mod 135640 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 I was at an auction last night and low and behold two mac G5's that looked like they had fallen off a truck and than backed over again were sitting in a corner under a pile of other stuff. The auction had 1000's of items (mostly computer electronics - stuff like high end servers that were selling for thousands of dollars) ... so no one paid any attention to these two macs. The auction guys said it powered up and made the signature mac startup sound but they didn't even put a monitor on it to test it. So I knew the power supply was good (that was it). So... I took a chance and brought it home. The case is a mess but these things are built VERY well and the inside structure did not appear damaged at all. I opened it up and took it all apart to inspect it and make sure none of the boards were 1/2 out or cracked... also I had to remove the loose rivets that were rolling around inside from the destroyed outer casing. I put it all back together, plugged it in and turned it on... booted perfectly and low and behold a brand new fresh install of jaguar already installed on a brand new drive. My guess is that it was sent to apple for a hard drive repair and damaged during shipping (Maybe in a accident as both macs has almost the same damage) so it was probably a insurance claim and sold to the liquidators/missguided freight guys and went to auction. It's not a intel mac - it's a 2006 powerPC 2.0 dual G5 but it's super quiet even with the destroyed case and wicked fast - I really want a intel mac pro but this will do for now for sure! My old g4 cube is dead ... I had the monitor, mouse and keyboard so it worked out very well in the end. Don't ask what I paid for it, you may cry! I had no idea if it even worked so I was taking a chance. I refused to pay anything above what I could sell the power supply for as that was the only think I knew for sure was working. Out of over 200 bidders only one other person was bidding on it (who I assume had the same idea I had) - I took one of them and the other person took the second one (hope hers works - it looks like they were dropped out of the same truck!). Anyway, just wanted to share my awsome score with everyone here who reads the geek section (I mean techie section). I think I will still try to install osX on my HP C2D laptop but that will have to wait now that I have a working mac again. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apex2006 1071 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 Is it true that anti-virus is not required for MAC's? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kubrickfan 12836 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 "Not required" are pretty strong words in this context, but I believe that very few Mac users sign up for anti-virus software. I have certainly never had a problem. I believe the Mac operating system is built on a Unix platform which is apparently a lot more stable than Windows. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest i***k*** Report post Posted May 6, 2009 Congrats! It's nice to score a good deal on a nice computer. Posted via Mobile Device Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apex2006 1071 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 I was thingking of switching that computers at my office to mac, but I'm still have concerns on the comunication between the two types of computors! If a client of mine brings a memory stick with some doc's on it, can I open them with Mac? I really like the Mac, I find it more user freindly! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
etasman2000 15994 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 I was thingking of switching that computers at my office to mac, but I'm still have concerns on the comunication between the two types of computors! Leave the Dark Side Apex2006, come join us.... If a client of mine brings a memory stick with some doc's on it, can I open them with Mac? Yes you can. There is Microsoft Office for the Mac, caveat not all macros would work and you can forget pivot tables. I use Lotus Symphony and use to use Neo Office, both are free and both mimic Microsoft Office very closely. Apple has their own office suite as well. Never used it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bylogger 136 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 With the use of Bootcamp (software) all Windows applications can be run on a Mac. As to virus issues: most virus programs are designed for Windows operating systems. Please note the word "most". There are programmers who design other types of viruses. trojans, and malware. At the very least I recommend a browser that recognizes false sites. As to the interaction between Bootcamp and viruses: I have no idea. So in general, having anti-virus software is a smart move. Why wait until something is programmed and spread? Oh, and congratulations on the neat G5 find! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mod 135640 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 With the use of Bootcamp (software) all Windows applications can be run on a Mac. As far as I know this is only for "INTEL" based mac's and not powerPC's so you need a C2D (Core2Duo) mac or Xeon based mac. As to virus issues: most virus programs are designed for Windows operating systems. Please note the word "most". There are programmers who design other types of viruses. trojans, and malware. At the very least I recommend a browser that recognizes false sites.This is true but some virus's and trojans do exit for unix based machines as well (Mostly known as "Rootkits"). As to the interaction between Bootcamp and viruses: I have no idea.If you run windows on a MAC your open to all windows viruses/trojans/etc. You are just as screwed as all the other windows users so browse the internet with your mac, open email with the mac and only use the windows part it the mac does not do what you need it to do. So in general, having anti-virus software is a smart move. Why wait until something is programmed and spread?Well said, but the mac does have a lot less exploits and is not of interest to most of the virus/hackers/etc... as it's still a SMALL share of the market. On a MAC you should install a tool called "OS X Rootkit Hunter" or "rkhunter" it's a UNIX based (Free BSD) scanner that makes sure your root file system is not infected with a root kit (Worm/trojan/virus). Oh, and congratulations on the neat G5 find!Thanks! Wish I could fine more I would give them away to my family so I don't have to fix their computers all the time Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A***** A***** 510 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 Wow, what an amazing find! I love it when I find something unexpected for a great price, I come home grinning like the cheshire cat:mrgreen: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mod 135640 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 I was thingking of switching that computers at my office to mac, but I'm still have concerns on the comunication between the two types of computors! If a client of mine brings a memory stick with some doc's on it, can I open them with Mac? I really like the Mac, I find it more user freindly! The mac's and the PC's can communicate very well these days. If you make the switch however keep in mind a slight learning curve will exist so bringing someone in who is a mac expert may be a great idea when you make this switch to help set up your network and also to show you a few needed tricks. Check out parallels with coherence mode running (MUST HAVE FOR ANYONE WHO NEEDS WINDOWS) - This ONLY runs on the INTEL BASED MACS at this time. Check this out It costs 79.99 (http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/) and it well worth it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest S*rca****sid Report post Posted May 6, 2009 Instead of paying $80, you can try http://www.virtualbox.org it does the samething for free. I use it on my Linux. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mod 135640 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 Great Suggestion. I love open source projects! Virtualbox appears to run a little heavier on the cpu but speed looks about the same for both so this is a good find! Do you know if it will run in coherence mode like parallels does? I wish someone made a good VM for the G5 powerPC - These all run on the intel macs only. I remember once seeing a VM ware that would run on a powerPC and emulate windows. If anyone knows of a good one please post it here. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest S*rca****sid Report post Posted May 6, 2009 As far as I know you can run "coherence mode" if you are using ubuntu with windows loaded on virtualbox.... I don't know if it is the same if you are running it on a Mac. here is the link.... http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=433359 As for PowerPc processors, I think only Parallels is the only one at the moment. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mod 135640 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 Parallels says it's for intel based macs only. Can't find anything for the powerPC platforms. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A***** A***** 510 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 :-PLooks like we have a few geeks opps I mean techies in this thread Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest S*rca****sid Report post Posted May 6, 2009 Opps? treads? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A***** A***** 510 Report post Posted May 6, 2009 Opps? treads? Fixed it! haha my bad Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
a******s.m*****e 187 Report post Posted May 7, 2009 Anyway, just wanted to share my awsome score with everyone here who reads the geek section (I mean techie section). There is only one question left: What for ? ;) I know I shouldn't talk, because I just bought a laptop I didn't really need, but it is pretty... Seriously, what is so special about it? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A***** A***** 510 Report post Posted May 7, 2009 Seriously, what is so special about it? Because he was able to get it to work and got it for a dirt cheap price. I guess only geeks understand right? ;-) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mod 135640 Report post Posted May 7, 2009 There is only one question left: What for ? ;) I know I shouldn't talk, because I just bought a laptop I didn't really need, but it is pretty... Seriously, what is so special about it? Hmm, where do you start on a question like this. 1) I actually do need a MAC as it's very hard to fix something here that the MAC users report to me... when you run a website you need to make sure it works well on both MAC and PC so you do not alienate anyone so it's vital to have both if you do web design. 2) My older G4 Mac computer was broken (It was accidentally dropped when I moved and cracked the motherboard) so I didn't have a MAC anymore to use. Since new macs are over 2grand for anything decent I held off buying one. 3) This is a 3 year old computer and still blows away most pc's on the market. It's a power house computer. It has 2 2.0ghz power pc processors. I have a quad core 64 bit intel system (brand new) and the 3 year old mac boots faster, runs more stable and the mac is all around a better computer ..... I paid more for the ram upgrade from 4gigs to 8gig in the new PC computer than I paid for the mac (actually I paid twice as much for the ram upgrade than I paid for the new mac). 5) Mac's are superior for web design, photo work (anything multimedia based). Also they do not get virus's like PC's do... so I choose not to run a antivirus on the mac (Making it that much faster) FYI: The Mac only has 1gig of ram at this time and it's still faster than the 64 bit PC with 8 gigs of ram and the quad core cpu set up. The list goes on but it gets more technical. For the average computer user you may not see a difference between macs and pc's. This can really only be appreciated by mac people and techies. It's like shopping for shoes... we don't get it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
a******s.m*****e 187 Report post Posted May 7, 2009 Thanks for the explanation. I thought it was some antique stuff....:) I do have a Macbook and like it, but don't use it very often, because most of the software I have won't run on Mac. I wish they would take the best features of Mac and PC and make a super user-friendly computer. One thing is for sure. With a Mac you can tell these people actually thought of the user and tried to please him, where a PC is for mass-production, made to cater to the lowest common denominator. :( Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest S*rca****sid Report post Posted May 7, 2009 Anyone with a PC can experience the benefits a Mac has, by trying out a linux distro... No need to install it, just run the live CD version. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A***** A***** 510 Report post Posted May 7, 2009 Anyone with a PC can experience the benefits a Mac has, by trying out a linux distro... No need to install it, just run the live CD version. What is that, and what does it do? Haha no geek here for that moment:???: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest S*rca****sid Report post Posted May 7, 2009 Linux is a type of OS.... try either http://fedoraproject.org/en/index or http://www.ubuntu.com/ Download the live CD version, then burn it to a CD. Insert the CD and let it run the live version. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A***** A***** 510 Report post Posted May 7, 2009 Linux is a type of OS.... try either http://fedoraproject.org/en/index or http://www.ubuntu.com/ Download the live CD version, then burn it to a CD. Insert the CD and let it run the live version. And now a big duh on my part, lol:boobies: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
