 Hz.
>>> Unless you are running [too much stuff] on your iBook, it is fast enough
>>> for development.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Aug 25, 2013 at 4:41 PM, Brian <cymraeg...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> How about just someone who will run testing / unstable and submit bug
>>> reports and is willing to work with developers testing patches
>>>
>>> This model not fast enough for general development and with so many models
>>> would be unfair to give special attention to one
>>>
>>>
>>> On Aug 25, 2013, at 6:30 AM, Jack Malmostoso <jackmalmost...@sunrise.ch>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear list,
>>>>
>>>> I have an old iBook G4 800MHz which I don't need anymore, and I was
>>>> wondering if some Debian PPC developer would like to have it for
>>>> development purposes.
>>>>
>>>> I have tried to contact the Debian hardware donation email address but
>>>> did not get an answer.
>>>>
>>>> Please let me know if there is any interest, thank you!
>>>>
>>>>
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