Got a PPC Mac in the Closet? Check Out the Aquafox Browser for Tiger & Leopard
If you have an old PowerPC Mac laying around collecting dust in a closet somewhere, you might be able to get some use out of it today by installing a functional modern web browser, like Aquafox. Since so much of what many of us do on computers is done in a web browser, you might be impressed at how usable and functional even a 20 year old PowerPC Mac running Mac OS X Tiger or Mac OS X Leopard becomes. And that’s where Aquafox comes in.
Aquafox is a modern-ish web browser project for older PPC Macs, including G3, G4, and G5 PPC architecture, that are running Mac OS X Tiger and Mac OS X Leopard (Mac operating systems released nearly 20 years ago!).
It’s based upon the now defunct TenFourFox, another PPC web browser project, and includes optimizations from InterWebPPC, another defunct PPC Mac browser project. The end result is a fully usable and functional web browser that is able to access and use most of the modern web, and while you shouldn’t expect miracles and full compatibility with everything imaginable on the web, you’ll undoubtedly find it to be a worthwhile app to explore for Mac users who continue to use PowerPC Macs, or just have an old PowerPC Mac or PowerBook laying around they want to play around with.
You can find a precompiled binary (here’s how to download precompiled Mac apps from Github, since it’s more confusing than it should be for the unfamiliar), that is immediately usable on your PowerPC Mac as long as it’s running Mac OS X Tiger or Mac OS X Leopard.
So go ahead, raid your closet, attic, office storage, or school basement, dust off an old PowerPC Mac – remember how amazing the Titanium PowerBook was? – and try out Aquafox.
Given that PowerPC G3, G4, and G5 Macs, and Mac OS X Tiger and Mac OS X Leopard are all nearly 20 years old now (and OSXDaily will 18 years old this November?!), this will be labeled as retro, but wow, time flies!
