SeaMonkey for PPC ( a derivative version of Mozilla's SeaMonkey ) is capable of running on G4/G5 based Macs using Mac OS 10.5.x which was the last release of OS X to support the PowerPC family of CPUs. Help finding OS X Tiger or Leopard for PPC. Discussion in 'PowerPC Macs' started by casperes1996, Feb 1, 2017.

1. General requirements Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor 512MB of memory DVD drive for installation 9GB of available.
2. Builds of current WebKit frameworks for Mac OS X 10.5 (PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5). In order to revive the Snow Leopard builds at least one volunteer with skills in building open source software is needed!
3. Download Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) Mac OS X Leopard iso released on 26 October 2007 as the successor of Tiger (version 10.4). Leopard contains over 300 changes and enhancements over its predecessor, Mac OS X Tiger, covering core operating system components as well as included applications and developer tools.

On Thursday VMware released Fusion 4.1, an update to its $50 virtualization software that adds numerous small improvements—and a huge, unheralded change that could provide Mac users with much more flexibility when it comes to running old versions of Mac OS X.

The features documented in the Fusion 4.1 release notes include support for full-screen mode on Lion (including a “Smart Full Screen” mode that doesn’t leave users of multiple-display Macs out in the cold), performance and graphics improvements, and support for Lion features such as FileVault 2 and Lion Recovery.

But one big change with this update isn’t documented anywhere: The software has been modified so that it will run the non-server versions of Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) and Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5). Previously, VMware Fusion supported virtual Macs running Lion, Lion Server, Snow Leopard Server, and Leopard Server.

Apple’s operating-system license policy during the Leopard and Snow Leopard eras specified that only the server version of Mac OS X could be run in a virtual machine, and then only on Apple hardware. When Lion was released, that policy changed to allow both Lion Server and the non-server version of Lion to be virtualized.

When a user tries to install Leopard or Snow Leopard in Fusion 4.1, a dialog box appears that says, “Verify that the operating system is licensed to run in a virtual machine.” In essence, this removes VMware from the position of having to evaluate and enforce Apple’s operating-system license, and instead leaves the decision in the hands of users.

As a VMware tech note explains:

VMware Fusion 4.1 changes the behavior of the new virtual machine assistant when creating a Mac OS X virtual machine. Starting with Fusion 4.1, you are presented with an additional prompt to confirm that the operating system is licensed to run in a virtual machine. This additional prompt reminds you that installing Mac OS X in a virtual machine is subject to the license agreement that accompanies the Mac OS X software.

VMware recommends consulting the license agreement accompanying your Mac OS X software for the terms and conditions that apply. Apple license agreements can be found at http://www.apple.com/legal/sla.

If you confirm compliance with the applicable licenses, the assistant proceeds to the next step. This behavior is identical for the Leopard, Snow Leopard, and Lion releases of Mac OS X and their variants.

(A cursory glance at the Snow Leopard license specifies that it can only be run on Apple-branded hardware, but doesn’t seem to specify anything about running in a virtual machine, though the single-use license specifies running “one copy… on a single Apple-branded computer.” The Lion license specifically mentions allowing “virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer.”)

While there are some questions about the legality of running Snow Leopard or Leopard in a virtual machine, there’s no doubt about the utility of such a feature. First off, it would be a boon to developers and tech-support professionals, who need to verify how software works on various versions of OS X. But it would also help out users who rely on PowerPC-based Mac software—programs that won’t run in Lion because of Apple’s abandonment of the Rosetta code-translation software.

Users who want to run Quicken Deluxe for Mac on a system that only runs Lion are currently out of luck. But that program runs just fine on a Lion-based Mac that’s running Snow Leopard inside a Fusion 4.1 virtual machine. (It’s not an ideal fix—Fusion’s support for Windows includes a Unity mode that lets Windows apps float among your Mac windows. Virtual Macs will only display inside a window or filling a screen in full-screen mode.)

I updated to Fusion 4.1 on Friday and created new virtual machines for both Snow Leopard and Leopard on an iMac running Lion. They installed and ran without any problems, and I was able to launch PowerPC apps via Rosetta without any trouble.

An Apple representative told us that Apple's end-user license agreements 'permit properly licensed copies of Mac OS X Lion, Snow Leopard Server and Leopard Server to be virtualized on Apple-branded hardware only.' It's unclear what Apple's disposition toward VMware will be. In the meantime, this update gives Lion users an outlet for running PowerPC-based apps, and lets developers and other technical users have easy access to multiple OS X versions on a single Mac system.

[Updated at 8:30 PST with a statement from Apple.]

howdee - im a new user, but registered for just this one long/detailed comment/reply...

0 - THANK YOU to all who came before on this hint/thread/comment... i am just standing on top of the giants before and adding my little comments for others...

1 - i could not make a windows-keyboard work... in particular, my imac (g5) would 'ask' about it when powering up by having me press the key 'just inside of shift key' on each side... thus, i was never able to make the keyboard-combo work correctly... if you cannot get into open-firmware, then try getting a normal MAC-keyboard...

2 - i was having all sorts of problems trying to get the correct device to use for the 'dir' command... i could see the tree of information, but could never make a working 'devalias' for myself... two clues:

a - if (when you type devalias xx yyy@yyyyyyyy) you receive a comment 'no alias' in response, then it did NOT work... you should see a 'good' response of just the word OK... even so, i was never able to 'use' my own devalias...

b - i noticed in one of the later-comments someone had tried just typing the word 'devalias' without anything else... when i typed that, i got a nice long list of predefined aliases... in particular, i could see one called 'first-boot' that looked like it should access my working tiger-hdd internally... also, if i just typed 'boot' it would do what youd expect [boot from the first-boot device, which is the current internal hdd]...

3 - i was finally able to get things working better by doing/trying the following (details removed for hopeful-clarity):

Browsers For Mac Os X 10 5

- and i finally saw something good... nb, i needed the exact-extra-characters listed [7 chars starting with / and ending with ] to get a 'good' dir... and i assume others will have the devalias of 'first-boot' predefined like i did...

- was the magic incantation i used for getting to my external-usb-key [8gb formatted/dmg-restored as needed]... in particular, the '1:3' here on usb0 and the '0:3' with first-boot matched the disk:partition information i got when i looked at the key using the regular get-info command from tigers disk-utility...

Os X 10.5 Upgrade

i could do a more-detailed 'dir' on the key until i got to the ...CoreServices directory level... i could NOT actually do a 'dir' on the BootX file itself... but the CoreServices directory showed the 'magic' tbxi flag on that BootX file that i expected to see...

i could use the 'UP-ARROW' to repeat the last command that id typed, so that i could just change the 'dir' to a 'boot' and add the BootX to the end and it would work... (using left- and right-arrows to leave the other good characters in place)

4 - once i got my magic incantation correct, it took prolly an hour to get thru the first-boot - but eventually i got the great happy-mac sound from the other room... hopefully you will be able to too... :)

repeating: for me, the exact command i used was ... gl & hth, h.