Does anyone know how I can cross-compile software for a 1999 iMac G3 with a PowerPC processor? Are there resources on how to develop for this CPU and is there any community around it?
There absolutely is a vintage Mac 68K and PowerPC development community, if you allow me to be loose with the word community. To my knowledge, there isn’t a single, centralized space for people discussing and sharing tips and projects for vintage Macs. Instead, there are a lot of different people and mini communities spread all over the place, not all of which are specific to development.
First of all, there’s MARCHintosh and the wider community of vintage Mac retrocomputing enthusiasts, including Ron’s Computer Videos and Mac84.
Next there’s the 68KMLA forums which, despite the name, also include PowerPC Macs for discussion. There’s also the MacRumors forums which have numerous sections for earlier Macs.
Now, for cross-compiling, the main project I’m aware of is Retro68 which supports 68K and PowerPC targets. I’ve never used it though so I can’t vouch for it.
If you’ve never developed software for Mac before, you’re going to want some documentation. Thankfully, there’s a nice library over at Vintage Apple! Also be sure to check out the various collections over at Internet Archive (the filtering options on the left are extremely powerful).
To get more specific you’ll have to provide more specifics about the type of development you’re interested in. Is it Mac OS 9 or X? I assume you have an iMac G3 and you’ll want to run software on it. Have you serviced the machine to avoid damaging it with leaky capacitors or batteries? Have you replaced the mechanical hard drive with an SSD using an IDE/SATA converter?
These are all things to consider if you want to keep your iMac going as a long term hobby!
This is quite awesome! Unfortunately as far as servicing goes the machine has been sitting in our basement for years, no work has been done on it. I’m glad its still working, hopefully I can deal with the capacitors before its too late. It has its original hard drive which still works and has some cool old games on it and its running the original MacOS 9.
It has its original hard drive which still works
For reliability you should really switch to an IDE SSD.
Yes, they do exist. OWC sells them, albeit in laptop HDD size, so you will need an IDE adapter.
Take a look at https://recapamac.com.au/ . The chap is no longer in the recapping business, but offers some helpful resources. Also consider replacing the PRAM battery – I’m not a vintage iMac expert but know that this has been an issue with other older Macs.
That’s pretty badass getting more value out of such old hardware!
I’ve been dabbling in C development for classic Mac OS when I’ve had some spare time over the past year. I’ve been doing it directly on my old Macs, a PowerMac G4 when I’m at my desk or a PowerBook G3 Lombard when I’m in the living room.
I’ve been using CodeWarrior as a compiler/IDE. For documentation I have a copy of Inside Macintosh in HTML format from an old Apple Developer CD, a copy of “A Hobbyist’s Guide to Programming the Mac OS in C” in PDF format, and a program called “Toolbox Assistant” for quick reference. Occasionally using MacsBug as a debugger when I’m outside of the IDE. All of this can be found on Macintosh Garden or just Google.
edit: My focus has been more on utility-type applications but if you’re more into games or something there are a bunch of books here with different focuses https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/
That’s an amazing library, thanks!
I believe you could use THINK Pascal to do it.
That guide was for the 64-bit PowerPC CPU, which I think was only used in servers. For future reference, the iMac’s 32-bit processor needs the
gcc-powerpc-linux-gnupackage.
I can’t speak for cross-compilation, but I was a serious Mac developer on System 7 - MacOS 9 back in the day, and Metrowerks CodeWarrior was my tool of choice for C/C++ . A thread on 68KMLA from a few years ago has an extensive discussion of CodeWarrior: https://68kmla.org/bb/threads/metrowerks-codewarrior-best-version-and-updates.42338/
Bravo for keeping this great old software and hardware going (System 7 is perhaps my favorite OS of all time). Let us know what you build!
