I asked CLAUDE about power PC, see below.  I installed a linux on a power pc. I am not sure if that would help.  On the other hand, a Mac Neo would be happy to run Pharo for $599 (or less with a .EDU discount)  https://www.apple.com/macbook-neo/

��� a user writes "I���ve been given an imac desktop.  It is some kind of PowrrPC running OSX Leopard.  Works      
beautifully but too old to update, and no deceloper tools.  I don���t suppose there���s an okd version of Pharo    
that would run on it?"                                                                                         
                                                                                                             
��� Great question! The short answer is: Pharo itself will be very difficult on PowerPC, but Squeak is a great   
  alternative that should work.                
                                                                                                               
  Here's the situation:
                                                                                                               
  Why Pharo is tough on PPC:                                                                                   
  - Pharo uses the Cog VM, whose JIT compiler only targets x86/x64/ARM ��� there was never a PowerPC JIT
  - Even the non-JIT "Stack VM" variant wasn't routinely built for PPC                                         
  - You'd need to compile a VM from source, but you said there are no dev tools on the machine
  - Pharo 1.x (2008-era) used older Squeak VMs that did support PPC, so in theory Pharo 1.4 with a classic     
  Squeak interpreter VM could work ��� but finding those builds is an archaeology project                        
                                                                                                               
  What will actually work ��� Squeak:                                                                            
  - Squeak's classic interpreter VM had solid PowerPC Mac OS X support                                         
  - Squeak 4.x or 5.x should run on Leopard with the pre-Cog interpreter VM                                    
  - Check http://squeak.org/downloads/ ��� they archived old VM builds       
  - Squeak and Pharo share the same lineage (Pharo forked from Squeak 3.9 in 2008), so the environment will    
  feel very familiar                                                                                           
                                                                                                               
  Other options:                                                                                               
  - GNU Smalltalk ��� command-line Smalltalk, might be available via MacPorts/Fink if you can get those installed
   without Xcode (some PPC binary packages exist)                                                              
  - Squeak 3.9 ��� the exact version Pharo forked from, definitely had PPC VMs, and is close to early Pharo
                                                                                                               
  The PPC iMacs are lovely machines. Squeak 4.x or 5.x is probably your best path to a working Smalltalk       
  environment on it without needing to compile anything.                                                       

----- Original message -----
From: Richard O'Keefe via Pharo-users <pharo-users@lists.pharo.org>
To: Any question about pharo is welcome <pharo-users@lists.pharo.org>
Cc: Richard O'Keefe <raoknz@gmail.com>
Subject: [Pharo-users] IMac Pharo?
Date: Friday, March 20, 2026 6:15 PM

I���ve been given an imac desktop.  It is some kind of PowrrPC running OSX Leopard.  Works beautifully but too old to update, and no deceloper tools.  I don���t suppose there���s an okd version of Pharo that would run on it?