“I bought a Mac”

Yep. I regret to inform you all that, as of January 2025, I am a Mac user: I bought a Mac. I have betrayed the penguin.

[…]

So, how did such an icon of early 2000s Apple fall into my grubby hands? Well, it all started with the Wii U. I’m not joking.
↫ Loganius

That’s one heck of an excuse to get a PowerPC G4 – needing to do Linux kvm hacking to fix a bug. While getting the PowerMac G4 they bought all set up and working properly for development purposes, someone else fixed the bug in question in the meantime. Such is the way of open source development.

Regardless, as far as classic computers go, PowerPC Macs are a great way to enter the wider hobby of retrocomputing. They’re widely available, incredibly cheap, and offer a ton of variety when it comes to supported operating systems, working with everything from classic Mac OS to Mac OS X, from Linux to the BSDs, down to more exotic awesome stuff like MorphOS. Their popularity also ensures a steady stream of replacement parts, expertise, and community support.

I have a 1.25Ghz 17″ PowerBook G4 for MorphOS, and a snow white iBook G3 for Mac OS 9.2.2, and I’ll never get rid of them.