The PowerPC Has Still Got It (Llama on G4 Laptop)
Mood
excited
Sentiment
positive
Category
tech
Key topics
PowerPC
AI
Retro Computing
The post showcases running Llama on an old G4 laptop, sparking discussion on the capabilities of older hardware and AI implementations.
Snapshot generated from the HN discussion
Discussion Activity
Active discussionFirst comment
29m
Peak period
18
Day 1
Avg / period
9.5
Based on 19 loaded comments
Key moments
- 01Story posted
11/12/2025, 4:17:58 PM
6d ago
Step 01 - 02First comment
11/12/2025, 4:46:43 PM
29m after posting
Step 02 - 03Peak activity
18 comments in Day 1
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03 - 04Latest activity
11/14/2025, 12:36:34 PM
4d ago
Step 04
Generating AI Summary...
Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns
And anyway, the source article seems a bit more interesting.
https://www.theresistornetwork.com/2025/03/thinking-differen...
"So, with the goal of maintaining RS/6000 software compatibility, a team of architects from IBM, Apple, and Motorola set out to refine the architecture ... IBM and Motorola, with Apple engineering participation, have put into operation a new design center to develop future PowerPC microprocessors. The Somerset Design Center is a 37,000 square-foot facility located in Austin, Texas, staffed primarily by Motorola and IBM with approximately 300 engineering professionals. The design center is presently working concurrently on three separate PowerPC microprocessors." (https://www.thefreelibrary.com/History+of+the+PowerPC+archit...)
The intro to PowerPC Architecture book includes the following:
"We would like to acknowledge Keith Diefendorff, Ron Hochsprung, Rich Oehler, and John Sell for providing the technical leadership that made it possible for the group of architects, programmers, and designers from Apple, Motorola, and IBM to produce an architecture that met the goals established by the alliance these companies formed.
Many people contributed to the definition of the architecture, and it is not practical to name each of them here. However, a core group worked long hours over an extended period contributing ideas, evaluating options, debating costs and benefits of each proposal, and working together toward the goal of establishing a competitive architecture for the member companies of the alliance. This group of dedicated professionals included Richard Arndt, Roger Bailey, Al Chang, Barry Dorfman, Greg Grohoski, Randy Groves, Bill Hay, Marty Hopkins, Jim Kahle, Chin- Cheng Kau, Cathy May, Chuck Moore, Bill Moyer, John Muhich, Brett Olsson, John O'Quin, Mark Rogers, Tom Sartorius, Mike Shebanow, Ed Silha, Rick Simpson, Hank Warren, Lynn West, Andy Wottreng, and Mike Yamamura."
There is a nice coverage on this topic at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tld91M_bcEI (Why the Original Apple Silicon Failed)
Edit - I just can’t read, original article was llama.c
Gotta push my powerpc llama.cpp fork now for sure!
I’ve been getting llama.cpp going on various weird, old systems as I can and qwen3.c where llama.cpp has no hope. So far, I’ve tried various sparc generations (IIi, IIIi, Fujitsu M10, and an Oracle M7), a C8900 PA-RISC, some riscv boards, an Alpha 21264, POWER 9, and many X86 and ARM systems of course.
I think that's the 12" G4 - still my favorite laptop ever, in terms of looks and form factor.
And just looking at that picture in the article, that keyboard is beautiful. Apple truly had some incredible design sense. It's very unfortunate how rough their design decisions have been the past few years.
Though, i find the Compaq cases much better looking than what Apple offers today (except Mac Pro).
The usual solution is to run the real browser somewhere else and remote into it, eg. https://github.com/tenox7/wrp or https://www.brow.sh/
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