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Petition to get Apple to optimize OS X for older graphics cards


Apple, ever since announcing OS X, has promised full support for computers going back to beige G3s, all iMacs, iBooks, and most PowerBooks with a G3 chip or newer. Unfortunately, they never bothered to create the drivers to allow OS X to run properly on any graphics cards earlier than the ATI Rage128. Consequently, many with earlier ATI cards have been left out of luck, even though they were pre-installed by Apple on computers supposedly “supported.”

As a result, beige G3s, early iMacs, and PowerBooks prior to the Pismo model cannot run OpenGL apps and get horrible video display. A petition has been started requesting that Apple create the necessary drivers.

To this date, Apple’s only response has been to suggest changing the resolution and number of colors. However, this does nothing for OpenGL, and only marginally helps the speed issues.

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.