I recommend a program called "MacTracker" -- a database of all the products Apple has ever made

MacTracker is a freeware/donationware. It useful program that is a database of all the products Apple has ever made.

It is handy to have it around and is useful to use to find out which the specs, maximum ram support, the latest firmware, the maximum OS your particular Apple product or Mac can accommodate.

For instance, my brother's Black MacBook is the 13 inch late 2007 version and the maximum RAM supported is a whopping 6GB but Apple listed it as 4GB RAM as maximum but 6GB definitely works and OWC (macsales.com) sells the 6GB RAM upgrade kit.

And my Mac mini's maximum RAM supported is 16GB RAM vs. Apple listed as 8 GB RAM -- and let me tell you, 16 GB works great and makes a hell of a difference.

If you enjoy the program, please feel free to donate to the developer Ian Page.
http://www.mactracker.ca/donations.html

download links for MacTracker:

MacTracker 7.14 for Mac OSX 10.6.8 and later Download
Version 6.5.1 for Mac OS X v10.5
Version 5.3 for Mac OS X v10.4
Version 5.0.9 for Mac OS X v10.3.9
Version 4.0.7 for Mac OS X v10.2
Version 4.0.2 for Mac OS 8.5 - 9.2.2
Version 5.0.11 for Windows

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Dual Monitor on a Mac mini or any Mac is the way to go!

I own a PowerMac G4 MDD and also my current machine is a Mac mini i5 dual core 2.5 Ghz w/ hyper threading (== 4 virtual cores!) and i alway do a dual monitor setup.

I will be talking about dual monitor setup on an intel Mac mini w/ display port or thunderbolt port.

It has increased productivity for me.  I have one monitor running JGrasp, when i am coding and another monitor running Safari or Pages or LibreOffice and this dual monitor setup is great!

From what i recall, intel Mac minis support 2 monitors and mines support 3 monitors (my model is the one with discrete AMD Radeon GPU) and the setup is easy and instantanous. The Mac mini comes with a hdmi to dvi cable, so that is the setup for monitor #1, so you then buy a display port/thunderbolt to dvi (female plug) adapter and buy an extra dvi cable (male to male) and then plug it in and it will auto detect and you are set.  The adapter costs about $6.99 on Amazon.com and the dvi cables cost about $5.75.

I recommend these dvi cables(male to male) :
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0045JNA18/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and I also recommend this display port/thunderbolt to dvi adapter(female plug):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003BHHIA4/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

******DON'T BUY A DISPLAY PORT/THUNDERBOLT TO DVI WITH THE DVI CABLE BUILT IN ON ONE END AND THE DISPLAY PORT/THUNDERBOLT CONNECTOR ON THE OTHER END-- THOSE ARE PROBLEMATIC AND FLAKEY AND UNRELIABLE.

JUST GET A SEPARATE DISPLAY PORT/THUNDERBOLT TO DVI ADAPTER(FEMALE PLUG) & A SEPARATE DVI CABLE (MALE TO MALE) BECAUSE THIS WILL BE MORE RELIABLE-- LIKE THE ONES I RECOMMENDED WITH LINKS TO THE PRODUCTS ON AMAZON********

Next launch up System preferences and click Display and click Arrange and drag the menubar to the monitor you wish to make your main monitor.  Each monitor can have its own wallpaper/desktop picture.  and I recommend a free program called SecondBar, which adds a menubar to the second monitor.

Secondbar can be downloaded at Macupdate.com-- here's the link:

https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/33264/secondbar

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humble bundle 6 for Mac, Windows and Linux

In case you didn't know, there is this great deal on the internet called humble bundle and the current humble bundle is humble bundle 6.  Basically it is a collection of quality indie games for Mac, Windows and Linux and you specific the price you want to pay and the amount is divided by the developers, charity and bandwidth costs.

Humble Bundle 6 includes:

rochard

shatter

s.p.a.z.

torchlight

vessel

dustforce

bit trip runner

gratuitous space battles

jamestown

wizorb

The total value of these games together is worth over $135.

For me, i wanted torchlight- a famous indie rig in the likes of diablo 2 series, but with better graphics.

Bit trip runner and orchard are also 2 games i wanted on steam.

these games here are all of high quality and you can googlesearch them and get an idea of how much quality these games in the humble bundle are; they are all good games-- ranging from shoot'em ups, to rpg to strategy to platformers.

you also could get keys for steam, an online gaming ecosystem for Mac and Windows.

the website is:
http://www.humblebundle.com

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MacHeist- solve puzzles and get free Mac Apps!

There is this not so well known or semi-known Mac website- MacHeist.com.  This website gives Mac users free Mac Apps for solving puzzles.  And these Mac Apps are quality apps.  Currently they are hosting the Mac Heist 4 -- Download the Mac Heist Agent App for your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad and you get : Back to the Future Episode 1 (No DRM) and Corel Paint it for free!  And the MacHeist 4 launch is also giving away App Shelf (Mac App for organizing registration numbers and codes for apps you purchase online) This Agent app links your iOS device to missions to solve puzzle (and you could also solve puzzles on your Mac.) And when you solve nano mission 1- you get Netshade (a Mac app proxy server) for the Mac for free.  And when you solve the mission 1, you get: Fractal - a Mac game on Steam, and MacHider (a Mac security app to hide and unhide folders or files.) They just put up Mission 2 and the prize for solving that is: Permute ( a Mac app from converting media)  These prizes are quality apps- some commercial apps and some shareware apps but you get it all for free if you solve the puzzles.

Spoilers and solutions to the puzzles in the missions and nano missions are readily available and you can search google or youtube.  Googlesearch: macheist 4 and nano mission 1 or macheist 4 and mission 1 or macheist 4 and mission 2 -- and get on your way to solving the puzzles and getting your prizes-- Mac apps!

Good luck to all my readers!

MacHeist is at:
http://macheist.com

Log on and register and start and get your Mac app prizes!

Be sure to download the MacHeist Agent for your iOS device and claim your first prize (no puzzle to solve for this one- just for downloading MacHeist Agent) Back to the Future Episode 1 and Corel Paint it.

These Apps costs money and you get it for FREE! So put on your thinking caps and get going!  I am almost finished with solving mission 2 and i am psyched a can't wait to claim the Permute as my prize.

Enough talking err. . . writing this blog entry for now, there a prize to be claimed! The total prize cash value is over $130! so far. . . and they got more missions coming. . .

UPDATE: And the MacHeist 4 launch is also giving away App Shelf (Mac App for organizing registration numbers and codes for apps you purchase online) i just finished mission 2- Permute (Mac app for media conversion) is worth $15, Back to the Future Episode 1 (Mac App Game) is worth $5, Corel Paint it (Mac Painting App) is worth $40, MacHider (Mac Security App) is worth $20, Fractal (Mac Game on Steam) is worth $7, Calendar Plus (Mac App) is worth $5, Netshade (Proxy server app for Mac) is worth $29 and App Shelf (Registration code manager app for Mac) is worth $10.

And there are more missions coming!

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Linux and open source software is the future

There will come a time in your life, when you will have a computer with a dated OS (operating system) and that computer won't be that old or dated .  Or maybe you got an extra computer given to you by someone and the computer has a problematic OS in which you need to reinstall a OS to get the computer functional again but you don't have to restore discs.  Or you are in my situation-- I own a few PowerPC based Mac computers in which Apple made obsolete by abandoning the PowerPC Processor platform to focus on Intel based Macs.  But any computer could be made obsolete once the computer can't run the latest OS from either Apple or Microsoft, i.e. my brother owns a Black MacBook early 2008 model with 4 GB Ram, 250GB Hard drive, with Intel x3100 integrated graphics running Mac OSX 10.6.8 Snow Leopard but he can't run Mac OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion though, so his computer is considered obsolete.  This is where Linux comes into play.

Linux isn't a single product.  More specifically Linux is a kernel, the core of a OS (open source operating system.)  Collectively, Linus is a free OS and its code is open source-- meaning anyone can contribute and modify and improve the source code.  It is open and can be configured anyway you like with a variety of GUI (graphical user interface) such as Gnome, KDE, LXDE, and Unity UIs just to name a few.

Linux is available for many CPU architectures such as x86 intel, amd, PowerPC and Arm based computers.  So you can run Linux from a regular intel PC to a Rasberry PI Arm based mini computer to the Playstation 3.

Linux is free and can be freely distributed to others.  If Apple or Microsoft leaves your computers behind, why not breathe new life into the machine by installing Linux?  There are many Linux distros to choose from to fit your needs.  Linux is never obsolete and is a modern OS and gets constant updates and upgrades. There Debian Linux, Ubuntu Linux, Lubuntu Linux, Kubuntu Linux, Red Hat Linux, Yellow Dog Linux, Mint Linux, MintPPC Linux, etc.  They vary, some are Mac like and some are Windows like, so the learning curve isn't too steep. You could burn to a CD a test run disc, known as a "Live CD" to try it out to see if you like it and if you do, you can install from the Live CD.  So if you got a computer that needs a reinstall and you don't want to shell out cash for a OS, why not consider Linux as an alternative?

Linux is backed by major corporations such as Intel, IBM, Google, Red Hat, Oracle, just to name a few.  Adobe supports Flash player on intel based Linux systems.  Valve, a famous gaming company is bringing Steam gaming to Linux soon.  They brought Steam to the Mac a few years ago too.  They are doing this because they seem the potential in Linux.  This is a sign that Linux is becoming more and more mainstream.  If you didn't know, there is a lot of software for Linux, freeware and payware commerical products.

Ubuntu is currently to poster boy for Linux.  Ubuntu is the most famous of all the Linux distros out there and it has a Ubuntu software center-- kind of like the Mac App Store or the iOS App Store and installing an app in Ubuntu software center is easy and straight forward like the Mac/iOS App Store.  Linux isn't just for computer geeks or command line junkies anymore but is ready for prime time mainstream audience and is easy to use via GUI.  Like what I said earlier, the learning curve isn't steep but easy because some Linux distros are Mac like and some are Windows like.

If you are on an Intel based computer, you can use the WINE compatibility layer to run windows apps natively in Linux or use virtualization software to run Windows within Linux but a copy of Windows is required for virtualization.  I recommend Ubuntu Linux for Intel based machines with some moderate cpu power.  My brother's Asus netbook has Ubuntu 12.04 on it running on a class 10 32GB SDHC card by Patriot and it works pretty well (see my earlier blog post on using and sdhc class 10 card as a boot drive for Ubuntu for more details.) My brother uses VLC to play DVDs and Rhythmbox to play music files. To play these, you need to install the restricted extras package.

My sister's iMac G3 runs MintPPC Linux 11 and I recommend MintPPC Linux to PowerPC Mac owners because this distro is tweaked for PowerPC G3, G4, and G5 and it is fast and speedy!

There is currently MintPPC 9 and the newer MintPPC 11.  If you want a more mature OS, use MintPPC 9, if you want the lastest and greatest, use MintPPC11.

I am going to install MintPPC 11 Linux on my PowerMac G4 Dual 450Mhz in the near future on my external hard drive so I could dabble more with Linux on my own machine.  This Mac currently runs Mac OSX 10.5.8 Leopard (in which I installed via Leopard Assist.) I also got to install a file to make MintPPC multi-processor aware so it could see and utilize both CPUs.  I consult the forums at MintPPC 's home website for reference and help and it is a great resource.  I recommend plugging in the ethernet cable instead of doing wireless when installing MintPPC Linux.  I am going to make this my side project for the end of summer.  I will keep you all posted.  This PowerMac uses a Nvidia Geforce 4MX video card which might be problematic, so I am going to do more research and look into this before diving head on.  I have to warn PowerPC owners though-- Linux on PowerPC computers are less supported than Intel based computers.  i.e. Flash player is available for intel but not PPC Linux computers.  However the web is transitiioning from Flash video to Html 5 video and even youtube has Html 5 trial you could join to watch their videos in Html 5 instead.  Also there are scripts you can install in your browser to have video on the web playback in Html 5.

I love Linux and it is the future of computing!  Don't get me wrong though, I am still a Mac user and the Mac can coexist with Linux just fine.  Apple Inc. will always be around for premium computing but for a free alternative to Mac or Windows, there is Linux. It is always good to have choices.

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My favorite RPGs: Part I- Bard's Tale Series & Silversword

In case you didn't know, I am not just a Mac/Linux user and enthusiast-- I am also a gamer! I play games on the Mac, Linux, Windows, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Play Station, Playstation 2, Neo Geo, Neo Geo Pocket, Sega Genesis, Turbo Graphix16, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and the iPad 2.

I love gaming, esp. RPGs (Role Playing Games,) Martial Arts Games, Puzzle Games, Platformers, Computerized Board Games, First Person Shooters (FPS), Sports Games and Action Games.

Let's talk RPGs:

I grew up playing games on the Commodore 64/128 and the Commmodore 64/128 was the king of gaming for 8 bit computers back in the day.  On the Commodore 64/128 i spent countless days and nights and almost every waking hours play RPGs (Role Playing Games.)  This is Part 1 of my series of blogs talking about my favorite RPGs.  Today, i will focus on the Bard's Tale Series with mention of the new Bard's Tale and Silversword.

The Bard's Tale Series:

The original Bard's Tale Series were released for the Commodore 64/128, Apple II series, PCs, Amiga computers, original Macintosh, Nintendo and now is available for iOS (iPad.) I played and owned the Bard's Tale series-- Bard's Tale 1: Tales of the Unknown, Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight and Bard's Tale III: The Thief of Fate for the Commodore 128 and the PC but i love the Commodore version most. The Commodore version had real nice graphics and sound support, better than my 386 PC which had good graphics but ok sound only.  To this day, I still think the commodore 64/128 had better graphics then my 386 PC in terms of the bard's tale trilogy games.  i also owned the Nintendo console version of the Bard's Tale I.  However, the Nintendo version of the Bard's Tale I was ok but not as good as the computer versions. Nintendo's version is considered watered down and lacks the polish of the commodore 64/128 version.

The Bard's Tale Series were very immersive content packed detailed role playing games.  It came with a map of the city or area you started out on, i.e. Skara Brae for Bard's Tale 1. You create a party of 6 members who should be diverse in things like: 1)class-- it is good to have a mixture of magic users, fighters, and a bard to play magical tunes to aid your party in battle, 2) race-- Human are balanced, Elves and Gnomes better intelligence to be better magic users, Hobbits are have the best dexterity so they will be the first to strike in battle and hide in shadows to assassinate targets, thus hobbits make the best thieves. The Bard's Tale series covers a vast area, so it is wise to map out the area as you explore and get deeper and further into the game; have a pen and paper at hand.  You will definitely need to map out the dungeons you explore or you will get lost and won't be able to make it back to the Adventurer's Guild to save your progress.  Unlike Bard's Tale I and Bard's Tale II, Bard's Tale III allow you to fill up all 7 character slots with your own characters or you could summon a NPC (NonPlayer Character) and save them to the Roster.  The Bard's Tale series would fall under the hack and slash genre too, because the game involves fighting and killing enemies to gain experience points to level up and gaining treasure through combat and exploration.  I recommend you not to venture too far from camp/adventurer's guild until your party of characters get strong enough.  Stay close to adventurer's guild and be sure to find the location of the review board-- which allows for your characters to level up and your magic users to gain spells and switch class.  Also to to give your characters the best weapons and armor you can get your hands on and recharge your spell points for your magic users and be 100% healed before entering a dungeon.  It is also good for your bard to drink so he can play magic tunes and make sure you get a fire horn or a frost horn for your bard.  Having a bard with a fire horn or a frost horn will get your party out of a tight spot when starting out, when your party isn't strong enough for large groups of strong enemies in the beginning.  The fire horn or frost horn allows for your bard to spray a large group of enemies, killing them or severely hurting them with one blow per round of combat.  It is also a good idea to summon a NPC or create a character the fill slot 7 in the roster (like in Bard's Tale III or Silversword,) because you will need all the help you can get.  In Bard's Tale III, i recommend you get your fighters the stoneblade, which instantly turns anyone you hit into stone!  To make things easier, i recommend using a character editor for the Bard's tale trilogy, i use it on my commodore 64 versions of Bard's Tale to make things a lot easier.  It also for you to edit your character stats and modify your characters to your liking and give them any items you want to equip them with.

The Bard's Tale Original Series I-III is available on iPad/iOS. The iOS version gives you the Apple IIGS version of Bard's Tale I and II and the Commodore 64 version of Bard's Tale III.  It comes bundled with the New Bard's Tale game, which is third person action hack and slash game, a little like Diablo II. I bought it for under $3 during a sale and it is a deal, because you get 4 games for the price of one! The New Bard's Tale is kinda different from the Original Bard's Tale I-III-- there is no roster screen but a screen of the Bard and the terrain you navigate with touch screen buttons for bard tune, magic, combat, controlling movement. I haven't gone far into the new Bard's Tale yet but i will over time.  The first quest you get is to rid a Tavern of a rat problem and I am not going to give away the easy solution on dealing with the rat problem-- don't want to ruin it for other players just starting out. My first impression of the new Bard's Tale is that it is a very good game, in terms of graphics, gameplay, plot and execution-- and i love the witty narratives by the narrator in the game! I, however spent most of my time playing the classic Bard's Tale Series due to nostalgic reasons and the fact that I am a retro gamer.  The new Bard's Tale is also available on the Mac App Store for intel based Macs but I can't elaborate on that much because I don't own an intel based Mac (my brother has a MacBook though) or use the Mac App Store but I will be upgrading soon to a Mac Mini once Apple refreshes the lineup, and will post more about the Mac version of the new Bard's Tale in the near future. So I don't really know if the Original Bard's Tale series is bundled with the new Bard's Tale on the Mac version though.  I recommend playing the Bard's Tale original trilogy series via emulation.  For me,  i play Bard's Tale original trilogy series on my Mac via commodore 64 emulation with VICE emulator or Power 64 emulator or Frodo emulator and it works well for me.  I owned all three Bard's Tale I--III games but the disks don't work any more due to age.  Don't ask me where to get the disk images for the Bard's Tale I-III trilogy though, try searching for it on Google search. I will play the new Bard's Tale on iOS when i get more time but in the meantime, i am retro gaming with the Bard's Tale original trilogy! Love retro gaming and retro RPGs!

If you love the Bard's Tale I-III Series original games, and completed all three of the games and want more, then I recommend a game on iOS-- Silversword. Silversword is the spiritual successor to the Bard's Tale I-III games.  The layout is the same: Roster list, a window for view, and a text action window.  Silversword also gives you the ability to save almost anywhere in the game and you get built in mapping system and a spell book too. And Silversword has natural native touch controls on the iOS versus the Bard's Tale Original trilogy series on the iOS-- which has touchscreen controls but is tacked on with some limitations and is not as nicely done as in Silversword. The new Bard's Tale (original trilogy included) is $4.99 on the App Store and Silversword is also $4.99 on the App Store. Both have versions for the iPod Touch/iPhone and an iPad version. The new Bard's Tale is also on the Mac App Store for $9.99. Silversword is not available on the Mac yet but might be considered to be ported in the near future, according to developer.

My rating for Bard's Tale I -III on commodore 64/128 & iOS
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Controls: 4 out of 5 stars
gameplay: 5 out of 5 stars
fun factor: 5 out of 5 stars
sound/music: 4 out of 5 stars

I can't give my rating for the new Bard's Tale yet because I haven't play much of it yet and spend all my time with the classic trilogy.

My rating for Silversword:
5 out of 5 stars for everything because it builds on the classic Bard's Tale series and modernizes it with built in mapping system, better graphics, and really nice touch controls!

If you love retro rpgs like Bard's Tale series i recommend you get it on iOS and also get Silversword.  I also recommend you check out other retro RPGs like the Wizardry series or Might and Magic series (both which are available on the Commodore 64/128 and PCs.)

Have fun! And thanks for reading my blog!

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Software updates! VLC 2.03 and Tenfourfox 14 are released!

Software updates! VLC 2.03 and Tenfourfox 14 are released!


-VLC 2.03 was recently updated.

Get the Mac PPC & Intel versions here:

Mac PPC 32 bit: https://www.macupdate.com/download/42363/vlc-2.0.3-powerpc.dmg
Mac Intel 32bit: https://www.macupdate.com/download/36650/vlc-2.0.3-intel32.dmg
Mac Intel 64bit: https://www.macupdate.com/download/5758/vlc-2.0.3.dmg

** requires Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 and up!

What's New

Version 2.0.3:

--This release mostly targets the Mac OS X platform and adds support for OS X Mountain Lion. It also fixes the Qt interface's appearance on Windows 8 and includes improvements for the flv and ape demuxers as well as the http access module. Additionally, it includes updates for 18 translations and adds support for Uzbek and Marathi

-Tenfourfox 14 came out! 

G3: https://code.google.com/p/tenfourfox/downloads/detail?name=TenFourFoxG3-14.0.app.zip&can=2&q=

G4: https://code.google.com/p/tenfourfox/downloads/detail?name=TenFourFox7400-14.0.app.zip&can=2&q=

G4e: https://code.google.com/p/tenfourfox/downloads/detail?name=TenFourFox7450-14.0.app.zip&can=2&q=

G5: https://code.google.com/p/tenfourfox/downloads/detail?name=TenFourFoxG5-14.0.app.zip&can=2&q=

** Tenfourfox 10.0.6 can be downloaded @ its homepage:
http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/

enjoy!

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ibook G4- the best cheap mac notebook for daily use

 The iBook G4- the Greatest yet overlooked deal in the aftermarket of used notebook computers

I recently bought a used iBook G4 from craigslist for $75.  It is a 1.2 Ghz G4 w/ 768mb ram, 30gb hard drive, combo drive (that still works!), airport extreme running Mac OSX 10.3.9 Panther. The seller thought his iBook G4 had a defective airport extreme card and told me the wireless was finicky and goes out a lot.  What he didn't know was that he didn't set up the networking settings properly-- he needed to specify the dns servers in the network settings and it will be ok.  He was tech illiterate and sold it to me for cheap-- one man's loss is another man's gain!

When i took it home, i wiped the hard drive and did an erase and install of Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 and installed iLife 09, VLC 2.03, MacTubes, LibreOffice, AuroraFox, TenfourFox, Ultima 3, and Power64.

I also ordered a 1gb ram stick from OWC for about $31.

My iBook G4 is truly the workhorse!  They are great for everyday usage and great to lug around for places you don't want to take an expensive MacBook or iPad.  In my honest opinion, the iBook G4 is the best alternative to a netbook.

If you want to get an iBook G4, i recommend getting ones from 1.07Ghz and up because these iBook G4s can use a 1gb ram stick and these are faster. These machines could max out @ 1.25 Gb ram or 1.5 Gb ram.

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Candy Crisis (a puyo puyo clone)-- free for Mac & Windows

I recommend a free now open source game called "Candy Crisis."  It is a puyo puyo clone; the game is kinda like tetris or Dr. Mario, and it is extremely fun and addictive and it is FREE! I believe the game is PPC Native so if you own a Mac and want to run it, you will need Rosetta -- meaning Mac OS X Snow Leopard or earlier. It is also available for Windows.

There is solo mode and vs. mode in which you compete against a computer opponent or a friend.

the website url ( for a better description and info on the game and to get the shareware turned freeware code):

http://candycrisis.sourceforge.net/

the download url:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/candycrisis/files/

Here are some screen shots:

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Got an older or extra computer lying around, why not turn it into a media PC/Mac?

Got an older or extra computer lying around, why not turn it into a media PC/Mac? I did with a free open source program called XBMC.  It has built in Weather reports, Internet TV, Internet radio, built in DVD player and video player (and some limited bluray support?) and built in mp3/aac player. You could run it off your computer monitor or use your media PC/Mac with a TV or HDTV.

It is available for Mac (PPC & Intel,) Windows, and Linux

You could read more and learn more about it at their website:

http://xbmc.org/

their downloads page:

http://xbmc.org/download/

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LibreOffice 3.5.3 is released!

LibreOffice 3.5.3 is released! It is a free open source office suite for Mac, Linux, Windows and other various platforms. It is compatible with Microsoft Office. It consists of Writer (word processor,) Calc (spreadsheet,) and various other components.

the url to the download link on their website:

http://www.libreoffice.org/download/?nodetect

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Full featured alternative free office suite-- LibreOffice!

LibreOffice is the free full featured alternative office suite to MS Office.  It is the result of hard work from the open source community and the direct heir to OpenOffice and was based on the same code with all the openoffice developers transitioning to LibreOffice development.  It is available for PPC Mac OSX & Intel Mac OSX, Linux and Windows and various other operating systems.

the Url: http://www.libreoffice.org/

UPDATE: 4/24/2012

Libreoffice version 3.5.2 came out a few weeks ago, it is FREE so go out and download it if you don't have an office suite or if you got an older version of Libreoffice or openoffice.

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Another suggestion for PowerPC users-- MacTubes

MacTubes is a youtube video player and downloader and it is free.

the url is: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/28608/mactubes

It allows youtube videos to playback well on a lower end machine like a PowerMac G4 400 Mhz with easy.  Just set the playback to use quicktime.  And it is smooth and can do full screen playback too!

Now even owners of lowend PowerPC Macs can enjoy their favorite youtube videos!

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